Recently it was the 55th anniversary of True Grit, the original telling of this story based upon the book by Charles Portis, which achieved just one Oscar as Best Actor for John Wayne. For many this may have been an award for lifetime achievement, but who can deny that Wayne fills the screen as the irascible, boozy, shoot-first hard-nosed US Marshal who joins irritably with a Texas Ranger played by Glen Campbell to help a stubborn teenager played by Kim Darby to track down in Indian territory the killer of her father. Wayne said when he finally grasped this Oscar towards the end of his outstanding career that if he had known, he would have donned an eye-patch much earlier ! Also starring Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Strother Martin and Jeff Corey, the film was directed by the veteran Henry Hathaway and gloriously shot in Canon City & Ridgway & Montrose & Ouray & Gunnison & Durango & Placerville, Colorado plus Inyo National Forest & Bishop, California as well as Paramount Studios in Hollywood. Originally Glen Campbell’s part was offered to Elvis Presley and one can only imagine what might have been, but Colonel Parker insisted that Elvis should be given top billing over Wayne and asked for an exorbitant salary, which was naturally refused.
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