THE GOOD OLD BOYS: The Movie

Elmer kelton wrote more than forty novels, all set in the American West.  One would think that more than one of them might have been filmed, wouldn't you?

After all, Zane Grey's stories were filmed over and over and over.  The plots were rewritten so many times that in the last productions the only two things they had in common with the original product was Grey's name above the title -- and the title.

This despite the fact that, let's face it, he wasn't a good writer.

Two good writers whose novels were many times adapted to the screen were Ernest Haycox and Luke Short, though not as many times as Grey's.

Of course, when all three of these writers were publishing the Western dominated all other genres in print and on the screen.

Louis L'Amour, who sold more Western novels than any other writer, including Zane Grey, began his writing career in the early 50's and many of his did make their way to the big screen, but they were written in the 50s and 60s.  By the time the 70s arrived his books were still selling but they weren't being adapted for movies though some did become TV movies.

Did I mention that Elmer Kelton wrote over forty novels and that only one was adapted as a movie? 

That didn't happen because Kelton wasn't a good writer.  In fact, he was a great one.  The Western Writers of American even named him the greatest Western novelist of all time.  

Of course, one factor that explains the lack of screen adaptations of Kelton's novels is the explanation of L'Amour's drop-off at the end.  Western movie production was curtailed in the 60's due to the competition of the little screen in the living room and even more so during the 70's and later.

However, I am still flabbergasted that only one Kelton story made it to the screen -- and it wasn't even a theatrical release, it was a TV movie.

That movie was THE GOOD OLD BOYS (Turner/TNT, 1995).

DIRECTOR: TOMMY LEE JONES; PRODUCER: SAM NEWMAN; WRITERS: TELEPLAY BY TOMMY LEE JONES & J.T. ALLEN BASED ON NOVEL BY ELMER KELTON; CINEMATOGRAPHER: ALAN CASE

CAST: TOMMY LEE JONES, TERRY KINNEY, FRANCES MCDORMAND, SAM SHEPARD, SISSY SPACEK, MATT DAMON, WILFORD BRIMLEY, WALTER OKLEWICZ, BLAYNE WEAVER, BRUCE MCGILL, LARRY MAHAN, PARK OVERALL, JIMMY DON COX

Here's what Jonathan Taylor had to say about the film in Variety at the time that it debuted:

"THE GOOD OLD BOYS has 'vanity project' written all over it.  Tommy Lee Jones not only stars but also makes his debut as director and writer .... By rights, it should be an indulgent and self-conscious effort, instead, it's a work of uncommon charm and poignance.  It's being shown on TNT but would look just fine on the bigscreen."

Good for you, Mr. Taylor, those are my exact sentiments.  But there's more:

"It's enormously entertaining and marks an auspicious directing debut.  It's not so much of a vanity project as a virtuosity effort."

Well, now, that is indeed high praise.  And it would not have happened had it not been for Tommy Lee Jones' "vanity project."  Look at that cast list; not quite what one would expect for a TV movie.

Tommy Lee Jones is Hewey Calloway

The movie is set in West Texas and is filmed there around Brackettville, Alpine, Del Rio, and Fort Davis.

It is an "end of the West" story in the tradition of films such as SHANE, RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, and THE WILD BUNCH.

It is, however, a story of quiet characterization, with a lack of gunplay.  Hewey doesn't carry a gun and was a notoriously bad shot. Only one shot is fired in the whole movie and it is a warning shot fired by a county sheriff. 

Therefore, it doesn't portray the violence that takes place in the previously mentioned films, especially the last one.  It is much more akin to MONTE WALSH, but even that film had a shootout near the end.

Jones and his co-writer must have admired Kelton's novel for the script adheres closely to what the author had written and many of the good lines and humor are taken directly from the book.

Hewey Calloway is one of the good old boys whose only ambition, like that of Monte Walsh, is to be a cowboy forever, and, in the year 1906, that sets him off from most of the rest of the world, for the life he desires to live forever is being rapidly replaced by techological progress.

Elmer Kelton wrote in the introduction to my copy of the book:

"[Hewey] tries to remain a horseback man while the world relentlessly moves into a machine age .... He lives in an impossible dream, trying to remain changeless in a world where the only constant is change."

