Rooster Cogburn [DVD]

Nearly everyone knows this movie, I won’t talk about. I do want to mention the condition it arrived in. Absolutely perfect. Not a scratch. It played beautifully. I’m going to continue to order blu ray/dvd from Amazon because I have confidence in every aspect of my orders. The price was excellent, as well. Thanks to this purchase, I’m looking forward to buying more classics like this to expand my viewing library.

Sharp definition, vibrant colors, great stars

Great movie

Always love john Wayne. Thank you

This movie seems to have gotten overlooked by many movie fans and the general public over the years. I understand that even the critics didn't give it much praise when it was released in 1975. I suspect this is largely due to being compared to its predecessor True Grit, which was an outstanding movie, but an entirely different animal. John Wayne merely reprised his role as the ornery Reuben "Rooster" Cogburn in a completely different story. Although that story may seem a bit typical to many people without much in the way of "classic scenes", the movie does offer features that make it very worthwhile. The pairing of John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn makes for some great character interaction, due to their contrasting personalities. Their performances are top-notch. Another feature to this movie is the beautiful scenery. Much of it was filmed in Oregon in an area called Smith Rock. I particularly appreciate that area as it is fairly close to where I live. Other scenes take place on the Rogue River, which is much further south. Been there too a few times. And this brings me to the video quality of the DVD releases. You just can't appreciate this movie and its glorious scenery on the regular DVD release. Many scenes are a bit blurred and have some sort of pixilating going on. From the opening scene, which takes place at night, it's a terrible transfer from a bad source. The film is pretty nicked up and the color is off. I was very happy to find that the Blu-ray edition remedies all of these issues! And I am not a serious Blu-ray fan.....yet! It would take a lot of time and money to replace all my regular DVDs. The bottom line is whether or not you are a major John Wayne fan (which I am), and/or a classic Westerns fan (again, which I am), if you like good movies which look great on a big flat screen TV, I highly recommend this Blu-ray.

Great

First of foremost let me state that there may be some spoilers ahead in this review. Anyways, to the critique. Westerns have never been my interest, I have always avoided them like the plague while growing up. However, when I was introduced to John Wayne in True Grit some years back, I was surprised! The movie had such a charm to it that made it possible to follow the characters and enjoy their adventure which is no wonder that John Wayne had won an oscar for it. Learning of it's sequel, I went out to buy both movies to add to my collection. I was not disappointed by this movie! I personally felt that it had it's own unique charm just as True Grit did, giving more action sequences and some fun dialogue. I did have a few issues with the story, however, as I have noticed some unrealisms. First of all, John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn must retrieve several crates of nitro glycerin along with the lead villian to return back to Fort Smith for a reward. But do you know how the lead villian (Hawk) is carrying those crates of nitro glycerin? On a wagon! Clearly, they did not research how wagons traveled on the Oregon Trail or the old west or they would have known that the terrain caused the wagon to constantly bounce and shift. Hence why many people walked besides the wagons because the ride was far too rough. Hauling nitro glycerin on a wagon alone would have been more than disasterous. But wait, there's more! Not only would the rough wagon ride cause the nitro glycerin to self destruct, but they also managed to crash the nitro glycerin into a rock face, damaging the tire of the wagon. After Wayne and Hepburn retrieve the nitro glycerin, they begin sailing down the river with the crates stacked upon a raft. While on the raft, they eventually hit some rapids, causing their raft to be tossed about, crashing into things, and constantly bobbing up and down. Did anything happen to the nitro though? Of course not! That packaging must have been so well done, the nitro glycerin could withstand even the most tormented of punishments! To put the icing on the cake, after rocking, slamming, jerking, bouncing, and almost throwing the nitro glycerin, they come to a small part of the river where they nervously and carefully put it into the water. Glad to see they're finally being careful with it after all this time but what that nitro has been through, they might as well have thrown it into the villians. Right before they reach the rapids, John Wayne pulls into his trusty kit and produces a gatling gun to fire on the opposing villians. Glad that we can just keep gatling guns in our pockets to use when an ambush of villians fire on our trusty little raft from atop a cliff now isn't it? I always thought gatling guns were heavy, lunky, and would probably not be supported by a make shift raft. But then again The Duke is full of surprises now isn't he? To top it off, John Wayne eventually shoots the crates of nitro as they flow right next to the villians, thus disposing of them once and for all. Now, since you've been on the edge of your seat the entire movie just waiting for the nitro to blow up after all it's been through, you finally get your just reward! I'm surprised he didn't just pull out the gatling gun as it seems that at this point that would be the only method of destructing the nitro. Hollywood tends to like to push things like this but I felt that this was a little over the top. So, plot holes and unrealisms of this movie, hence me giving it four stars instead of five. Don't get me wrong, I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie and I felt the DVD quality was excellent, a good watch and a good buy for John Wayne fans out there! It may have a different flavor than True Grit and take on similarities to another plot as many reviewers already stated, but it's a great movie none the less! Don't let me discourage you from buying it!

