48 Fun Facts About True Grit

Who wrote the 1968 novel True Grit?

Charles Portis, an Arkansas-born journalist and Korean War Marine, wrote True Grit in 1968; his other novels include Norwood (1966) and The Dog of the South (1979).

In which magazine was True Grit first serialised in 1968?

The Saturday Evening Post ran it as a serial just before the book came out. By then producer Hal Wallis had bought the film rights from the galleys, outbidding John Wayne's own company.

The novel True Grit is narrated by Mattie Ross looking back from how long after the events?

A half century later, Mattie tells the story as an old woman. Its author said he simply liked the idea of having a starchy old lady as his narrator.

In True Grit, what does Tom Chaney steal from the murdered Frank Ross besides his horse?

Two gold pieces, California coins Frank Ross kept on him. In the 2010 film one of them turns up at a store in the Territory, and Mattie knows she is on Chaney's trail.

In True Grit, the Ross family farm near Dardanelle lies in which Arkansas county?

Yell County is where Mattie's story ends as well as begins: years later she has Rooster's body moved to the Ross family plot there.

What is Rooster Cogburn's given name in True Grit?

Reuben J. Cogburn is the name he is called by in court. Before he wore a marshal's badge he had ridden with Quantrill's Confederate guerrillas in the Civil War.

In True Grit, how does the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf pronounce his own name?

La-beef is how the Ranger himself says it. In the 1969 film a landlady tries 'La Boof'; he tells her the French is La Boeuf and that he calls it La Beef.

In True Grit, which outlaw leader's gang does Tom Chaney join after the murder?

Lucky Ned Pepper is an old enemy of Rooster's, who has already shot him in the lip in one fight and lost him when he slipped out of custody.

In which Arkansas town does Mattie hire Rooster Cogburn?

Fort Smith sat on the edge of Indian Territory, which is why federal marshals rode out from there.

Why has LaBoeuf been chasing Chaney for four months in True Grit?

LaBoeuf says Chaney killed a Texas senator and his dog in Waco; the Ranger wants the Texas reward, while Mattie insists Chaney hang in Arkansas for her father.

Who directed the 1969 film True Grit?

Henry Hathaway had already directed Wayne in The Sons of Katie Elder. The novelist recalled him setting up scenes with the book itself in his hand, its pages heavily underlined.

Who played Mattie Ross in the 1969 film True Grit?

Kim Darby was 21 when she was cast. At one stage the studio had planned to age Mattie to eighteen, but Darby played her as the novel's fourteen-year-old.

Which singer played the Texas Ranger La Boeuf in the 1969 film True Grit?

Glen Campbell also sang the film's title song. It was nominated for an Oscar and he performed it at the ceremony, where it lost to 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head'.

Which singer was the original choice for La Boeuf in 1969's True Grit until his agent demanded top billing?

Elvis Presley was the first choice, but the producers dropped the idea when his side demanded top billing over John Wayne himself, and the part went to another singer.

Which actress was lined up to play Mattie in 1969's True Grit but withdrew after Robert Mitchum warned her about the director?

Mia Farrow asked producer Hal Wallis to replace the director with Roman Polanski, who had just made Rosemary's Baby with her. Wallis refused, and she walked away from the part.

John Wayne recommended which future pop star for Mattie in True Grit after meeting her at a talent show?

Karen Carpenter met Wayne at a talent show he was hosting, and he put her name forward. The producers passed because she had never acted.

Where was the 1969 film True Grit mainly shot, despite its Arkansas and Oklahoma setting?

Ouray County, Colorado, stood in for Arkansas. The novelist had shown the producer's scout around the real country, but the film went to the Rockies, where the town of Ridgway later gained a True Grit Cafe.

John Wayne's eye patch in True Grit used which fabric, so that he could see through it?

Gauze let Wayne see through the patch he wore over his left eye. The 2010 film's star was left to pick a side for himself, tried both and put his patch on the right.

What is the name of Mattie Ross's pony in True Grit?

Little Blackie is the pony Mattie buys from the horse trader Stonehill. At the end Rooster rides him until he drops, racing the snakebitten Mattie to a doctor.

How does Rooster end the 1969 film True Grit after Mattie teases him about his age?

Jumps a four-rail fence: told he is too old and fat for such things, Rooster invites Mattie to come and see a fat old man some time, then puts his new horse over it and rides off.

In True Grit, how does Mattie catch up after Rooster and LaBoeuf take the ferry without her?

Swims her pony across: the ferryman has orders to hand her to the sheriff as a runaway, so she bolts into the river. In the 1969 film a watching Rooster says, 'By God, she reminds me of me.'

What rating did True Grit receive in 1969 after its makers cut 'four-letter words' from some scenes?

G was the final rating. True Grit had first been rated M, for mature audiences; trimming the language took it all the way down to a general-audience film.

What did John Wayne win for playing Rooster Cogburn in True Grit?

The Academy Award for Best Actor went to Wayne on the night the X-rated Midnight Cowboy won Best Picture. Both of that film's stars were among the nominees he beat.

Accepting his award for True Grit, John Wayne joked he should have put on what '35 years earlier'?

That patch, he said: had he known, he would have put it on 35 years earlier. The one-eyed marshal had brought Wayne the first major acting prize of a career already four decades old.

In True Grit, Rooster Cogburn hunts fugitives for the court of which real 'hanging judge'?

Isaac Parker really did preside over the frontier court that Rooster serves. Rooster himself is invented: his creator called him a representative figure of the hardy deputy marshals who rode for it.