The movie opens with Hewey riding toward the homestead that his younger brother, Walter (Terry Kinney), is farming in west Texas.

Along the way he has a conversation with his horse, Biscuit:

"Biscuit, I'm tired of this cowology.  I'm tired of these mountains.  And if you won't take it the wrong way, I'd just as soon talk with somebody can talk back, every once in a while.  You ain't said nothin' in two years."

Before he arrives at his brother's place he meets up with a former employer and big rancher and banker C.C. Tarpley (Wilford Brimley), who, as it turns out, owns the mortgage on Hewey's brother's farm:

C.C. has designs on Walter's farm

C.C. TARPLEY: "All you got is a brown horse past his prime, an old saddle, and maybe twenty dollars.  Now that ain't much to show for them years, is it?"

HEWEY: "I went north one time into Canada and seen the glaciers.  You ever see a glacier, C.C.?"

Eventually he arrives at his brother's farm where he spies his brother and his brother's youngest son, Tommy (Blayne Weaver), plowing a field.

Father and son are tickled and pleased to see Hewey who had been drifting for two years.

He expected a warm welcome from his brother and nephews, but he knows his appearance will not be welcomed by Eve (Fances McDormand), his headstrong, temperameltal sister-in-law, who seemed to always like him more when he was going than when he was coming.

headstrong and temperamental Eve (Frances McDormand

Before Walter married Eve he was as footloose as Hewey and beginning at an early age the two had ridden many a trail together.

That changed, however, after Walter met Eve, a pretty young woman working in a boarding house.  Despite Hewey's objections and efforts to abort the relationship Walter married Eve.

After their marriage Eve insisted that Walter take a job as a ranch foreman rather than jumping from one job to another as he once did, and as Hewey still did.  She grew dissatisfied with their situation on the ranch and she talked Walter into staking a homestead claim so that they could raise their two sons on land that they owned.  Walter, cowboy, became Walter, farmer.

Eve fears the effect that Hewey might have on Walter and their two sons.  She is afraid that Walter may be influenced by Hewey and long for the days in which he too had the freedom to roam at will.  She knows that Hewey loves her sons and they love him in return, but she is fearful that they might grow up to emulate their wandering uncle.

Eve was always lecturing Hewey about settling down, about responsibility, respectability, always trying to change him.

EVE: "A man with a good woman to help and encourage him can make a garden out of a desert."

HEWEY: "If he's anything like me he'd make a desert out of a garden."

The way Hewey saw it, the Lord had purposely made every person different.  He could not understand why so many people were determined to thwart the Lord's work by making everyone the same.

 

Hewey, riding his horse "Biscuit" flanked by his nephews (L) Cotton (Matt Damon) and (R) Tommy (Blayne Weaver)

 

Fourteen-year old Tommy has grown a good deal in the two years since Hewey last saw him, but he's young enough that he still worships his uncle Hewey.  Cotton, age 16, is a different story.  He has not only grown, he has changed, and he has grown distant from both Hewy and his parents.

young Matt Damon, in one of his earliest screen roles, is Cotton Calloway

Cotton talked of the future as a time of automobiles and great machines and fantastic inventions waiting to burst forth upon the world.  Hewey shuddered.  He tried, but could picture no place in such a world for him.  The wonders that made the future look golden to Cotton made it bleak and terrifying to Hewey.

COTTON: "Yov ever ride in an automobile?"

HEWEY: "No. Only ones I've been around are broken down or fixin' to explode."

COTTON: "World's movin' faster all the time.  You either go on with it, or you get left behind.  I'm gonna be part of it.  I'm gonna help build it."

HEWEY: "Well, I hope you like it when you get finished."

Hewey is approaching middle age, but has never married, and posseses no desire to change that situation, at least not until he meets the boys' teacher, Miss Spring Renfro. This casuses him to examine and re-examine the life he has chosen to pursue.

Miss Spring Renfro (Sissy Spacek)

Kelton states Hewey's quandary in the introdution to his book:

"To fulfill a wish we often give up something of equal or nearly equal value.  Hewey feels drawn to the life his brother Walter has found: a home a family, a piece of land that is his own.  But to have it he knows he must give up his freedom to go where he pleases, when he pleases, to travel his own road without considering the needs of someone else ....

He cannot have it all: nobody can.

