El rifle y la Biblia

A reading of the other reviews of Rooster Cogburn indicate that only fans of the two stars should look at this film. That's not saying a whole lot since this was a vehicle created for the two stars and only the two stars in this film could have brought it off.

It was a happy marriage of convenience with John Wayne's character of Rooster Cogburn from True Grit being so popular that a sequel was inevitable given Wayne's health holding up and Katharine Hepburn looking for something she could co-star with Wayne.

Hepburn was one of John Wayne's biggest boosters of his talent, politics aside. I remember reading that she thought John Wayne projected the same sense of integrity that Spencer Tracy did on the screen. Coming from her, I've got to believe that's the best compliment she could offer.

Wayne as Cogburn is on the trail of a gang that massacred an army patrol and stole a gatling gun and nitroglycerin for use in a planned bank robbery. The gang headed by Richard Jordan with Anthony Zerbe who used to scout for Wayne go to an Indian settlement with a missionary school headed by father and daughter preacher and teacher Jon Lormer and Katharine Hepburn. The gang shoots up the place and kills Lormer.

When Wayne comes he gets a lot more than he bargained for when he finds himself saddled with Hepburn and young Indian boy Richard Romancito. They accompany him on the trail of Jordan and his gang and get enough adventure to last a lifetime.

Everyone compares Hepburn as Eula Goodnight to her portrayal of another missionary, Rose Sayer in The African Queen. Both are on a chase in The African Queen with Bogey after the Germans who destroyed the mission in East Africa and killed her brother and with Wayne after some outlaws. And both films feature a very fine sequence of the two stars riding some rapids. But I think Eula Goodnight is a far more experienced woman of the world than Rose Sayer. Both disapprove of the alcoholic behavior of their male counterparts. Rose however takes some direct action.

As the film was designed around the two stars they settle comfortably in their roles. The chemistry between them is infectious, that they liked each other would be obvious to an alien from another planet.

I really envy young Richard Romancito to be in all those scenes and be able to watch a pair of screen legends.

This movie is more than just a lot of fun to watch. John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn are wonderful, but only because they are together. The chemistry between them is electrifying.

Richard Jordan plays his villan role to a "T". He is mean and nasty, and he keeps his character believeable to the end. There is a scene between him and Katharine Hepburn at Fort Ruby that is absolutely brilliant, you could feel the lightning flashing between their characters.

Think about the scene where the wheel broke off the wagon: Hawk gets furious with his men and Jordan's character did a great job with his part: he seem really angry, as if looks could kill. His expressions, well, it gave me the willies.

Don't you agree that Anthony Zerbe created a believeable "Breed". The two of them, Jordan and Zerbe are so believeable together. Remember the scene in the saloon when Hawk learns about the wagon being taken by Rooster? He starts to go out and Breed tells him, that he worked with Rooster for three years...and that he knows that Breed will never take Rooster? There is some great chemistry in that scene! They have tried to make movies like this before, but it hasn't happened yet: movies that made the actors create a film a success that was not relying on special affects alone, but just the characters and the story.

Hepburn & the Duke made a fairly decent movie and that's enough reason to see it at least once. The fact that Hepburn has a Father in the movie is suspect, at best, especially since he's not played by Moses himself. But that's besides the point here - they have terrific chemistry and their star power alone could put most of the actors on the screen today to shame. It would have been really memorable if the movie were worthy of them, though.

Someone in Hollywood had the bright idea of taking the leading character from "True Grit" and putting him in a story redolent of "The African Queen", casting a much older Katharine Hepburn, then experiencing a revival in her career, in the same part she played opposite Bogie. And it worked. If anything Wayne, with an unerring ear for the comic potential of his character, is even better than he was in "True Grit". It's a genuinely funny performance. Hepburn's character is too much an amalgam of Rose Sayer and Mattie Ross; she could be "True Grit's" Mattie 50 years on. But the chemistry between her and Wayne is palpable; they spark off each other.

The plot isn't up to much. It's been cobbled together from scraps of better movies and there is a terrible bit of over-acting from Richard Jordan as the chief villain, but it looks great, (the scenery is terrific), and is very enjoyable.

Hired to track down a vicious gang, federal marshal Rooster Cogburn reluctantly lets a missionary and a Native American lad accompany him after their mission is ransacked by the gang in this belated sequel to 'True Grit'. John Wayne reprises the title role with just as much gusto despite noticeably looking older. Katharine Hepburn also puts in a strong turn as the missionary with the best scenes being the banter between the pair. The villains are not particularly interesting and the plot is no great shakes; in fact, 'Rooster Cogburn' feels more like a remake rather than sequel to 'True Grit' at times with Hepburn also seeking vengeance for a father killed. The plot is more complex than it first seems though. While most are quick to praise the chemistry between Wayne and Hepburn, it is the bond that slowly develops between Wayne and the young Amerindian, played by Richard Romancito, that is ultimately most touching. Romancito becomes a surrogate son of sorts to the once hardened old man who inadvertently finds himself with a 'family' for the first time as he pursues the gang. One wonders though just what messages (if any) the filmmakers had in mind with the project. Early on, Wayne is told "the west is changing and you aren't changing with it", and yet minutes later he hired because, again, he has "grit". Is the film meant to be a tribute to the virtues of old ways or a film about learning to change (unwillingly accepting companions)? Topped off with a memorable explosive climax, one thing for sure is that this is a more dynamic sequel than one might expect.