True Grit is a 1969 American Western film directed by Henry Hathaway, starring John Wayne as U.S.

Marshal Rooster Cogburn, Glen Campbell as La Boeuf and Kim Darby as Mattie Ross.

In 1880, Frank Ross, of Yell County, Arkansas, is murdered and robbed by his hired hand, Tom Chaney.

[a] Young Texas Ranger La Boeuf is also pursuing Chaney and joins forces with Cogburn, despite Mattie's protest.

Days later, the three discover horse thieves Emmett Quincy and Moon, who are waiting for Pepper at a remote dugout cabin.

A firefight ensues, during which Cogburn and La Boeuf kill two gang members, but Pepper and the rest of his men escape unharmed.

La Boeuf finds and takes charge of Mattie, and they watch from a high bluff as Cogburn confronts Pepper and his gang of three.

On Mattie's behalf, Daggett pays Cogburn the remainder of his fee in Chaney's capture, plus a $200 bonus for saving her life.

[4][5][6] (The script maintains the novel's references to place names in Arkansas and Oklahoma, in dramatic contrast to the Colorado topography.)

[7][8] The scenes that take place at the "dugout" and along the creek where Quincy and Moon are killed, as well as the scene where Rooster carries Mattie on her horse Little Blackie after the snakebite, were filmed at Hot Creek on the east side of the Sierra Nevada near the town of Mammoth Lakes, California.

John Wayne met Karen Carpenter at a talent show he was hosting and recommended her for the part, though the producers decided against it because she had no acting experience.

[12] Elvis Presley was the original choice for LaBoeuf, but the producers turned him down when his agent demanded top billing over both Wayne and Darby.

In multiple interviews, Campbell claimed that Wayne, along with his daughter,[13] approached him backstage at his show, and asked him if he would like to be in a movie.

Wills comments that it is difficult for one actor to imitate another for the entire length of a movie and that the Beery mannerisms temporarily recede during the aforementioned scene in which Cogburn discusses his wife and child.

[15] Veteran John Wayne stunt-double Tom Gosnell does the stunt in the meadow, where "Bo" goes down, on his longtime horse Twinkle Toes.

Wayne fell in love with the horse, which carried him through several more Westerns, including his final movie, The Shootist.

Nevertheless, in May 1969, a few weeks before the picture was released, Wayne wrote to Marguerite Roberts thanking her for her "magnificent" screenplay, especially for the beautiful ending in the cemetery that she had devised in Portis's style.

[20] Wayne and Kim Darby worked very well together, but Henry Hathaway disliked her, stating: "My problem with her was simple, she's not particularly attractive, so her book of tricks consisted mostly [of] being a little cute.

"[21] By the time the picture got back to the studio interiors, Kim Darby told Hal Wallis she would never work for Hathaway again.

"[22] Surrounded by an angry director, a nervous actress, and the inexperienced Glen Campbell, Wayne took the reins between his teeth the same way Rooster Cogburn does in the climax of the film.

[26][27] The film earned an estimated $11.5 million in rentals at the United States and Canada box office during its first year of release.

The website's 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.

"[29] John Simon wrote, "Worthy of succinct notice is True Grit', an amusing, unassuming western, antiheroic with a vengeance.

"[31] A film sequel, Rooster Cogburn, was made in 1975, with Wayne reprising his role and Katharine Hepburn as an elderly spinster, Eula Goodnight, who teams with him.

[40] A further made-for-television sequel titled True Grit: A Further Adventure appeared in 1978, starring Warren Oates as Rooster Cogburn and Lisa Pelikan as Mattie Ross.

[41] Hailee Steinfeld portrays Mattie Ross, Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn, and the cast includes Matt Damon as La Boeuf and Josh Brolin as Tom Chaney.