He asks Spring to marry him and they make plans.  Enter Snort Yarnell (Sam Shepard), Hewey's saddle pal and partner in making mischief.  He has a string of horses that he is taking into Mexico and asks Hewey if he would like to go with him.

Which road will Hewey choose?  Will it be the open road with Snort or a settled domestic life with Spring?

Sam as Chuck Yeager, his most famous role

Sam as Frank James  

Elmer the Great

******

REVIEWS

".... a charming cowboy yarn that Jones also directed, artfully blending romance and adventure, the call of the hearth and that of the open sky.  He plays Hewey Calloway, a true Texas cowboy trying to keep the modern era from tossing his era out of the saddle. -- Steve Johnson, Chicago Tribune

"This is a Western without gunfire or even the threat of serious violence.  The characters and builders we see, to quote novelist Elmer Kelton, are the West's 'main event,' not the storied gunslingers whom Kelton brushes off as 'the sideshow.'" -- Ray Loynd, LA Times 

THE END 

THE INFORMANT by Kurt Eichenwald

I stumbled onto this book on the bargain shelf at Barnes & Noble. Since it cost practically nothing and looked mildly interesting, I bought it. It went in my TBR bookcase where it languished for years. Oh, occasionally I would pick it up, blow the dust away and read the blurbs and think that it looked mildly interesting, and then place it back on the shelf.

Not long ago, while looking for something to read I picked it up again, and thought, this looks mildly interesting, and decided that I would read it. After all, according to the cover of my paperback copy, it had been made into a major motion picture starring Matt Damon. By the time that I finished the prologue, I was hooked.

It isn’t often that a work of nonfiction can be described as a page-turner – but that is a good description of The Informant. And there are a lot of pages to turn – 500 plus, in fact. Investigative reporter Kurt Eichenwald leaves no stone unturned and no fact unexamined or unreported in his thoroughly researched account of a price fixing conspiracy that occurred in the ‘90’s. Involved in the conspiracy were Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), the hugely successful and politically powerful agribusiness corporation, as well as two Japanese and two South Korean corporations.

The prices being fixed included, among others, citric acid and high fructose corn syrup, additives that are found in a countless number of food products. And then there was lysine, an amino acid added to livestock feed, in order to fatten hogs and chickens. The result is that the prices of these additives were artificially propped up and that drove up the expenses of the food producers, which were subsequently passed on to – of course – the consumer.

ADM’s advertising slogan was and is “supermarket to the world.” But because its competitors wanted to keep prices high and its customers wanted to keep them low, the private and extremely cynical inside slogan among its top executives was “competitors are our friends and customers are our enemies.”

I know what I have described thus far doesn’t sound like much of a page-turner. But it is. What makes it so is that the FBI was able to persuade one of ADM’s top executives to wear a wire in order to tape him and other ADM executives and those of the four Asian corporations, engaging in price fixing. This cooperating witness was at the time (and may still be) the highest-ranking corporate whistleblower in U.S. history. His name is Mark Whitacre.

And what a witness he was! I’m not about to go into details about him or his actions because it is impossible to do so in a brief summary. Also, it would be like spoiling the plot in a whodunit – which is how this book reads.

Eichenwald wrote in an afterword:

“This is a book about the malleable nature of truth. As the story shows, reality can serve as the handmaiden of fiction….Throughout these pages, I’ve tried to play upon that line between fact and fantasy. While everything described in this book occurred, the story was intentionally structured to lend temporary credence to some of the many lies told in this investigation. Essentially, I was attempting to put readers in the same uncertain position as the investigators, all while dropping hints – admittedly subtle at times – about where reality began.”

He accomplished his goal. But beware; this is a complex, convoluted story. There are more characters than in a Russian novel. The reader needs a scorecard to keep up with the players. Fortunately, Eichenwald provides one in the front of the book. Also, complicating the story are the bureaucratic battles fought between FBI investigators and federal prosecutors (to be expected; it happens all the time) as well as turf battles between the U.S. Attorneys offices in Illinois and the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., not to mention internal struggles within the Justice Department. All of this can make it difficult to stay with the story.

My only complaint about the book is that Eichenwald could have streamlined his account somewhat without detracting from the readers understanding of the important facts of the case. But he had done his research – and how – and he was eager to report it – and did he ever.

