Year of Release: 1975Country of Origin: USA
Director: Stuart Millar
Cast: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn
Plot outline: An aging U.S. Marshal and a minister's daughter join forces to catch a band of outlaws (IMDb).
A major issue with Rooster Cogburn is that the storyline is seriously uninteresting and is almost a stock storyline. Watching Rooster Cogburn and Eula Goodnight go after a bunch of cowboy criminals is not the most exciting idea in the world and it plays at such. There are various stock elements to the story: the shoot outs, the arguments and so on but it also pulls in other elements. The scene where Cogburn and Goodnight float down a river on a raft feels like a slim imitation of a scene out of Hepburn's The African Queen, just one of various scenes which seem to pull from both Wayne and Hepburn's back catalogue of movies. It has to be said that when it comes to the storyline there is little, if nothing, which you could class as original or unique. But the entertainment in Rooster Cogburn is not the storyline but the casting of two strong legendary actors opposite each other. Watching the antagonistic relationship between Cogburn and Goodnight is brilliant because the characters are both strong minded and willed. You get a sense that perhaps there was a semi antagonistic relationship between the stars as well and it shows on screen to great effect. The banter between them is first class as they battle each other over their way of life, from Cogburn's drinking to Miss Goodnight's religious fervour. But there is also the nice softer side to it as well, and you also get a sense that although Wayne and Hepburn may not have always seen eye to eye there was also a respect for each other. The pairing is great and it is what makes the movie. Elsewhere though the performances are not so good and Richard Jordan as Hawk the leader of the dangerous cowboys goes for over the top drama in every single scene. It is one of the least convincing bad guy cowboys I have ever seen and really spoils things. Maybe he realised that he would be over shadowed by Wayne and Hepburn so went for an over the top performance to try and stand out. (AW)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
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