John Wayne was one of many largest film stars within the historical past of the medium, however as a result of he reigned through the Nineteen Forties, Nineteen Fifties, and a number of the Nineteen Sixties, he was not a beneficiary of franchise filmmaking. This was a blessing, because it allowed the star to entrust his coarse model of heroism to nice filmmakers like John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Don Siegel, all of whom had been free to tweak his persona inside cause whereas not being yoked to an ongoing narrative arc that pressured them to paint inside pre-determined strains. Take a look at it this manner: as a substitute of Wayne and Ford making a collection of Ringo Child films after the success of 1939’s “Stagecoach,” they had been in a position to re-team on unique tales like “Fort Apache,” “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon,” and “The Searchers,” which challenged the Duke to play totally different sorts of onerous males dealing with totally different sorts of dilemmas.
When Wayne lastly received the Academy Award for Greatest Actor in 1969 for “True Grit,” his portrayal of alcoholic U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn felt like a profession summation. Cogburn is nicely previous his prime within the movie, however when the chips are down he’s nonetheless as deadly a person as exists within the West. Provided that the movie was a field workplace smash, and Marguerite Roberts’ adaptation of Charles Portis’ novel eschewed the melancholy ending in favor of an upbeat finale, legendary producer Hal B. Wallis figured a sequel was so as. Sequels had grown extra widespread within the Nineteen Seventies, and had been about to grow to be extra prevalent within the Eighties, so why not give moviegoers a second serving to of this character they beloved a lot the primary outing? Since Wayne was struggling to attach with audiences through the New Hollywood period, it appeared like a great deal for all concerned.
The Rooster-verse was short-lived.
John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn received stranded on a barren path in Rooster Cogburn
Whereas Paramount distributed “True Grit,” the rights to Wallis’ proposed sequel, “Rooster Cogburn” (an unique screenplay impressed by Portis’ character), had been arrange at Common. Wallis employed his spouse, actor Martha Hyer, to jot down the screenplay (below the pseudonym Martin Julien), and introduced longtime producer Stuart Millar onboard as director. Most significantly, he landed Katharine Hepburn to co-star with Wayne as spinster Miss Eula Goodnight, who comes together with Cogburn on a mission to recuperate a stolen cargo of nitroglycerin.
With Wayne and Hepburn quarreling all through, whereas progressively coming to respect each other, “Rooster Cogburn” performs as a riff on John Huston’s World Battle I journey “The African Queen” (which paired Hepburn with Humphrey Bogart). It is an efficient system, however between Millar’s sluggish route and Hyer’s ho-hum banter, the celebrities persistently battle to make the film watchable. When “Rooster Cogburn” grossed a disappointing $18 million on a $10 million price range, the boozing U.S. Marshal’s movie journey seemed to be over.
Maybe a tv collection would higher swimsuit Wayne’s Rooster?
True Grit: A Additional Journey traveled not very far
Although it is unlikely Wayne would’ve been interested by taking up a tv collection, his quickly declining well being made his choice for him. Don Siegel’s 1976 Western “The Shootist” could be the Duke’s ultimate movie (he died three years later), which freed up the function for a distinct sort of style icon, Warren Oates, to position his spin on it.
ABC’s “True Grit: A Additional Journey” aired on the community in 1978 as a made-for-television that, if standard, would’ve been was a collection. Alas, not sufficient viewers tuned in, which spelled doom for Oates’ tackle Cogburn. The present would’ve used the story of “True Grit” as its spine, with Lisa Pelikan’s teenager Mattie Ross making an attempt her finest to get the marshal again on the straight and slender. That is in all probability for the most effective, as Oates was a heavy drinker himself and won’t have been reduce out for the trials of capturing a full season of tv (he died of a coronary heart assault at age 53 in 1982).
This proved to be the tip of the Rooster-verse, although you may be conscious that Joel and Ethan Coen took a crack at Portis’ novel in 2010 and wound up with an on the spot basic that includes knockout performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and, better of all, Hailee Steinfeld. Thankfully, the Coens and Bridges have expressed zero curiosity in revisiting the character of Rooster Cogburn.