The book was originally published in 2000. The movie was released in 2009. While the book gives much attention to the FBI agents’ investigation, and a great deal of space to the efforts of the prosecutors (whose in-fighting came close to derailing the case), the movie, unable to film the book in its entirety, concentrates on the whistleblower and his amazing antics. Greed and malfeasance that results in international price fixing conspiracies are nothing to laugh about, and yet, when one reads the book, one can’t help but laugh at times – even out loud sometime. In fact, the movie was promoted as a comedy – a comedy about price fixing!

The book has been compared to the fiction of Tom Clancy, Scott Turow, Michael Crichton, and, of course, John Grisham. But those writers’ imaginations pale in comparison to what Eichenwald recounts in his nonfiction book. One critic wrote, “…with its dizzying array of subplots, twists, and political maneuvers, this book is more like Grisham’s entire oeuvre compressed into 600 pages.”

Columnist Liz Smith nailed the book precisely when she wrote, “[It] reads like John Grisham on acid….”

The title of the original edition of the book is The Informant: A True Story. The title of the paperback movie tie-in (published in 2000) that I own is The Informant! A True Story.  I am always wary of book, and especially movie, titles that announce that the story is a “true story.” More times than not, it isn’t. But this one is.

Exclamation marks in titles are red flags, too. They usually promise more than what they deliver. This one was added because the movie, which heavily concentrates on Mark Whitacre and his role in the proceedings, has to be seen to be believed. But it is true, too. And I have to admit that in this case the exclamation mark is warranted!

As a friend said about the book, “Truth (even when it’s built around lies) is and always will be stranger than fiction.”

Kurt Eichenwald

TRUE GRIT (Paramount, 2010)

DIRECTORS: Joel & Ethan Coen;  PRODUCERS: Joel & Ethan Coen, Scott Rudin;  WRITERS: screenplay by Joel & Ethan Coen based on Charles Portis novel of same title;  CINEMATOGRAPHER: Roger Deakins

CAST: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Hailee Stanfeld, Barry Pepper, Dakin Matthews, Paul Rae, Domhnall Gleeson, Elizabeth Marvel, Roy Lee Jones, Ed Corbin, Leon Russom, Bruce Green

(Rather than rehashing the film’s plot, which does adhere closely to the novel, allow me to direct you to my review of the novel, which you can read here.  I also reviewed the original film and if you wish, you can read it here.)

An off-screen Mattie Ross, now a 40-year-old spinster, sets the stage for what is to come: 

"People do not give it credence that a fourteen-year-old girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood but it did not seem so strange then, although I will say it did not happen every day.  I was just fourteen years of age when a coward going by the name of Tom Chaney shot my father down in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robbed him of his life and his horse and $150 in cash money plus two California gold pieces that he carried in his trouser band."

This passage also opens Charles Portis' novel.  It is significant that the Coens opened the film in this manner.  They are on record as saying that they did not intend to film a remake of the 1969 original.  Instead, they indicated that their goal was to film the book.  Their plans are further re-enforced by the fact that Marguerite Roberts, who wrote the screenplay for the original, received no mention in their version’s credits.

I’m not sure why the Coens shied away from the original screenplay, since it was skillfully written by Roberts.  It followed its original source much more closely than most screenplays do.  And because it does, the Coens in their efforts to, as they said, film the book means that the films share many common characteristics.

Okay, so it isn't an official remake.  Nevertheless, both films feature the same characters, much of the same dialogue, and many of the same scenes.  That sounds like a remake, doesn't it?  So, let's call it an unofficial remake and let it go at that.

"I'm a foolish old man who's been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpie in trousers and a nincompoop."

The films do differ in some respects, of course, or else why bother with producing a second one.  For one thing, the original was a John Wayne vehicle.  Never for one moment does the viewer forget that he is the star of the film.

The remake (well, it is) is not a star vehicle.  It is more of an ensemble effort that is made possible because it does not star a legend and the fact that better actors are cast in the two most important supporting roles.  Matt Damon, as one would expect, is a big improvement over singer Glen Campbell in the role of Texas Ranger LeBoeuf.  And not only is 13-year-old Hailee Standfeld, as Mattie Ross, an improvement over 21-year-old Kim Darby, the character's part has been elevated to a position more in keeping with the novel.

