John Wayne cut an imposing figure on screen, but he was never exactly thought of as a great actor. An icon of the Western genre despite his controversial personal politics, he won his only acting Oscar for the 1969 film True Grit. Wayne broke out in the 1930s, having taken his first steps in Hollywood via silent cinema. True Grit was designed as a tribute to his legendary career, and saw him playing an aging Marshal who is awoken from a drunken stupor by a girl looking for vengeance. The movie was adapted from Charles Portis‘ novel of the same name, which has since been made into a blockbuster Coen Brothers’ film. However, it’s the original True Grit that rode up the digital charts this week.
According to FlixPatrol, it was among the most-watched movies on the domestic Apple TV charts this week, when the leaderboard was topped by Predator: Badlands. True Grit was directed by Henry Hathaway, who made the acclaimed films Call Northside 777, The Lives of the Bengal Tiger, and Marilyn Monroe‘s breakout movie, Niagara. True Grit also featured Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, and Robert Duvall, and grossed more than $30 million at the box office. The movie now holds an 87% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the critics’ consensus reads, “True Grit rides along on the strength of a lived-in late-period John Wayne performance, adding its own entertaining spin to the oft-adapted source material.” Wayne returned to play Rooster Cogburn in a sequel film, which also featured Katharine Hepburn and was released only a few years before his passing in 1979.
The Coen Brothers’ ‘True Grit’ Remains One of the Highest-Grossing Westerns in History
Interestingly, Mia Farrow and Elvis Presley were considered for the roles that were played by Darby and Campbell in the movie. The same characters would be played by Hailee Steinfeld and Matt Damon in the Coen Brothers’ classic, which was headlined by Jeff Bridges. The 2010 True Grit was a massive critical and commercial success. It grossed over $250 million at the global box office, and is now sitting at a “certified fresh” 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “Girded by strong performances from Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, and lifted by some of the Coens’ most finely tuned, unaffected work, True Grit is a worthy companion to the Charles Portis book.”
You can watch both films at home, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
Release Date
June 11, 1969
Runtime
128 minutes
Director
Henry Hathaway
Writers
Charles Portis, Marguerite Roberts
