True Grit

Starring: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, Carlos Rivas, Isabel Boniface, H.W. Gim, John Pickard, Elizabeth Harrower
Director: Henry Hathaway
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

A wonderful/rueful running gag in El Dorado involves the Edgar Allan Poe line "Ride, boldly ride" being mangled by toupee-wearer Wayne into "Ride, baldy, ride." Two years later, in True Grit, Wayne put the joke in italics by donning an eyepatch and several inches of girth to play cantankerous territorial marshal Rooster Cogburn. Critics belatedly noticed that he could be a marvelously entertaining actor, and Hollywood finally gave him the Oscar they'd failed to nominate him for in Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, et al. But make no mistake: True Grit is a splendid movie, with lovingly textured storytelling and sturdy characters, Henry Hathaway's finest high-country action set-pieces, intoxicatingly ornate frontier language, and a couple of formidable bad guys (Jeff Corey's Tom Cheney and Robert Duvall's "Lucky" Ned Pepper). It's a compliment to say that, from a technical standpoint, the movie could have been made any time in Hathaway's 40-year career, yet its feeling for the reality of violence ceded no ground to The Wild Bunch, released around the same time. Still, the film's most sublime passage falls between bursts of gunplay: Rooster sitting on a hilltop at night recounting his life story, as John Wayne metamorphoses ineluctably into W.C. Fields. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews:

What a ride ... .......2007-06-11

John Wayne's belated Oscar came for 1969's True Grit," a rousing entertainment that didn't stand quite as tall as, say, "Red River" or "The Searchers." Paramount Home Entertainment has released the double-disc set as part of the studio's 100th-year Wayne promotion with Warner Home Video.

The Duke plays one-eyed bounty hunter Rooster Cogburn. Valley girl Kim Darby plays a teen bent on avenging her father's death. Darby, who gives a sensational performance, stood toe-to-toe with Wayne onscreen and off, the bonus features note. Critics of the time thought Darby was in for a major league career, but she went on to a modest but long-running tenure in the business.

The extras aren't deep, but the docu "Working With the Duke" does a decent job of positioning "True Grit" in Wayne's sunsetting career. Perhaps mellowing with age, right-winger Wayne went to bat for the hiring of blacklisted screenwriter Marguerite Roberts, who was "weaned on stories about gunfighters."

The images of Colorado (2.35:1) are suitably sweeping and majestic. An extra feature returns to some of the "True Grit" locations, such as the graphic triple hanging. I experienced none of the softness cited by some of the other reviewers.

An old but still robust oak!.......2007-06-02

"True grit" is a humanizing Western that obviously doesn't lack of the main ingredients, but provided of a superior vision. Booster Cogburn is a one-eye crotchety U.S. Marshall who still can shoot straight.

In this sense we must acknowledge an absolute and even worthy treatment in which concerns originality and profound honesty about the genre that definitively has achieved a true mythic feature.

And so, being Wayne the most complete icon of this genre was more than obvious to suppose he had to star the most variegated gamut of characters in his successful artistic trajectory.

On the other hand, this was the film in which Dennis hopper and Henry Hathaway smoked the cask of the peace after a long chain of misfortunate events between them.

How to fix image quality.......2007-06-01

I had the same problem with image quality as previously posted by another reviewer on May 27, 2007. Mine was blurred, NOT in 2.35:1 and the "Enhanced" setting did not work on my DVD player. Here is what I had to do to fix the image quality problem: go back to startup DVD menu before you select "Play" and change your "Display" to "4:3 Letterbox".

Big problem with the image qualtiy in this movie.......2007-05-27

We have a big mystery here. All the reviews I have read about this movie say the picture quality is great, but the focus is soft. Here is a note I sent to a reviewer on a prominent DVD website. I haven't received a reply yet. If anybody on Amazon knows what the problem is please write in and let us know. Here is my note mentioned above:
"I am puzzled about the lack of sharpness in the focus in this movie. All the long shots and medium shots are definitely soft. I have a top of the line 50" plasma monitor with a lot of DVDs and I worked as a film cameraman for 15 years so I know what a sharp image is supposed to look like. The movie plays in what looks like 1.85 with narrow letterboxing at the top and bottom as normal. The Internet Movie Database says this is a 1.85 film. In that 1.85 aspect ratio the image is soft as I said. However, in the supplemental documentary there are several scenes from the movie that appear to be in about 2.35 or close that look sharp just like they should. But True Grit wasn't a 2.35 scope process movie! What is going on here? I understand if a scope movie is shown in 1.85 the image has been enlarged and it would look soft, but it is a 1.85 movie and it looks soft which usually means the studio messed up the transfer. But your review says the picture is great. I am really puzzled. Can you explain what the problem might be?"

