TRUE GRIT (1969)

Name: TRUE GRIT (1969)
Item: TRUE GRIT (1969)
Author: Tess Farrand

"Crusty Sheriff Meets His Match"

Family Content: -1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.

Entertainment Quality:

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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Summary
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What You Need To Know:

TRUE GRIT, the classic 1969 western starring John Wayne, is a story about a young girl named Mattie who hires a U.S. Marshall Rooster Cogburn to catch Tom Chaney, the man who murdered Mattie’s father. Rooster strikes a deal with a Texas Ranger named La Beuof to bring in Chaney for killing a Texas senator. However, Mattie objects, because she wants Chaney to be hanged for her father’s murder. The three embark on an adventure to capture the murderer, but they encounter many obstacles and surprises along the way.

TRUE GRIT is very entertaining, with an Oscar winning performance by John Wayne. The movie has a legendary cast in addition to Wayne. TRUE GRIT has a strong Christian, moral worldview. It extols courage, friendship, sacrifice, determination, good trumping over evil, justice, and trust. One character says there is “nothing free but the grace of God.” Another character sacrifices his life so others can live. Also, Mattie offers Rooster a burial plot with her family, so he’s not alone. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children, however, because of some foul language and western violence.

Content:

(CCC, BBB, L, VV, AA, D, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong Christian, moral worldview extols courage, friendship, sacrifice, determination, good overcoming evil, justice, integrity, and trust including a man says there is “nothing free but the grace of God,” a man sacrifices his life so others can live, and a girl offers a man a spot to be buried with her family so he is not alone

Foul Language:

Six obscenities (including SOB) and one profanity, plus there are terms such as “Chinaman” and “Indian” to describe various characters, and a man with an implied disability is referred to as “simpleminded”

Violence:

Men are shot, a public hanging takes place, a man spanks a teenage girl, a rat is shot at, a man stabs his partner’s hand and stabs him in the stomach, a pistol fight takes place where horses and men are shot at, a teenage girl shoots a man, girl falls into a snake pit and gets bit on the arm, a man collapses and dies after being shot

Sex:

No sex

Nudity:

No nudity

Alcohol Use:

Adults drink whiskey, and drunkenness is depicted

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Cigarette smoking but no drugs;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Gambling, theft, kidnapping.

More Detail:

TRUE GRIT, the classic 1969 western starring John Wayne, follows the story of a young girl named Mattie who hires Rooster Cogburn a US Marshall to hunt down the man who killed her father, with help from a young Texas Ranger named La Boeuf. TRUE GRIT is very entertaining, with an Oscar winning performance by John Wayne and other great performances, plus a strong Christian, moral worldview honoring courage, justice and sacrifice.

The movie opens as a teenage girl named Mattie says goodbye to her father and his employee, Tom Chaney. Mattie later learns that her father has been murdered by Tom Chaney, but Chaney got away and fled to Indian territory. Therefore, Mattie wants to hire someone to capture Chaney, to bring justice to her father’s murder.

Mattie learns about US Marshall Rooster Cogburn who is courageous and has “true grit.” She hires him to find Chaney and to bring him back to Arkansas where he will be punished. Also, a Texas ranger named La Boeuf is also interested in finding Chaney as he is wanted in Texas for killing a senator.

La Boeuf and Cogburn strike a deal to work together to find Chaney, but Mattie wants to go with them, and they are not pleased. Despite their efforts to leave without her, Mattie rides after them so that she can be there when Chaney is caught.

When the three arrive to an outlaw cabin, they find two outlaws inside that give information about Chaney’s whereabouts. The two say Chaney is with another infamous outlaw named Ned Pepper, and that Ned Pepper will be arriving at the cabin shortly. When he arrives with some of his men, La Boeuf accidentally fires at his horse, causing Ned and most of his men to escape.

The three keep moving toward Indian Territory and find a nice place to sleep overnight. In the morning, Mattie decides to wash by the stream, but instead she finds Chaney there. She shoots at Chaney, but Ned Pepper and his gang show up and kidnap her. Rooster and La Boeuf plan to save Mattie, but first must pretend to leave so that they won’t get caught.

Meanwhile, Ned and his outlaws leave Chaney to watch over Mattie, which puts her life in grave danger. Can Rooster and La Boeuf rescue Mattie in time?

A classic western, TRUE GRIT is terrifically entertaining, with an Oscar winning performance by John Wayne and other great performances. The movie has a legendary cast in addition to Wayne, including Glen Campbell, Kim Darby and Robert Duvall. Almost everyone turns in an unforgettable performance, including character actors like Strother Martin and Jeff Corey. TRUE GRIT has a strong Christian, moral worldview extolling courage, friendship, sacrifice, determination, good overcoming evil, justice, integrity, and trust. A man says there’s “nothing free but the grace of God,” a man sacrifices his life so others can live, and a girl offers a man a burial plot with her family so he isn’t alone. MOVIEGUIDE® advises caution for older children, however, because of some foul language and western violence.

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Quality:

- Content: -1