Monday, April 10, 2006
The movie was released in 1969 and John Wayne won the Academy Award for his portrayal of Deputy Marshall Ruben J. "Rooster" Cogburn.
Rooster is the type of lawman I want to be.
Also in the movie are the very young Robert Duval, Dennis Hopper, and Glen Campbell.
But what is MOST significant about this movie is that it features Hollywood's first openly lesbian character. Played brilliantly by Kim Darby, Mattie is a strong young lesbian woman who isn't afraid to go toe to toe with the male characters as they try to put her in her "place".
The genius of this story is the director who certainly knew what he was doing and craftily pulled the wool over John Wayne's very conservative eyes. I'm certain that the word "tomboy" was used but if you watch this movie you just have to look at Mattie's wardrobe and attitude and you will say three words.
Lezz Bee Un.
This is a bold, groundbreaking movie, and for that I give it 5 fistfulls of popcorn. (out of 5)
Those of you who are familiar with my movie reviews know that my style on these is somewhat tongue in cheek.
Those of you who know me a little better also know that I fully support gay rights.
With that, I know that I write this for the person who stumbles upon this post and not my regular readers who already know those two things and probably got a great laugh reading this.
Now that I am fairly certain everybody knows that I in no way mean to offend I will stick to my guns on my interpretation of Mattie's character as a strong minded gay woman even though I'm fairly certain that in a 1969 John Wayne movie that was not the intent.
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