10+ Best Rooster Cogburn Quotes For All Western Movie Fans

The movie stars the legendary John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn as the main leads.

'Rooster Cogburn' is written by Martha Hyer. It is based on the famous Rooster Cogburn, a character created by Charles McColl Portis in 1968 via the epic Western novel 'True Grit'.

The film's story is about an aging one-eyed law officer whose badge was recently suspended for a string of routine arrests that resulted in bloodshed. The men who cross his path are killed by Reuben with a gun.

To earn back his badge, he's tasked with bringing down a bunch of bandits that have hijacked a cargo full of Nitroglycerin. He is helped by a spinster, Eula Goodnight, who is sorting out her father's killer. It is the sequel to the 1969 film 'True Grit'.

The screenplay was written by actress Martha Hyer, the producer Hal B. Wallis's spouse, under the nom de guerre Martin Julien. Director Stuart Millar, an old Hollywood producer, had directed just one film, 'When Legends Die,' from the classic novel by Hal Borland, before helming 'Rooster Cogburn'.

Horse and rat pets were used during the filming of this movie. The horse, as well as rat pets, were trained perfectly so as to film them.

The film was shot in Oregon in time of the year 1974, in Deschutes County west of Bend, Oregon (for the mountain scenes), on the Deschutes watercourse for the whitewater rapids, and on the varlet watercourse within the counties of Josephine County, Oregon, and Curry County, Oregon, west of Grants Pass, Oregon (for the watercourse scenes).

The Rockhard/Smith hiking Guides building at the park entrance was initially engineered as a set for the picture show, wherever it was depicted as Kate's Saloon.

John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn were each born in May 1907 (Hepburn the elder by 2 weeks), and their careers paralleled one another; nonetheless, this marked the sole time the Hollywood veterans appeared alongside each other in a film.

Vincent Canby from the New York Times concluded that the film was "a cheerful, throwaway Western, including 2 stars of the grand tradition who respond to each other with a verve that makes the years disappear."

Some of the best quotes from the movie 'Rooster Cogburn' are: 'I always go backward when I'm backing up. ', 'Looking back is a bad habit.

', 'A gun that's unloaded and cocked ain't good for nothing.

', 'Well, come see a fat old man some time.' and 'Never shot nobody I didn't have to.'

The film left us with tons of best 'Rooster Cogburn' movie quotes to kill for, for all the western movie fans across the ages. So, read on for some more incredible 'Rooster Cogburn' quotes.

‍

'True Grit' Rooster Cogburn Quotes

These are 'True Grit' quotes from Rooster Cogburn from the 1968 novel 'True Grit'. Take a look at these 'True Grit' quotes below.

1. 'You can't serve papers on a rat, baby sister. You gotta kill him or let him be.'

- Rooster Cogburn, 'True Grit'.

2. 'Rooster Cogburn: They don't call him 'Lucky' Ned Pepper for nothing.

Mattie Ross: That man gave his life for him and he didn't even look back.

Rooster Cogburn: Looking back is a bad habit.'

- 'True Grit'.'

3. 'Rooster Cogburn:Why, by God, girl, that's a Colt's Dragoon! You're no bigger than a corn nubbin, what're you doing with all this pistol?

Mattie Ross: It belonged to my father, he carried it bravely in the war, and I intend to kill Tom Chaney with it if the law fails to do so.

Rooster Cogburn: Well, this'll sure get the job done if you can find a fence post to rest it on while you take aim..'

- 'True Grit'.

4. 'I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which'll it be?

- Rooster Cogburn, 'True Grit'.

5. 'Mattie Ross:I want Tom Chaney to hang for killing my father. It's little to me how many dogs and senators he killed in Texas.

Rooster Cogburn:You can tell him to his face, you can spit in his eye, you can make him eat sand out of the road, you can shoot him in the foot and I'll hold him for you - but first we gotta catch him.'

- 'True Grit'.

John Wayne 'Rooster Cogburn' Quotes

Let's look at some Rooster Cogburn played by John Wayne quotes in the 1975 film.

6. 'It's payday, boys, come and get it!'

- Rooster Cogburn.

7. 'I ain't had a drink since breakfast, and the only time I wear this coat's in your courtroom. Was always good enough when you needed what was in it!'

- Rooster Cogburn.

8. 'Watch yourself, sister! Everything in these woods'll either bite ya, stab ya or stick ya!'

- Rooster Cogburn.

Katharine Hepburn Rooster Cogburn Quotes

Here are some Eula Goodnight, played by Katharine Hepburn, quotes.

9. 'Reuben, I have to say it.

Livin' with you has been an adventure any woman would relish for the rest o' time. I look at cha, with your burned out face and your big belly and your bear-like paws and your shining eye, and I have to say you're a credit to the whole male sex, and I'm proud to have ya for my friend.

- Eula Goodnight, 'Rooster Cogburn'.

10. 'Rooster Cogburn: We both know that the Lord brands lyin' a sin. Do you think He'll still smile on you after the whoppers you told in there?

Eula Goodnight: And if thy words stray from the truth for the good of God's own, if thy intent is pure, thou shall not then be judged sinful.

Rooster Cogburn: Beautiful quotation. What book? What chapter?

Eula Goodnight: I will confess, Reuben, it is of my own invention, I just made it up.'

- 'Rooster Cogburn'.

11. 'You're wrong, old man. We're made in God's image, and goodness is in us. Even in you.'

- Eula Goodnight, 'Rooster Cogburn.'

Main image credit: Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com