In which 1960s Western did John Wayne, Glen Campbell, and Robert Duvall star?

True Grit is the 1969 Western that starred John Wayne, Glen Campbell, and Robert Duvall. The film became one of the best-known late-career movies for John Wayne and gave him the role that finally won him an Academy Award. Wayne played U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, a rough, aging lawman with a reputation for drinking, toughness, and getting results. Glen Campbell played Texas Ranger La Boeuf, and Robert Duvall played outlaw Ned Pepper, one of the main villains of the story.

The film was based on Charles Portis’s 1968 novel True Grit, which had been published only a year before the movie was released. The story centers on Mattie Ross, a determined young girl from Arkansas whose father is murdered by a hired hand named Tom Chaney. Mattie refuses to accept excuses or delays. She wants justice, and she hires Rooster Cogburn because she believes he has the grit needed to track Chaney into dangerous territory. Kim Darby played Mattie in the 1969 film, giving the story its moral force. Although John Wayne was the star, Mattie is the character who drives the plot.

Rooster Cogburn is one of Wayne’s most memorable characters because he is not a polished hero. He is overweight, one-eyed, blunt, and morally complicated. He has killed many men in the line of duty, and he is more comfortable with danger than with polite society. At the same time, he has a rough code of honor. Wayne had played Western heroes for decades, but Rooster gave him a chance to add humor, weariness, and self-mockery to the familiar image. The performance was broad at times, but it had warmth and presence, which helped make the character stick with audiences.

Glen Campbell’s role as La Boeuf brought a different energy to the film. Campbell was already famous as a country-pop singer and television personality, and True Grit was one of his most prominent acting roles. La Boeuf is proud, stubborn, and sometimes irritating, but he is also brave. He wants to capture Chaney because Chaney is wanted in Texas for killing a senator. His goals overlap with Mattie’s, but his attitude often clashes with both her and Rooster. That friction gives the film much of its comic rhythm.

Robert Duvall’s Ned Pepper is important because he gives the film a credible threat. Duvall was still early in his long film career, but he already had a strong screen presence. Ned Pepper is not the loudest villain in Western history, but he is dangerous, organized, and ruthless. The final confrontation between Rooster and Pepper’s gang is one of the film’s signature moments. Rooster, reins in his teeth and guns blazing, charges at the outlaws in a scene that became strongly associated with Wayne’s late Western image.

True Grit was directed by Henry Hathaway, who had worked in Hollywood for decades and had directed many adventure films and Westerns. The movie was shot partly in Colorado, and its mountain landscapes gave the story a different look from the desert settings often associated with older Westerns. The scenery helped create a feeling of harsh travel and isolation, fitting a story about pursuit, revenge, and survival.

The film also includes a strong supporting cast. Dennis Hopper played Moon, a young outlaw caught between fear and loyalty. Strother Martin played Colonel Stonehill, the horse trader who tries to outtalk Mattie and quickly learns she is not easily fooled. Jeff Corey played Tom Chaney, the man Mattie is determined to see punished. These supporting characters give the film a colorful, old-fashioned Western texture.

John Wayne won the Academy Award for Best Actor for True Grit, his only competitive Oscar. Many people saw the award as recognition not just for one performance, but for a long career that had shaped the Western genre. Wayne had been nominated before, but Rooster Cogburn gave him a role that combined his familiar toughness with a more eccentric and vulnerable edge.

True Grit remained popular for decades and later inspired a 1975 sequel, Rooster Cogburn, with Wayne returning to the role opposite Katharine Hepburn. The story was also adapted again in 2010 by Joel and Ethan Coen, with Jeff Bridges as Rooster Cogburn and Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross. The 1969 version, though, remains closely tied to John Wayne’s legacy. Its blend of revenge story, frontier humor, colorful characters, and Wayne’s Oscar-winning performance made True Grit one of the defining Westerns of the late 1960s.