MovieChat Forums > Rooster Cogburn Discussion > WHAT?! No awards?! No nominations?!

WHAT?! No awards?! No nominations?!


I simply can't believe this could be so. I just finished watching it and I was expecting to find at least some Oscar nominations on record. But nothing -- nothing at all.

Wow -- what a splendid film.

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I am with ya, this movie is so great.

This film was made during the "Godfather" "Cukoo's Nest" era of movies, and I think it was considered a throwback at the time.

The thing is, there's room for all kinds of movies, and it makes me feel bad that this type of film was considered passe in the mid-70's. You can like the one type of film and also enjoy and appreciate the other.

That being said, other movies, like "It's A Wonderful Life" weren't considered classics when they first came out. Time has shown how wonderful they are, and I think "Rooster Cogburn" falls well within that category.

And I when I think of the word "chemistry," I can hardly think of a better definition than The Duke's and Hepburn's performances together in this movie.

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The best thing in the film is the chemistry between Hepburn and Wayne - I had read somewhere that Hepburn was surprised how well she liked The Duke - She hadn't expected to get along with him.

But the story is a great story, the crooks are great crooks! And Wayne is Rooster Cogburn just like in True Grit!

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She had to be pretty patient with Wayne, I understand. He was on a tear a lot.

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Oddly enough a lot of Wayne's movies from the 1970s have a TV movie feel to them and I start wondering where the fadeout is going to happen. I think of three reasons:

1) A lot of directors of Waynes 1970s movies had TV Western experience. As a group they knew how to make a quality Western but seemed lack a better cinema scope. (Nice way of saying they were Budd Boettinger.)
2) The music of these movies sounds a like TV music of the lates 70s and 80s.
3) A lot Wayne's movies had a limited audience and they were looking to keep controled budgets while paying Wayne a sizable portion of the budget. This is one reason Elvis movies progressively got worse.

That said it was not a bad movie but it was basically old John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn played the same character they had played for 20 years in a Western African Queen story.

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It's an ENTERTAINING film. But Oscar worthy...Wayne had already won his Oscar as Rooster in the original True Grit. And you'd have a hard time convincing me that this was the best movie either Wayne or Hepburn did. Wayne's only two Oscar worthy films of the 70s...The Cowboys and The Shootist.

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I don't think this was a better movie than The Godfather II. I certainly don't see how Wayne could have gotten any attention in a year when America was shocked to discover that Art Carney could really act. Hepburn starring in her first Western was enough to get attention, but it's hard to describe just how popular Alice Doesn't Live Here Any More was at the time, or how it spoke to women in that era.

No, it didn't have a chance. It may have more staying power than some of the movies that did win, but the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn't exactly have a great track record of picking out the most timeless films of the year. Quite the opposite, actually...

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