Parents' Guide to Rooster Cogburn

Wayne seems to be having a bit more fun with the role than we've come to expect of the stoic cowboy/warrior he more commonly played and that playfulness makes him almost charming. Hepburn, wearing a ton of face and eye makeup for a prairie pioneer, plays a self-reliant woman whose unwavering religious belief and spirit get her through challenging times, much like the character she played in The African Queen 23 years earlier. This even echoes that earlier film's dangerous rapids trip and a plot that revolves around explosives.

The best thing about Rooster Cogburn is the literary script and cut-above dialogue. The repartee creates a bristling connection between the blustering old marshal and the obstinate and haughty religious teacher. Through the kind of sharp dialogue not usually uttered by the traditionally taciturn loners customary in Westerns, the two establish an engaging relationship. They make fun of each other, and themselves, as danger looms, giving the actual plot a decidedly secondary role to the relationship. The rest is pretty standard, including a villain so cliched he actually hisses. That focus on the pair's growing admiration for each other makes the otherwise by-the-book series of Old West tasks they must perform—outwitting criminals, dodging bullets, and riding rapids with explosives on board—tolerable. This is meant to be a crowd pleaser and it is.