Rooster Cogburn

Rooster Cogburn is the first film we have watched this year to portray the alpha male cowboy in a new light. Typically, John Wayne’s character is never intimidated by females, never in trouble with the law, and is always in control of every situation however, things are different here.

What makes Rooster Cogburn such a different compared to the other Western’s we have seen this year is the fact that a woman plays such a major role. Katherine Hepburn, playing Eula Goodnight, breaks the stereotypical Western mold for females. Typically women were portrayed as inferior, weak, and emotional however, Hepburn on the other hand is strong-minded and can handle a gun with the best of the alpha-male characters.

Wayne’s character, Rooster Cogburn, is in trouble with the law just minutes into the film for seeking retaliation for the death of his friend, Cogburn is stripped of his badge as a U.S. Marshall. No longer does a man in the West “settle his own problems” as Tom Doniphon stated in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. (Liberty Valance)

For once, Wayne’s character has to share the screen with another dominant character however, in this case it is not even another male, it is a female. This is a far different cry than The Searchers where women were expected to put food on the table and were even put up for purchase.