This review is on the special edition.......2007-05-27

Let me be the first to review this Special Edition presentation of True Grit. Since so much reviews have been written about the plot and all, I will go straight to the gest of this review. The special edition is a definite improvement over the previous released editions of True Grit. The colors, image and everything appears to be more clearer, vivid and cleaner. The sound also improved as well and overall, any true fan of this movie will upgrade to this edition. The extra features also proves to be quite nice and they are well worth the time and effort to view as well.

This movie may not be one of John Wayne's finest effort (I thought his work in the Searchers was superior) but it represent everything there is about John Wayne in one package. His Oscar is well deserved and the captured of his character, Rooster Cogburn, is near perfect. As a friend of mine's once said, "Wayne can only play Wayne", but he does it so superbly that it virtually off set most actors playing other characters. True Grit is a great movie and this Special Edition does pretty good justice to the film.

The John Wayne Western Collection (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / True Grit / Hondo / McLintock! / Big Jake / The Shootist / Rio Lobo / The Sons of Katie Elder / El Dorado)

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The John Wayne Western Collection (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / True Grit / Hondo / McLintock! / Big Jake / The Shootist / Rio Lobo / The Sons of Katie Elder / El Dorado)
Starring: John Wayne , James Stewart , John Ford , Vera Miles , and Lee Marvin
Director: John Farrow , Howard Hawks , and Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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John Wayne Collection, Vol. 2 (Rio Grande / A Lady Takes a Chance / The Fighting Kentuckian / Dakota)
The John Wayne Century Collection (Big Jake, Donovan's Reef, El Dorado, Hatari!, Hondo, In Harm's Way, Island in the Sky, McLintock!, Rio Lobo, The High and the Mighty, etc.)
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ASIN: B000O179GS
Release Date: 2007-05-22

John Wayne DVD Gift Set (The Shootist/ The Sons of Katie Elder/ True Grit/ El Dorado/ The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)

Average customer rating:

Great Classics
Great Set!!!!
DVD
Speedy Delivery
If you like John Wayne

John Wayne DVD Gift Set (The Shootist/ The Sons of Katie Elder/ True Grit/ El Dorado/ The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)
Starring: John Wayne , Lauren Bacall , Ron Howard , James Stewart , and Richard Boone
Director: Don Siegel , and Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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McLintock! (Authentic Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B00006674Y
Release Date: 2002-05-14

Description

Legendary producer-director Howard Hawks teams with two equally legendary stars, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, in this classic Western drama. Mitchum plays to perfection an alcoholic but gutsy sheriff who relentlessly battles the dark side of the wild West, ruthless cattle barons and crooked "businessmen." The Duke gives an equally adept performance as the sheriff's old friend who knows his way around a gunfight. Filled with brawling action and humor, El Dorado delivers the goods. James Caan and Ed Asner co-star. Ranking with Stagecoach as one of the greatest of its genre, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is the modern-day Western to beat all Westerns. John Ford, whose very name is synonymous with "Westerns," directed the ideal cast. Jimmy Stewart plays the bungling but charming big-city lawyer determined to rid the fair village of Shinbone of its number one nuisance and Bad Man: Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). And as if all that weren't enough, the biggest star that ever aimed a six-shooter plays the Man of the title: John Wayne. Super-sincere Stewart and rugged rancher Wayne also share the same love interest (Vera Miles). One gets the gunman but the other gets the gal. Afflicted with a terminal illness, John Bernard Brooks (John Wayne), the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart). Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow (Lauren Bacall) and her son (Ron Howard). However, it is not Brook's fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle. Katie Elder bore four sons. The day she is buried they all return home to Clearwater, Texas, to pay their last respects. John Wayne is the eldest and toughest son, the gunslinger. Tom (Dean Martin) is good with a deck of cards and good with a gun when he has to be. Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one - nobody ever called him yellow...twice. Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.) is the youngest. Any hope for respectability lies with him. Directed by Henry Hathaway (True Grit), an acknowledged master of the Western, the story has a dual theme: not only is this a he-man's story, but it is also a drama of the maternal influence of Katie Elder, movingly portrayed from beginning to conclusion. In 1970, John Wayne won an Academy Award. for his larger-than-life performance as the drunken, uncouth and totally fearless one-eyed U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. The cantankerous Rooster is hired by a headstrong young girl (Kim Darby) to find the man who murdered her father and fled with the family savings. When Cogburn's employer insists on accompanying the old gunfighter, sparks fly. And the situation goes from troubled to disastrous when an inexperienced but enthusiastic Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) joins the party. Laughter and tears punctuate the wild action in this extraordinary Western which features performances by Robert Duvall and Strother Martin.

