. . . Ay-Ya, it's none other than the Connecticut Yankee herself, Katharine Hepburn, angling for that elusive fourth Best Actress Oscar if she can pull off the Miracle of bringing Salvation to that most Unrepentent scoundrel, Rooster Cogburn. Ol' Rooster has slaughtered scads of Abolitionist families as a Confederate Civil War "raider," in his failed attempt to coddle the lazy Southern cotton plantation guys and their Racist System of Genocidal Black Slavery. Instead of being hung for his status as a traitor and a War Criminal, this Chicken Man has hit the reset button on his Rolodex of Death, and started enumerating his Quasi-Legal murders in a U.S. Marshal capacity from Absolute Zero. However, in just eight years this crowing bully has notched 60 kill shots among his 64 gun attacks--a fatality rate that only a back-shooting sniper could achieve, as any REAL military man will tell you. His renegade judicial enabler points this out in stripping Rooster of all authority as this sequel opens, but immediately defies his better angel by reinstating the drunken killing machine for the quality of his "Blue Spit" (caused by 86-proof Bourbon and 14% alcohol Beer). Even the AFR!CAN QUEEN can't salvage THIS geezer; she'd have to look for her next Oscar ON GOLDEN POND. However, with the NRA running what passes for the American Government nowadays, an open-carrying Rooster could lurch into nearly any public gathering in America, and feel as comfortable shooting off his mouth as a Chicago Cop.

"I ain't had a drink since breakfast!". So says John Wayne, repeating his "True Grit" role as "Rooster Cogburn". "I do not fear a skunk. I simply do not care for its odor". So says Katharine Hepburn, playing basically the same part she had essayed 25 years earlier in "The African Queen". With those two lines, the personalities of these two characters are put into perspective. I could spend my entire review quoting this movie, a witty comedy western with romance, plenty of action and two stars that totally compliment each other. This is a reminder of how much fun movies USED to be.The basic storyline, an official sequel to "True Grit", is a re-tread of "The African Queen" with Wayne back as Rooster, taking over what Humphrey Bogart did in John Huston's 1951 masterpiece. Instead of taking on Nazis like Bogart and Hepburn did in Africa, Wayne and Hepburn are pursuing the brutes who killed Hepburn's missionary father in cold blood. Along the way, the prim and proper Hepburn opens her eyes a bit and begins to enjoy life a little more, sparkling as she breaks many of her own rules as she shoots a rifle at the villains. You have to watch everything she does because Hepburn pulls out all the stops in her characterization. It is obvious that she was having a blast making this film.Wayne, in his second to last western ("The Shootist", a wonderful film, was his last movie, released the following year), is not simply repeating his Oscar Winning role or making him a buffoon. He simply allows Hepburn's prim and proper spinster to bring out the best in him, enjoying every fight they have. This gives many more dimensions to a character that audiences had already come to love. Richard Romancito is truly memorable as the Native American boy taken in by Hepburn's father. His curiosity over Wayne's adventures is a touching bit of plot thrown in for good measure.This is a film that deserves regular repeat viewings to pick up on all the comic tidbits that Wayne and Hepburn have to deliver. More clever than just simple entertainment and high ranking on Wayne's gallery of already classic portrayals, "Rooster Cogburn" is an extraordinary delight that younger audiences today should see as an example that sometimes "less" ends up being "so much more".

That's the hero of African Queen of course and as many others have noted, you can't help but think of it while watching John and Kate interact. I've seen almost every picture John Wayne made after 1939 but waited until near the last to watch this one because I just couldn't believe it would live up to True Grit and it doesn't. About ten minutes into the film there's a scene with Rooster dancing around his back room apartment singing about being retired that almost made me turn it off. That's not the Rooster Cogburn I knew and loved from True Grit, not even close -- it's not even Charlie Allnut. My main problem with this movie is that I would have preferred it not to be a sequel to True Grit -- that story and the Rooster Cogburn character is somewhat sacred to me and if they weren't going to be true to them, why not just make it a generic John Wayne vehicle of the time? There's a lot to like about the movie so I give it a recommend. There's the genial inter-action between the two stars who don't let the mediocre script and story get in the way. The scenery is fine, really beautiful and to me that means a lot in a western. Though the script is poorly written, the story is actually pretty good. However, in addition to the crime of tarnishing the memory of a great film and performance, the direction is poor and the bad guys just chew up the dialogue in ham-handed fashion so it's not a very high recommend. Maybe you're better off to skip this one and do what I'll be doing this afternoon, watch True Grit.

Though most will probably disagree, I thought this was a little better than True Grit. Seeing John Wayne spoof himself is still a lot of fun. This time around there's actually quite a bit of chemistry between him and Katherine Hepburn, much more so than Wayne and Kim Darby in the first film. Also, the pace is a little faster and the villains played by Richard Jordan, Anthony Zerbe, and Paul Koslo, much nastier.The kid who plays Wolf, the Indian boy, is quite appealing and a pretty good little actor. It's too bad he didn't become a bigger star, the same for Koslo, who's really great here at portraying an oily weasel and in Mr. Majestyk with Charles Bronson.The climax is great and it's pretty cool seeing the Duke firing a machine gun!