(1969) Leaving behind her mother with her infant sister, 14-year-old Mattie Ross (Kim Darby) from a farm near the town of Dardanelle in Yell County, accompanied by Yarnell Poindexter, a black hired hand, takes the train 70 miles into Fort Smith, Arkansas, to where her father was gunned down and robbed by Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey), another hired hand.

According to Frank Ross's tombstone shown at the conclusion of director Henry Hathaway's western drama, based on Charles Portis's novel with screenplay by Marguerite Roberts and score by Elmer Bernstein, the story takes place in October of 1880. She and Yarnell watch with the crowd of onlookers as three men are hanged (one of whom is Jay Silverheels, uncredited), impressing her with wanting to see Chaney suffer the same punishment.

When she asks the sheriff why he's not out looking for her father's killer, she's informed that he hasn't the authority to enter the Indian nation (now Oklahoma) in pursuit of a wrongdoer - a task for a federal marshal. Along with the sheriff's characterization of his being "the meanest one," after listening to the testimony of Deputy Marshal Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn (John Wayne, a role for which he received an Oscar) - graying hair, hefty of girth, an eye patch over his left orb - during the trial of a man he'd brought back, admitting to having killed 23 men in the past four years, Mattie offers "a man with true grit" (though she's warned of his untrustworthiness and that "He loves to pull a cork") the job of finding Tom Chaney.

In a humorous exchange of stilted argumentation, needing money to pay Cogburn, she takes on Col Stonehill (Strother Martin) to buy back the ponies her father had purchased, threatening him with legal action from Lawyer Daggett if he fails to comply. At the boarding house, Mattie makes acquaintance with LaBoeuf (Glen Campbell, who also sings the Oscar-nominated theme song), a Texas Ranger, also on the trail of Chaney for murdering a senator: "I must have him alive down in McClinton, Texas."

Saying, "It's little to me how many dogs and senators he killed in Texas," Mattie, wanting Chaney tried and hanged in Fort Smith for her father's death, quickly develops a distaste for LaBoeuf. The feeling is mutual in his saying to her: "A little earlier I gave some thought to stealin' a kiss from you, although you are very young ... and you're unattractive to boot. But now I'm of a mind to give you five or six good licks with my belt." She answers smartly: "Well, one would be as unpleasant as the other." The Texan nevertheless teams up with Cogburn (offering a bigger reward than Mattie can afford, though the marshal has already accepted her fee); the pair of men, unwilling to take her seriously, discourage the girl's following them, but she's undeterred.

Impressed when she crosses the river on her horse while they've taken a ferry, Cogburn (who will affectionately call her "Little sister" or just "sis") marvels: "Dad gummit, she reminds me of me!" The lawmen also learn of Chaney's partnering with Ned "Lucky" Pepper (Robert Duvall), another desperado, for a mail robbery.

Both a doughty spitfire and prissy child accustomed to privilege, Mattie gets to know something of Cogburn's uneven history (the contrast in their manner of speech further emphasizes their different backgrounds), while the relationship between the two men frays - their different modes of participation in the War Between the States being a sore point, Cogburn's having been with Quantrill's bushwackers in Kansas is morally reprehensible to LaBoeuf, who fought under Confederate Gen Kirby Smith - as the Texas Ranger eventually grants Mattie her due: "She's won her spurs."

When LaBoeuf complains to Cogburn, "You want to make me look foolish in the girl's eyes," the older man retorts: "You don't need me for that." Later when Cogburn, drinking heavily, says he's looking for signs, LaBoeuf snarls with sarcasm: "You couldn't see it if you saw it."

At the time of its release the movie received a G rating, which would probably be PG today with its violence, though the language is tame with LaBoeuf once uttering "bastard" & Cogburn's swearing, "I'll be damned." In the dugout Emmett Quincy (Jeremy Slate) lops off (Dennis Hopper) Moon's finger before stabbing him in the gut after getting the worst end of Cogburn's revolver. Charging with pistol in left hand and lever-action rifle (probably an 1873 Winchester) in right, firing and cocking one-handedly, Rooster, reins in his teeth, takes on Pepper and three other men on horseback. Mattie falls into a pit, breaking her arm, with a rattlesnake coiled and striking at her. The details appear to be realistic, though the scenic Colorado mountains aren't part of the Oklahoma landscape.

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