Which True Grit (1969) cast member played the gang leader and reportedly nearly came to blows with John Wayne?

Robert Duvall had constant shouting matches with the director on set, and he and Wayne are said to have nearly come to blows over them.

Who co-starred with John Wayne in the 1975 sequel Rooster Cogburn?

Katharine Hepburn and Wayne were born two weeks apart in May 1907 and had parallel careers, yet this was the only film they ever made together.

Why does Eula Goodnight join Rooster's outlaw hunt in Rooster Cogburn (1975)?

They killed her father, a minister, when they overran his mission. She turns out to be a crack shot, and picks off an outlaw who is slipping round behind Rooster.

What stolen cargo drives the plot of Rooster Cogburn?

Nitroglycerin, taken from an Army wagon, has to be hauled slowly so it does not blow up. Rooster wins it back, floats crates of it downriver and shoots them as the gang closes in.

Who played Rooster Cogburn in the 2010 film True Grit?

Jeff Bridges is heard before he is seen: Mattie's first talk with Rooster takes place through the door of an outhouse, which he informs her is occupied.

Roughly how many applicants were considered for Mattie Ross before Hailee Steinfeld was cast?

15,000 girls applied before 13-year-old Hailee Steinfeld was chosen. One of the directors said the search caused a lot of anxiety: if the kid didn't work, there was no movie.

Who played Tom Chaney in the 2010 film True Grit?

Josh Brolin plays Chaney as slow and self-pitying: left behind by the gang with Mattie as his prisoner, he whines that everything is against him.

The 2010 True Grit credits its editing to 'Roderick Jaynes', a pseudonym for whom?

The Coen brothers cut their own films under the name, this one included. 'Jaynes' has even been nominated for editing Oscars, which no such person could ever have collected.

Which hymn is Mattie's theme in the 2010 True Grit score?

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, the hymn Robert Mitchum's preacher sings in The Night of the Hunter, underlies about a quarter of the score. Because it was not original music, the score could not compete for an Oscar.

Whose recording of 'God's Gonna Cut You Down' was used in the trailer for the 2010 True Grit?

Johnny Cash's recording sold the film in its trailer. The film's own music went another way: Carter Burwell spent a summer going through hymn books to build it from nineteenth-century church music.

The 2010 True Grit split its shoot between central Texas and the country around which city?

Santa Fe, New Mexico, hosted the shoot in March and April 2010, and the rest was filmed around Austin, Granger and Bartlett in Texas: neither Arkansas nor Oklahoma, where the story is set.

True Grit (2010) lost the Best Picture Oscar to which film?

The King's Speech took Best Picture. True Grit had ten nominations, which its directors joked seemed an awful lot, adding that they didn't want to take anyone else's; in the end they took none at all.

Which earlier film by True Grit's 2010 directors did it surpass as their highest-grossing?

No Country for Old Men had taken $74.3 million in North America. True Grit sailed past it, helped by a PG-13 rating, soft for its directors, that brought in whole families, grandparents and teenagers together.

In the 2010 True Grit, LaBoeuf saves Cogburn with a long shot from what kind of rifle?

A Sharps carbine: Rooster had jeered that LaBoeuf could not hit a man at 300 yards with the gun resting on Gibraltar. The shot that saves him is reckoned at 400 yards at least.

In the 2010 True Grit, which two ex-outlaws tell the adult Mattie that Cogburn has died?

Cole Younger and Frank James are touring with the Wild West show Rooster had joined. Younger stands and breaks the news kindly; James stays in his chair, and Mattie leaves him with 'Keep your seat, trash.'

In True Grit's climactic charge, how does Rooster hold his horse's reins while firing with both hands?

In his teeth: Rooster rides at four outlaws with a gun in each hand, after their leader laughs off his threat as 'bold talk for a one-eyed fat man'.

The 2010 True Grit holds what distinction in Netflix history?

Last DVD the company mailed: Netflix sent out its final red envelopes on September 29, 2023, ending 25 years of discs by post, and True Grit was the last film to go.

In True Grit, J. Noble Daggett, whom Mattie Ross invokes in every bargain, is her what?

Lawyer Daggett is the name Mattie brandishes at anyone who crosses her. The 1969 film finally produces him in person; in the 2010 film he is only a voice, reading out his letter to her.

True Grit's author ran which overseas bureau of the New York Herald Tribune before he quit journalism for fiction?

London was his post until 1964, when he left newspapers, went home to Arkansas and began writing fiction full time. True Grit followed four years later.

Where did the 1969 film True Grit hold its world premiere?

Little Rock, Arkansas, the novelist's home city, hosted the premiere at its Cinema 150 on June 12, 1969. Los Angeles got the film a day later, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Who played Rooster Cogburn in the 1978 made-for-TV sequel True Grit: A Further Adventure?

Warren Oates took over the role for a television film made as the pilot for a True Grit series, with Lisa Pelikan as Mattie. No series followed.

Who plays the Texas Ranger LaBoeuf in the 2010 True Grit?

Matt Damon plays LaBoeuf as a vain man proud of his Texas trappings and his title. Mattie is unimpressed: at their first meeting she asks why he has been 'ineffectually pursuing' Chaney.

Which BAFTA did the 2010 True Grit win from its eight nominations?

Best Cinematography went to Roger Deakins, the film's one BAFTA win. At the Oscars later that month the same work lost to Wally Pfister's for Inception.