 

the "harpie in trousers" and the "nincompoop"

Both Wayne and Jeff Bridges are very good in the role of U.S. marshal Rooster Cogburn.  But they are different Roosters.  Bridges plays it just as mean and ornery as Wayne, but he is more subdued and doesn't dominate scenes the way Wayne did in the original.  Partly that has to do with the different approaches of the two actors and partly because Bridges had better support in the two pivotal supporting roles.

The remake is an improvement in a couple of other ways as well.  The 1969 film was beautifully photographed by Lucien Ballard.  However, the snow-capped peaks and quaking aspens of the Colorado Rockies was not a good stand-in for Oklahoma.  For anyone familiar with the geography of eastern Oklahoma all that majestic scenery can be disconcerting.  I was disconcerted.  I don’t know why the Coens didn’t use Oklahoma locations, but at least the ones they chose in Texas and New Mexico look much more authentic than those featured in the original film did.

The other improvement concerns the ending of the film.  For the most part, Roberts stuck fairly close to the novel when she wrote the screenplay for the original film, but she did deviate when it came to the film’s conclusion.  It probably wasn’t her idea, but that of the producers who wanted John Wayne to ride off into the sunset in a manner in keeping with his legendary status.

The Coens stayed with the book and the way they staged it is perfect.  The beginning and the ending are bookends that serve to emphasize their great admiration for Portis’ classic novel.

I like both films.  The 1969 film, even with some of its drawbacks, is still very enjoyable.  The Coens, to their credit, have improved upon what was already a very good film.  That doesn’t always happen with remakes (see 3:10 to Yuma, for example) I hope they revisit the Western genre soon.

REVIEWS

“TRUE GRIT seems to be an honest stab at transferring a beloved book as accurately as possible from page to screen." – Richard Corliss in Time

“Steinfeld is the heart, star and glory of TRUE GRIT.” – Richard Corliss in Time

“… justice comes swiftly but fairly, and no one ends up dead who didn’t have it coming.  It is, at bottom, an emotional, even ardent, film. – David Carr in The New York Times

“Nothing very startling happens, but the Coens have a sure hand, and Bridges, in the old John Wayne role, plays a man, not a myth; you can sense Rooster’s stink and his nasty intelligence, too.” – David Denby in The New York Times

“Roger Deakins … tops himself here, fashioning scenes that have weight and resonance.” – Leonard Maltin

“But the real reason to see this film is the work of the Coens’ regular collaborators, cinematographer Roger Deakins and composer Carter Burwell, who supply the visual and auditory landscapes that are TRUE GRIT’s most notable achievement.” – Christopher Orr in The Atlantic

TRUE GRIT (Paramount, 1969)

 

Judge Parker's courthouse as it looks today

DIRECTOR: Henry Hathaway;  PRODUCER: Hal B. Wallis;  WRITERS: screenplay by Marguerite Roberts based on Charles Portis novel of same title; CINEMATOGRAPHY: Lucien Ballard

CAST: John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Jeremy Slate, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Alfred Ryder, Strother Martin, Jeff Corey, Ron Soble, John Fiedler, James Westerfield, John Doucette, Donald Woods, Edith Atwater, John Pickard, Myron Healey, H.W. Gim, Boyd Morgan, Stuart Randall, Guy Wilkerson, Hank Worden


THE PLOT.
You probably already know the plot, don’t you?  Well, just in case you don’t, here is how the story begins.

Fourteen-year-old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), from near Dardanelle, Arkansas in Yell County, travels to Fort Smith to settle her dead father’s affairs.  Her father was murdered in that town by a man who worked for him, a man who called himself Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey).  After killing her father, Chaney robbed him of his horse and his money.  Apparently, the fugitive has fled to the Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma) and there are reports that he has joined up with the “Lucky” Ned Pepper (Robert Duvall) gang.
 

21-year-old Kim Darby as 14-year-old Mattie Ross

Mattie is not content to just settle her father’s affairs (outwitting a horse trader portrayed by Strother Martin in some delightful scenes), but also plans to go after Chaney and bring him back to Fort Smith for trial.  The federal judge in Fort Smith is Judge Isaac Parker (James Westerfield) and his court for the Western District of Arkansas has jurisdiction over not only western Arkansas, but also the Indian Territory in any case involving a white person.
 
