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True Grit Overview:

True Grit (1969) was a Adventure - Western Film directed by Henry Hathaway and produced by Hal B. Wallis, Paul Nathan and Joseph H. Hazen.

The film was based on the novel of the same name and also Saturday Evening Post Magazine Serial written by Charles Portis published in 1968 (novel); 1968 (magazine).

Academy Awards 1969 --- Ceremony Number 42 (source: AMPAS)

AwardRecipientResult
Best ActorJohn WayneWon

True Grit BlogHub Articles:

John Wayne and Kim Darby Show Their True Grit

John Wayne as Rooster Cogburn. The year 1969 was a remarkable one for the Western genre. The biggest hit of the year was the revisionist Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Sam Peckinpah's violent The Wild Bunch earned critical raves in the U.S., while Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the... Read full article


True Grit (1969)

True Grit Directed by Henry Hathaway Written by Marguerite Roberts from a novel by Charles Portis 1969/US IMDb link Repeat viewing/Amazon Prime John Wayne certainly did have true grit until the end.  Just what we all need during Lockdown. The story takes place in the 19th Century Old West.  Mattie... Read full article


Win Tickets to see “TCM Big Screen Classics: True Grit” 50th Anniversary (Giveaway runs now through April 20)

... Read full article


Review: True Grit (1969)

My father has always maintained that two of his favorite films are The Magnificent Seven and True Grit. The first one makes sense with its stellar cast, resplendent score, and some top rate gunslinging. The second film, well, it makes sense too, but for completely different reasons. Director Henry H... Read full article


Review: True Grit (1969)

My father has always maintained that two of his favorite films are The Magnificent Seven and True Grit. The first one makes sense with its stellar cast, resplendent score, and some top rate gun slinging. The second film, well, it makes sense too, but for completely different reasons. Director Henry ... Read full article


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True Grit Quotes:

Rooster Cogburn: LaBouef, you get cross ways of me and you'll think a thousand of BRICK have fell on you! You'll wish you was back at the Alamo with TRAVIS!

[at the camp, Mattie tastes the water]
Mattie Ross: That tastes like iron.
LaBoeuf: You're lucky to be where water's so handy. I've seen the time I've drank out of a filthy hoofprint - and was glad to get it.
Rooster Cogburn: If ever I meet one of you Texas waddies who ain't drunk water from a hoofprint, I think I'll... I'll shake their hand or buy 'em a Daniel Webster cigar.
[points to LaBoeuf's shaggy horse]
Rooster Cogburn: How long you boys down there been mounted on sheep?

[Rooster is caught under his horse; as Ned starts to shoot him, La Boeuf fires from the ridge and hits Ned's horse; Ned falls dead]
Mattie Ross: Hooray for the man from Texas! Some bully shot!

[Col. Stonehill is frustrated at Mattie's bargaining]
Col. G. Stonehill: I will pay a total of two hundred dollars to your father's estate when I have in my hand a letter absolving me of all liability from the beginning of the world to date!

Rooster Cogburn: They don't call him "Lucky" Ned Pepper for nothing.
Mattie Ross: That man gave his life for him and he didn't even look back.
Rooster Cogburn: Looking back is a bad habit.
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True Grit Facts
This is the (uncredited) film debut of Wilford Brimley.

Sondra Locke was considered for the role of Mattie Ross. She read the script but wanted to do avoid type-casting.

When submitted for a rating from the MPAA in 1969, the film was given an "M". The film was edited and re-rated "G".

Jim Burk doubled for John Wayne in the final jumping fence stunt at the end.

The scene near the end where Rooster Cogburn (John Wayne) and Ned Pepper's gang meet in a field and Pepper (Robert Duvall) is shot was filmed in a clearing near the top of Owl Creek Pass outside Ridgway, CO. The field is off the road to the left and is very easy to find.

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