Source: collider.com/By Liam Gaughan
This moving monologue showcased a side of Wayne we rarely got to see.
It’s safe to say that the Western genre would not have developed into one of the most popular categories of film if it weren’t for the extraordinary career of John Wayne.
While it was not the first Western ever made, the 1939 classic Stagecoach fulfilled everything cinephiles could want from the genre, and kicked off a notoriously illustrious partnership between Wayne and director John Ford.
Although Wayne’s work with Ford was arguably the highlight of both of their filmographies, Wayne worked with many great filmmakers, and began to make darker and more reflective films in the last decade of his career.
In addition to finally earning him the Academy Award for Best Actor that he had long been denied, Wayne’s performance in True Gritcontains what he believes is the best acting of his career.
‘True Grit’ Has One of John Wayne’s Greatest Performances
True Grit is based on the novel of the same name by Charles Portis, which also inspired a 2010 remake by Joel and Ethan Coenthat starred Jeff Bridges.
Wayne stars as the aging U.S. Major Marshall Rooster Cogburn, whose cantankerous behavior and constant drinking has caused many of his peers to think that he is past his prime.
However, a violent insurrection forces Cogburn to jump back into the line of fire. In Yell County,Arkansas, the farmer Frank Ross (John Pickard) is murdered by the outlaw Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey), whom he had once employed as a hired hand.
Although the Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) is determined to hunt Chaney down and bring him to justice under the law, Ross’ young daughter Mattie (Kim Darby) decides to hire Cogburn to help track down her father’s killer.
While he had starred in countless Westerns by the time of the film’s release, Wayne was uniquely cast in True Grit as an aging protagonist who was past his prime.
Cogburn did not have the excitable energy of Sheriff John T. Chance in Rio Bravo, nor did he have the incisive rage of Major Ethan Edwards in The Searchers. Rather, Cogburn is a character who is no longer respected, and uses his new mission to help Mattie as a means of solidifying his reputation. In many ways, this felt like a self-reflective performance on Wayne’s part.
While the 1960s saw the emergence of new Western stars like Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef, Wayne proved in True Grit that he hadn’t lost step with the genre that had paved the way for his career.