Since Mattie knows she can’t travel alone into that treacherous territory and achieve her goal of capturing Chaney and since the territory comes under federal jurisdiction, she decides to recruit a U.S. deputy marshal to assist her, one who possesses “true grit.”


MATTIE (Kim Darby): “Who’s the best marshal they have?”

SHERIFF (John Doucette): “Bill Waters is the best tracker.  The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn, a pitliless man, double tough, fear don’t enter into his thinking.  I’d have to say L.T. Quinn is the straightest, he brings prisoners in alive.”

MATTIE: “Where would I find this Rooster?”


After Mattie meets Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (John Wayne), she isn’t sure that he is the kind of man that she is seeking, a man who has “true grit,” a quality that she recognizes because she personally possesses it in full measure.  He is a one-eyed, hard-drinking, ruthless, overweight man who for his part isn’t sure that he wants to work for any woman, especially Mattie.  However, greed overcomes his reluctance when Mattie offers to pay him a hundred dollars, his asking price for the job.  It is more than Mattie wants to pay, but she is able to force a compromise by paying him fifty now and promising the other fifty after the mission is accomplished.

Who knew aspens grew in Oklahoma?

Matters become even more complicated when a Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) by the name of LaBouef (pronounced La-Beef) arrives in Fort Smith.  He is also on Chaney’s trail.  It seems that Chaney killed a state senator in Texas and that state and the senator’s family have placed a bounty on the fugitive’s head. The marshal and the ranger, although they have taken a strong disliking to each other, decide to join forces and split the proceeds  -- assuming they are able to capture – or kill – Chaney.

Neither of the lawmen wants a fourteen-year-old girl to tag along and they attempt to leave her behind, but they don’t know Mattie.  She will not be denied.  The three, at odds with each other and with differing goals, ride into the territory in search of Tom Chaney.


THE STARS.
The role of Rooster Cogburn, as everyone knows, is the role for which John Wayne finally won a long overdue Best Actor Oscar.  His only other nomination had occurred exactly twenty years earlier when he was nominated for his role as Sgt. Stryker in SANDS OF IWO JIMA (Republic, 1949).  He could have been nominated, but wasn’t, for his roles as Tom Dunson or Nathan Brittles or Tom Doniphon.  The biggest oversight, however, came when he was overlooked for what was his greatest performance, that of Ethan Edwards in THE SEARCHERS (WB, 1956).  Even harder to explain is the fact that the film did not receive a single nomination for anything.


ROOSTER COGBURN (John Wayne): “Boots, I got Hayes and some youngster outside with Moon and Qunicy. I want you to bury ‘em for me. I’m in a hurry.”
 
CAPTAIN BOOTS FINCH (Ron Soble): “They’re dead?”

ROOSTER COGBURN: “Well, I wouldn’t want you to bury ‘em if they wasn’t.”


Variety praised Wayne’s performance: “…it’s mostly Wayne all the way.  He towers over everything in the film….He rides tall in the saddle in this character role of ‘the fat old man.’”

Roger Ebert wrote: “Hathaway…has made the movie of his lifetime and given us a masterpiece….Wayne towers over this special movie.”

Wayne’s performance as Rooster Cogburn was not his greatest, but it was very good.  There is, however, some irony in the fact that he won the award for what in effect is a self-parody.  It is generally conceded that he didn’t win for that film anyway, that he was rewarded for his body of work.  If so, it isn’t the only time that such a thing has occurred.  And there is little doubt that TRUE GRIT represented his last chance for a bite of the academy apple – with one exception, albeit a slim one.  He might have been considered for his role as J.B. Books in his very last film, THE SHOOTIST (Paramount, 1976), had he not won earlier.  But maybe not, since he did not receive a nomination for that role.

Glen Campbell, originally from near Delight, Arkansas, made his film debut in TRUE GRIT.  When I first viewed the film right after it was released, I couldn’t help but think how much better it would have been if a more talented actor had been chosen to play LaBeouf, the Texas Ranger.  I still felt that way each time I watched it over the years.  But I also felt that it wasn’t fair to Campbell, a hugely talented singer and musician (later inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame), that he was put in such a position, forced to try to hold his own with so many seasoned professionals.  The director, Henry Hathaway, had not wanted him and reportedly gave the novice actor a hard time.  That led to some conflict during the production because Duvall objected strenuously to Hathaway’s badgering of Campbell, which led Wayne to take Hathaway’s side.  Wayne probably remembered how as a young actor he had been tormented by John Ford and may have thought that it was how veteran directors had to operate in order to elicit good performances from young actors.