Customer Reviews:

Great Classics.......2007-03-31

I bought this as a gift. My brother in law loved it and so did I, since I asked to borrow them so I can see them too!

Great Set!!!!.......2007-03-26

There are many John Wayne box sets out there, this is THE one to have. These are, in my opinion, some of his best movies. This set is a great set for the John Wayne fan. Great picture and sound quality, and really cool extras also.

DVD.......2007-01-25

This was a gift for my son. He seemed realy please about it. I am very satisfied

Speedy Delivery.......2007-01-20

Amazon delivered this Christmas Gift in lightening speed time. I feel confident ordering from Amazon again. I cannot review the movies for obvious reasons but everything looked fine on delivery. Great Web Site!

If you like John Wayne.......2007-01-11

If you like the movies this is an excellent set to buy

Average customer rating:

What a ride ...
An old but still robust oak!
How to fix image quality
Big problem with the image qualtiy in this movie
This review is on the special edition

True Grit
Starring: John Wayne , Glen Campbell , Kim Darby , Jeremy Slate , and Robert Duvall
Director: Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

4-for-3 All DVDs | 4-for-3 DVD | Stores | DVD | Video

All Titles | John Wayne Store | Stores | DVD | Video

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Westerns | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
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El Dorado

ASIN: 6305754934
Release Date: 2000-03-21

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

What a ride ... .......2007-06-11

An old but still robust oak!.......2007-06-02

How to fix image quality.......2007-06-01

Big problem with the image qualtiy in this movie.......2007-05-27

This review is on the special edition.......2007-05-27

The John Wayne Collection, Vol. I (El Dorado, Rio Lobo, True Grit)

Average customer rating:

The John Wayne Collection, Vol. I (El Dorado, Rio Lobo, True Grit)
Starring: John Wayne , Robert Mitchum , James Caan , Charlene Holt , and Paul Fix
Director: Howard Hawks , and Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

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ASIN: B000O179HC
Release Date: 2007-05-22

The Best of John Wayne Collection 1 (Rio Lobo / El Dorado / True Grit)

Average customer rating:

Very Good Collection, But Wish The DVD's Had More Features
THREE GREAT LATTER DAY DUKE WESTERNS

The Best of John Wayne Collection 1 (Rio Lobo / El Dorado / True Grit)
Starring: John Wayne , Robert Mitchum , James Caan , Charlene Holt , and Paul Fix
Director: Howard Hawks , and Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Westerns | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

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Chisum
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ASIN: B00008CMR7
Release Date: 2005-08-02

Amazon.com

El Dorado
El Dorado (1967) doesn't quite have the scope or ambition of Howard Hawks's greatest Westerns, Red River and Rio Bravo. But this relaxed picture, made near the end of Hawks's marvelous career, still shows the steady, sure hand of a master. Hawks reunites with John Wayne, playing a hired gun mixed up in a range war; Robert Mitchum is Wayne's old pal, now a sheriff in the midst of a hopeless drunken bender. James Caan, in one of his first sizable roles, plays a kid who can't shoot straight and wears a funny hat (every character in the movie makes fun of this hat). As the plot moves along, it begins to resemble Rio Bravo rather closely ("I steal from myself all the time," Hawks was fond of admitting). But in El Dorado the heroes are a bit older, their powers a bit weaker; at the end Wayne must revert to a bit of subterfuge in order to get the drop on the steely gunslinger (ice-cold Christopher George) he needs to put down. As relaxed as the movie is, Hawks and Wayne and company are in good spirits, with plenty of broad humor and easy camaraderie on display. Hawks and Wayne would make just one more film, the disappointing Rio Lobo, before ending their fruitful partnership. --Robert Horton

True Grit
John Wayne hams it up as a one-eyed, broken-down marshal in this 1969 adaptation of Charles Portis's bestselling novel. Kim Darby plays the formal-speaking adolescent who goes to Wayne for help tracking down her father's killer, and singer Glen Campbell straps on his guns to join the quest. Directed by old lion Henry Hathaway (Rawhide), this is largely a showcase for Wayne (who finally won an Oscar®), but it is also a decent Western with a particularly stirring final act. --Tom Keogh

Rio Lobo
The final film by the legendary director Howard Hawks, released in 1970, found him paired with longtime leading man John Wayne in a story slightly similar to their more familiar Rio Bravo and El Dorado. Set at the end of the Civil War, the story finds Wayne playing a Union army colonel who recovers some stolen gold and roots out a traitor. Though a little creaky (Hawks had been making films since 1926), Rio Lobo nevertheless has his trademark, crackling dialogue, appealing characters, and ensemble spirit among the cast. This was a worthy finish to a fantastic career by a first-rank filmmaker. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Very Good Collection, But Wish The DVD's Had More Features.......2007-03-10

If your a Duke fan like me, you will love the movies on their own merit. I am just not happy that the DVD's didn't have extra features like behind the scenes footage. Oh well, I guess I will have to live with that...

