The classic 1969 western will be presented in more than 600 movie theaters nationwide May 5 and 8.
Just in time to celebrate the 50th anniversary of True Grit, the classic 1969 western that showcased John Wayne in his only Oscar-winning performance, Fathom Events is bringing it back to the big screen as part of TMC’s aptly named Big Screen Classics series. Screenings are scheduled for 1 and 4 pm (local time) Sunday, May 5, and 12 noon and 7 pm (local time) Wednesday, May 8, at more than 600 theaters nationwide.
But wait, there's more: The film will be accompanied by specially produced introductory and closing commentary from TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.
And in the unlikely event you have to be reminded what it’s all about — well, as we noted in our July 2007 tribute to The Duke:
“Wayne finally won an Academy Award by acting his age and playing ‘a one-eyed fat man,’ grizzled lawman Rooster Cogburn, in director Henry Hathaway’s hugely successful, tongue-in-cheek western. The Duke has a great deal of fun spoofing his own image, playing Cogburn as a seemingly unreliable drunk who can barely stay on his horse, much less operate his six-shooter. But when the chips are down, and the odds are against him, our hero proves just as capable as Wayne’s more sobersided characters. (Robert Duvall’s cocky Ned Pepper is just one of the varmints who learn the hard way that Cogburn’s aim is true.) Co-starring Kim Darby as a plucky 14-year-old girl who hires Cogburn to find her father’s killer, and Glen Campbell as a clean-cut Texas Ranger, True Grit ambles along at an unhurried pace, relying more on character than action to hold the audience’s interest. And make no mistake about it: Wayne is a real character here.”
Fun fact: One of the supporting characters who winds up on the wrong end of a gun here is played by Dennis Hopper (who previously tangled with Wayne in The Sons of Katie Elder). Barely a month after True Grit hit theaters in 1969, Hopper made a major impact while appearing in a very different kind of movie that he directed and co-wrote: Easy Rider.
Ticket and theater info for the May 5 and 8 True Grit screenings can be found on the Fathom Events website.