Glen Campbell, Texas Ranger

Campbell had no illusions about his acting.  He once said, “I’d never acted in a movie before, and every time I see TRUE GRIT I think my record is still clean.”  But when I watched the film recently, I reconsidered his performance.  It wasn’t exactly great, but it wasn’t that bad either.  I now think that had he continued to work at it he could have become a competent actor. 

The following year he starred in one last film.  It was NORWOOD (Paramount, 1970).  Like TRUE GRIT, it was based on an excellent Charles Portis novel with a screenplay written by Marguerite Roberts, was produced by Hal Wallis, and co-starred Kim Darby.  Instead of John Wayne, however, the third lead role went to football star Joe Namath. 

The film was not a success and though Campbell would later make a few cameo film appearances, he chose to concentrate on his music.

Kim Darby had appeared in three feature films prior to TRUE GRIT, but the film’s success and popularity didn’t do much to advance her career either.  Like Campbell, she gave a good performance, but the role of Mattie Ross called for a stronger – and younger – actress.  If it is true that Darby didn’t look as old as her age at the time, twenty-one, it is also true that she looked much older than Mattie’s fourteen.

Wayne was also older than his character was in the book.  He was 61 at the time while his character in the book was about forty.  It didn’t really matter, but I’m certain there were no deputy marshals that age hunting down desperadoes in the Indian Territory.

 Added to the other conflicts already mentioned, it seems that Wayne had no liking for Darby.  He had wanted another actress to be cast in the role and was extremely critical of Darby’s acting.  He was also critical of her work ethic, later stating that he found her to be unprofessional.  But if so, it is impossible to detect any evidence of conflict between the two on the screen.

After starring with Campbell in NORWOOD, Darby was thereafter mostly limited to acting in TV productions.


THE SUPPORTING CAST.
Robert Duvall began his acting career on the stage in the late ‘50’s and then became an extremely busy TV actor in the 60’s.  He made his feature film debut in 1962 in a small but effective role as Boo Radley in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD (UI, 1962).  Afterwards he returned to TV and the stage for most of the rest of the decade.  Then in the late ‘60’s he began to appear in a number of feature films.  He had appeared in a ton of TV Westerns but his role as “Lucky” Ned Pepper served as his first in a Western feature film.

The following year he gained good notices as Frank Burns in M*A*S*H (Fox, 1970).  But it was because of his role as Tom Hagen in THE GODFATHER (Paramount, 1972) that his career really took off.  For his performance, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.  That was only the beginning.  He has since been nominated on five other occasions and has won one award.  He received the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in TENDER MERCIES (EMI, 1983).  He is one who pulled off the rare feat of graduating from the ranks of supporting players to become a star.

He gave a strong performance in TRUE GRIT and he appeared in several other Western films, but his greatest performance in a Western was as Gus MaCrae in the TV mini-series LONESOME DOVE (Motown, 1989).  Perhaps I’m prejudiced, but I think it was, at least to this point, his greatest performance ever.

Gus McCrae and Woodrow Call

The film includes a number of familiar and welcome faces, actors such as Strother Martin (such a good actor), Jeff Corey, Dennis Hopper, Jeremy Slate, Hank Worden, Stuart Randall (his final film), John Doucette, Guy Wilkerson, and John Fiedler (as the lawyer J. Noble Dagget).  It was also nice to see Myron Healey, who played badmen in a countless number of TV and movie Westerns, get to portray a lawman for a change.


THE DIRECTOR.
Henry Hathaway, seventy-one-years-old, had been directing films since 1932. His first was a Zane Grey story, HERITAGE OF THE DESERT (Paramount).  The director’s next seven films were also Westerns based on Zane Grey stories.  Randolph Scott, in his first starring roles, starred in six of the eight.  All had been filmed as silent films and Hathaway’s films relied extensively on stock footage from the silent productions.  They were all entertaining and well-made B+ programmers that were enjoyed by Western movie fans.