I really liked this movie! I wasn't sure if I would. On the one hand the story seemed very interesting to me. On the other hand, I read reviews that described Wayne and Hepburn as bickering a lot. I really don't enjoy films where the main characters are constantly bickering and being nasty to each other. I find that really annoying. Well, the story won out and I finally decided to give it a chance. Glad I did. I found the relationship between the two leads very pleasant. There was some disagreement but on the whole they really liked and respected each other and it was enjoyable watching them get to know one another. The dialogue was wonderful and quite funny in spots. There were many great scenes. I loved when Eula stoically cites Psalm 23 all the while being shot at by the evil Hawk at close range. I have seen many John Wayne films over the last few years and I have to say I'm not really a fan of his in general. However, I liked him in this. His character is very likable. I know I'll be in the minority but I think I liked this one even better than True Grit! (I think because I liked Hepburn's character more than Kim Darby's character.) I bought the regular DVD, not the Blu-ray and I thought the picture quality was fine. The scenery in this is wonderful! There are subtitles for the hard of hearing. I'm glad I bought this one! I'll be watching this one again!

Grosse Unterhaltung mit Spitzenstars. Das kann man sich oft ansehen. Story schlüssig. "UND Wayne und die Kathrin spielen überragend. Besonders der pokternde, saufende und schiesswuetige Sheriff ist sehenswert

Follow up to True Grit, John Wayne is fantastic as curmudgeon Rooster Cogburn, and also dynamic of Katherine Hepburn as missionary Eula Goodnight. A load of munitions, nitro and weapons has been highjacked by bandits who killed most of the cavalry soldiers. Richard Jordan, and Anthony Zerbe lead the outlaws. Cogburn is told to get back the shipment, his role as marshal is in jepardy if he doesn't catch the bad guys. Hepburn with her father is taking care of a small settlement of natives. The bad guys come and kill her father and a lot of the indians. Cogburn comes upon the settlement and reluctantly agrees to have Hepburn and a native called Wolf to accompany him in pursuit of the outlaws. They are able to trick the outlaws and gain possession of the munitions. They are pursued by the outlaws. They load the munitions on to a small boat, Cogburn is able to put a gatling gun together and spray the outlaws with bullets. There is great interaction between the 2 stars. During the adventure there is a relationship developing with the 2. Highly recommended for admirers of Wayne and Hepburn.

I've had my fingers burnt with some purchases of Blu-ray versions of older films; the upgrade doesn't always seem to work. It is a bit hit and miss - impossible to predict which films will benefit from the BR conversion. My only fairly consistent rule is 'that the older the original, the less likely it is to look much better as a BR'. However, happily Rooster Cogburn made the transfer to BR very successfully. Both picture quality and sound are excellent, about as good as it gets, especially for what is now a 46 year old film. Well worth the cost as a BR. As to whether you rate the film or not, that is a matter of personal choice. I think it is a wonderfully easy yet satisfying watch - great character portrayals.

DVD arrivé le 23 décembre (commandé le 30 novembre; grosse déception, il est en zone 1 et donc illisible en Belgique !

Sehr guter Film!