THREE GREAT LATTER DAY DUKE WESTERNS.......2005-08-04

i have to say that the John Wayne Westerns of the mid 60's through the 1970's were always my favorites since they are the ones that I grew up on and saw many at the show such as "The Cowboys" and "The Train Robbers". This set features three of Wayne's best films of this period.

El dorado is basically a remake of Rio Bravo with Mitchum playing the drunken sheriff in place of Dean Martin and James Caan playing the young gun instead of Ricky Nelson. Wayne is Cole Thornton, and aging gunfighter is offered a job by evil land grabber Ed Asner to kill Mitchum and run the rightful landowners off their land. Thornton refuses and instead goes to El dorado to help his friend against the other gunmen Asner hired led by Nelson McCloud played by Christopher George. Caan plays Mississippi a young man who cannot use a gun and is given a sawed off shotgun as his weapon. Arthur Hunnicut plays Bull and essentially takes over the role that Walter Brennan played in "Rio Bravo".

True Grit was perhaps Wayne's most famous role and the one he won an Oscar for playing U.S. marshall Rooster Cogburn who is hired by the young Kim Darby to go after the murderer of her father. They are joined by Texas Ranger Glen Campbell as they hunt down the man who has joined a band of outlaws led by Lucky Ned pepper played by a young Robert Duvall. Wayne is great as the grizzled, drunken, but tough as nails lawman. The climax with Cogburn facing off against the four outlaws single-handedly is one of the great scenes in Western history.

Rio Lobo is yet another remake of Rio Bravo. Wayne essentially playing the same role as he hunts down a rogue former Union officer who turned traitor. This time crazy-eyed Jack Elam takes over the Walter Brennan/Arthur Hunnicut role as the old gun hand. This time Mexican actor Jorge Rivero plays the handsome young gun who was a confederate soldier and has now joined with Colonel McNally (Wayne) to hunt the man down. The Lovely Jennifer O'Neill co-stars along with Chris Mitchum.

True Grit is a classic and the other two are very good westerns. Lots of action and the Duke was still a commanding presence on screen. You can't go wrong with this set. Bravo to paramount!

The John Wayne Collection (El Dorado, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Shootist, The Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit)

Average customer rating:

The John Wayne Collection (El Dorado, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Shootist, The Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit)
Starring: John Wayne , Dean Martin , Martha Hyer , Michael Anderson Jr. , and Earl Holliman
Director: Henry Hathaway , and Howard Hawks
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Westerns | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

All Titles | John Wayne Store | Stores | DVD | Video

Boxed Sets & Collections | John Wayne Store | Stores | DVD | Video
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ASIN: B000O179HM
Release Date: 2007-05-22

Average customer rating:

True Grit
Starring: Edith Atwater , Ken Becker , Glen Campbell , Jeff Corey , and Kim Darby
Director: Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: 6305754942
Release Date: 2000-03-21

Average customer rating:

What a ride ...
An old but still robust oak!
How to fix image quality
Big problem with the image qualtiy in this movie
This review is on the special edition

True Grit
Starring: John Wayne , Glen Campbell , Kim Darby , Jeremy Slate , and Robert Duvall
Director: Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video

Comedy | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

All Titles | John Wayne Store | Stores | DVD | Video

1960s | John Wayne Store | Stores | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( T ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Rooster Cogburn (...and the Lady)
The Shootist
The Cowboys (Deluxe Edition)
The Sons of Katie Elder
El Dorado

ASIN: 6305754918
Release Date: 2000-03-21

Amazon.com essential video

Customer Reviews:

What a ride ... .......2007-06-11

An old but still robust oak!.......2007-06-02

How to fix image quality.......2007-06-01

Big problem with the image qualtiy in this movie.......2007-05-27

This review is on the special edition.......2007-05-27

Average customer rating:

What a ride ...
An old but still robust oak!
How to fix image quality
Big problem with the image qualtiy in this movie
This review is on the special edition

True Grit [Region 2]
Starring: John Wayne , Glen Campbell , Kim Darby , Jeremy Slate , and Robert Duvall
Director: Henry Hathaway
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video