Very well executed

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Rooster Cogburn" was John Wayne's penultimate film; his last was to be "The Shootist" from a year later. Here he repeats his role as U.S. Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn, the role which he had made famous in "True Grit" and which brought him his only Oscar. "True Grit" was ostensibly set in Oklahoma but was actually shot in Colorado; here the action is ostensibly set further east, in Arkansas, but the film was shot even further West, in Oregon.The film opens with Cogburn being stripped of his Marshal's badge by a judge on the grounds of drunkenness and his "shoot first, ask questions later" attitude. Soon afterwards, however, his badge is restored to him on the grounds that his style of law enforcement is exactly what is needed to combat a desperate gang of outlaws operating in the area, the authorities having realised that lawmen who ask questions first and shoot later end up dead, shot by the bad guys before they have finished asking their first question. The film then explores how Cogburn goes about his task, aided by Eula Goodnight, a spinster schoolteacher whose preacher father has been murdered by the villains and Wolf, a young Indian whose family have met the same fate.Vincent Canby, film critic of the New York Times, called "Rooster Cogburn" "a high-class example of the low Hollywood art of recycling". The basic plot- "tough lawman takes on a gang of desperados"- was already an over-familiar one in Westerns by 1975. The film's two most original features are the age of the leading man- at 68 Wayne was considerably older than the average Western action hero- and the active role taken by its leading lady. Despite her rather prim manner- she objects to Cogburn's drinking and profanity- Eula is no passive shrinking violet but a tough lady who can ride and shoot as well as any man and is determined to avenge her father's death. I suspect that Eula (whose father is still alive at the beginning of the film) was originally supposed to be younger than Cogburn, but the role went to Katharine Hepburn, who was the same age as Wayne. (They were born in the same month, May 1907).I would not rate the film as highly as "The Shootist", which I regard as a masterpiece, but it is at least as good as "True Grit" and considerably better than Wayne's antepenultimate film, the disappointing police drama "Brannigan". It was the only film in which Wayne and Hepburn, two of the most iconic stars of their generation, acted together, probably because Wayne tended to specialise in Westerns and war films, two genres with which Hepburn was not normally associated. She is, however, excellent here, playing in one of her few Westerns a character similar to the one she had created in "The African Queen", one of her few war films, more than twenty years earlier. There was to be no Oscar for Wayne this time, but he is at least as good as he had been in "True Grit". Much of the appeal of the film lies in the way in which Cogburn and Eula, who are about as different from one another as it is possible for two characters to be, nevertheless manage to work together.Director Stuart Millar handles the action sequences well and there is some striking photography of the Western landscapes, probably the reason why, whatever the film's ostensible setting might be, shooting was moved to the Pacific North-West. The film could easily have ended up as the sort of dull, derivative Western adventure we had all seen too many times before, but Wayne, Hepburn and Millar combine to produce something which still remains worth watching forty years on. 7/10

In 1975, John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn had one big movie left apiece to make in their long careers. "Rooster Cogburn" wasn't it, yet this manages to showcase both stars in an amiable-enough timekiller.Sometime after the events of "True Grit," our title protagonist (Wayne) loses his badge but gets a chance to get it back when a band of outlaws make off with a wagonload of nitro. En route to sell the explosives, they happen upon a church community, killing the reverend and making an enemy of his crusty Yankee daughter Eula Goodnight (Hepburn).Never mind the serious-sounding set-up: "Rooster Cogburn" is more playful than earnest, last in a long line of cowboy romps starring Wayne. Wonderfully shot by Harry Stradling, Jr. on location in Oregon, the film scores with plenty of banter between Duke and Kate."You have a lot of brass, Marshall," she tells him. "You will have need of it before we are through.""She sings a loud tune!" huffs Cogburn.Watching Hepburn and Wayne work together for the only time is plenty of fun. I'm not a big fan of hers, but as it turns out her big acting style complements his nicely. "Ayah," indeed!Richard Jordan is on hand as the main bad guy, Hawk. He plays his part even bigger than Wayne and Hepburn do theirs, which doesn't seem possible until you see the movie. You wish with his talent Jordan would have made a better impression, but he's saddled with the butt end of this mule train, having to be the heavy in a film where the action scenes play like the afterthoughts they no doubt were.The director, Stuart Millar, apparently annoyed Wayne with his inexperience. He doesn't do much to keep things moving. "I wish this thing had a little more giddyup to it," Cogburn grunts, meaning a raft he and Eula are riding with their Indian companion, Wolf (Richard Romancito) but perhaps referencing the other vehicle they find themselves on.Still, you do get a lot of fun moments along the film's ever-winding way, with Wayne and Hepburn settling in comfortably to their respective corners. Given how disparate their characters are, you expect more in the way of fireworks than you get, but Millar's emphasis on fun seems the right approach.Screen heavy Anthony Zerbe has a good turn as one of Hawk's riders, while Strother Martin shows up late in the film to pleasing effect. Both character parts are underwritten but effective.Martin was in "True Grit," too, playing another role. You get the feeling Wayne is too; Cogburn here is much mellower and a bit too soft for the workout Eula gives him. Still, I enjoy "Rooster" because I enjoy Wayne, and like seeing him having fun late in the game."Being around you pleases me," Rooster says, in one of his mushier moments. Something of the same sentiment applies for me, too.

The character Reuben 'Rooster' Cogburn first appeared in the 1969 classic 'True Grit', now he is back for another adventure and once again he is accompanied by a feisty woman. In the opening scenes Rooster is fired from his job as a US Marshall on account of the number of suspects he kills but as soon as an army shipment of nitro-glycerine is stolen by a gang planning to use it for a bank robbery he is reinstated. Shortly after the robbery the gang stop in a small settlement in the Indian Territory and kill the preacher and several of the Indians before leaving. When Rooster gets there he finds the preacher's daughter Eula Goodnight and an Indian boy named Wolf; he agrees to take them to the next settlement but they end up sticking with him. Not long afterwards they catch up with the gang and manage to retrieve the wagon load of explosives… it turns out that was the easy part; the gangs leader is determined to get it back and it won't be easy for them to get the cargo back to civilisation when any bump or stray bullet could cause an explosion! While I don't think this is as good as 'True Grit' it is a very entertaining Western with plenty of exciting shootouts, the use of a Gatling gun, some tense standoffs, white water rafting and an explosive conclusion! John Wayne does a great job as the eponymous hero and Katharine Hepburn puts in a solid performance as is bible-thumping companion. Other notable performances come from Richard Romancito as Wolf; Richard Jordan as the gang's leader, Hawk and Anthony Zerbe as Breed, a former colleague of Rooster's who is now working for Hawk. The film is shot amongst some lovely scenery with Oregon filling in for Arkansas.

It seems that the success of True Grit (the Oscar for John Wayne included) made people think about a sequel. And John Wayne had fun portraying the character and therefor must have been delighted to sign on to this (named after the character). Not to mention the fact, that Katherine Hepburn was going to play the female lead.You might not have to watch True Grit to get this movie (there are some nods), but it does make sense to watch it prior to watching this one. Our two leads have obviously a lot of fun with this and while the story might not be as "deep" as the one in the original, you still get a lot out of this movie.