This follow-up to True Grit sees Wayne reprising his Oscar-winning role as Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn six years after that western classic. The pairing of John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn should have been a recipe for cinema gold, but thanks to a less than original story and some overacting, particularly by Wayne, the film is far less than the sum of its parts.
After Judge Parker (John McIntire) takes away Rooster’s badge for using excessive force, he gives the one-eyed, drunken lawman one last chance to show he can bring a wanted felon back alive. Cogburn is put on the trail of Hawk (Richard Jordan) and his gang who’ve stolen a consignment of nitro-glycerine from the US Cavalry. He’s barely set out after them when he encounters Eula Goodnight whose father, a Reverend bringing the word of God to the local Indians, has been murdered by the gang, along with many of the Indians. He sets off after Hawk with Eula and an Indian boy, Wolf, orphaned in the tragedy. His intention is to leave the pair at the nearest trading post. Needless to say things don’t go according to plan.
Blending elements of True Grit and The African Queen must have seemed like a good idea at the time but it inevitably draws comparisons with those superior films. Wayne was almost always at his best with a strong director behind the camera - John Ford and Howard Hawks are, between them, responsible for more Wayne classics than every other director combined – and that element is sadly missing here.
True Grit’s director Henry Hathaway had a working relationship with Wayne that dated back to the early 40s when they made Shepherd of the Hills together, and while none of the movies they made rank alongside those of Ford and Hawks, they did produce such gems as The Sons of Katie Elder and North to Alaska. Hathaway was clearly a man Wayne respected and his track record (Kiss of Death, Call Northside 777) no doubt gave him some added weight. Stuart Millar, the director of Rooster Cogburn, had only one other film under his belt and no previous working relationship with Duke and he clearly didn’t want to be the one to tell the superstar to tone down his performance a couple of notches.
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