In a directing career that lasted four decades, he directed sixty-five films, including twenty Westerns.  

His first film with John Wayne had been THE SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS (Paramount, 1941), followed by NORTH TO ALASKA (Fox, 1960), CIRCUS WORLD (Paramount, 1964), THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (Paramount, 1965) and TRUE GRIT.

The Director

THE WRITERS.
Screenwriter Marguerite Roberts and her husband, also a writer, were blacklisted during the ‘50’s communist witch-hunt days.  As a result, beginning in the early years of that decade and extending into the early ‘60’s, there is a ten-year gap in her filmography.  What makes this ironic is the fact that John Wayne, who never made a secret of his right wing political views or his support of the blacklist, found himself starring in a film whose screenwriter had been victimized by that same blacklist.  Roberts wasn’t the only individual associated with the film to have experienced such a fate during that era.  Jeff Corey, who portrayed Tom Chaney, had also been blacklisted.  Surely, Wayne was aware of the blacklisting of Roberts and Corey, but if so, he never referred to it and evidently, it was never the source of any conflict during the production.

Roberts did not depart much from Charles Portis’ novel in her adaptation.  Her major change was in the ending.  As one critic noted, the ending was changed in order to allow John Wayne to ride into the sunset.

Earlier I reviewed Portis’ novel and you can read that review here.


CINEMATOGRAPHY AND LOCATION.
Lucien Ballard’s career as a cinematographer extended all the way back to the mid-30s, when he began working on what were primarily B-movies, including some of the Charles Starrett Westerns at Columbia.  In the ‘50’s, he began to work on more prestigious films

Among his Western credits are RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY (MGM, 1962), THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER (Paramount, 1965, starring John Wayne and directed by Henry Hathaway), WILL PENNY (Paramount, 1968), THE WILD BUNCH (WB, 1969), as well as Audie Murphy’s final film, A TIME FOR DYING (1969).

Ballard was a native of Oklahoma and must have been amused by the locations that were chosen for TRUE GRIT.  It is true that there are hills in eastern Oklahoma, but no snow-capped peaks!  Nevertheless, there they are in the film – along with golden aspens shimmering in the breeze, which are also not found in Oklahoma.  It is true that the Colorado locations that were filmed are much more spectacular than anything found in Oklahoma and that Ballard’s expert photography made beautiful use of them, but it is disconcerting for any viewer who has any knowledge of the geography of the area in which the story is set.

But if it is true that nobody should go to a movie to learn history, then I guess it would be fair to say the same thing about geography.

ROOSTER COGBURN.

In addition to TRUE GRIT (1969), the Rooster Cogburn character has been the subject of two feature films and one TV movie. 

Two other feature films:

ROOSTER COGBURN (Universal, 1975)

DIRECTOR: Stuart Miller;  PRODUCER: Hal B. Wallis;  WRITERS: screenplay by Martha Hyer (as Martin Julien) suggested by Charles Portis novel, True Grit; Cinematographer: Harry Stradling, Jr.

STARRING: John Wayne, Katharine Hepburn



TRUE GRIT (Paramount 2010)

DIRECTORS: Joel and Ethan Coen;  PRODUCERS:  Joel and Ethan Coen;  WRITERS: screenplay by Joel and Ethan Coen based on Charles Portis novel of same title;  CINEMATOGRAPHY: Roger Deakins

STARRING: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Hailee Stanfield

You can read my review of this film here.


TV movie (filmed as pilot for possible series that never developed):

TRUE GRIT (Paramount TV, 1978)

DIRECTOR: Richard T. Heffron;  PRODUCER: Sandor Stern;  WRITERS: screenplay by Sandor Stern based on characters created by Charles Portis in novel of same title;  CINEMATOGRAPHY: Stevan Larner

STARRING: Warren Oates, Lisa Pelikan 

 “LUCKY” NED PEPPER (Robert Duvall):  “What’s your intention?  Do you think one on four is a dogfall?”

ROOSTER COGBURN (John Wayne):  “I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned.  Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker’s convenience.  Which’ll it be?”

NED PEPPER: “I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man.”

ROOSTER COGBURN: “Fill your hands, you sonvabitch!”