Rooster Cogburn... and the Lady is the title I remember from the time the movie was released. True Grit is one of my favorite movies, so I naturally want to regard its sequel as being sacred. Like most sequels, Rooster Cogburn... and the Lady does not recreate the excitement of the original.
The characters are not motivated the same way they were in True Grit. Rooster Cogburn is not being pushed by an impatient girl. Eula Goodnight is not driven by revenge, only a desire for justice. Most of all, there is a noticeable distance between the good guys and bad guys. With the exception of the raft scenes, everyone is fighting behind cover. During the raft scenes the Gatling gun forces the villains behind cover. Other than a very brief opening sequence, there is no face-to-face fighting scene for John Wayne in Rooster Cogburn... and the Lady. The interplay between Rooster and Eula is what keeps this movie from being boring.
The characters are not motivated the same way they were in True Grit. Rooster Cogburn is not being pushed by an impatient girl. Eula Goodnight is not driven by revenge, only a desire for justice. Most of all, there is a noticeable distance between the good guys and bad guys. With the exception of the raft scenes, everyone is fighting behind cover. During the raft scenes the Gatling gun forces the villains behind cover. Other than a very brief opening sequence, there is no face-to-face fighting scene for John Wayne in Rooster Cogburn... and the Lady. The interplay between Rooster and Eula is what keeps this movie from being boring.