Henry Hathaway directs John Wayne, Kim Darby and Glen Campbell in this western where a drunken Marshall is hired by a bossy teen to hunt her father’s killer.

“Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!”

Absolute childhood nostalgia. This pacey, funny and smarter-than-it-looks western owes everything to the Duke. Super relaxed, this was the role he worked his life to play. He has always been tough and often been funny but those words from Charles Portis’ novel’s dialogue just tumbles out of his mouth sweetly and with impact. Sure, the Coens remade this classier and more sophisticated but this version is hardwired into my movie loving DNA. Hell, Rooster Cogburn reminds me of my Grandad so much this feels like a Haynes Manual as to how I feel a “real man” should work. I often lead myself within difficult interactions with Rooster’s attitude at the front of my head. Dalton from Road House too. And John McClane. And Jimmy Smit’s Bobby Simone from NYPD Blue. Somewhere between the four is how all men should carry themselves through the world. And age wise, I’m entering the Cogburn phase of my life.

“Come see a fat old man sometime.”

9

Perfect Double Bill: True Grit (2010)