True Grit (1969)

Kim Darby: Mattie Ross

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Quotes 

• 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.

• [last lines] 

  Mattie Ross : Trust you to buy another tall horse.

  Rooster Cogburn : Yeah. He's not as game as Beau, but Stonehill says he can jump a four rail fence.

  Mattie Ross : You are too old and fat to be jumping horses.

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, come see a fat old man some time!

  [jumps the fence and rides away] 

• Mattie Ross : Do you need a good lawyer?

  Ned Pepper : I need a good judge!

• 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.

• Rooster Cogburn : Give me your cup.

  Mattie Ross : I don't drink coffee, thank you.

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, now, what do you drink?

  Mattie Ross : I'm partial to cold buttermilk.

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, we ain't got none of that. We ain't got no lemonade neither!

• Mattie Ross : You never told me you had a wife.

  Rooster Cogburn : Oh, well, I didn't have her long. My friends was a pack of river rats and she didn't crave their society so she up and left me and went back to her first husband who was clerkin' in a hardware store in Paducah. "Goodbye, Reuben," she says, "the love of decency does not abide in you!" That's a dee-vorced woman talkin' for you, about decency. Well, I told her. I said, "Goodbye, Nola, and I hope that nail-sellin' bastard makes you happy this time!"

  Mattie Ross : Did you have any children?

  Rooster Cogburn : There was a boy. Nola taken him with her. He never liked me anyway. A clumsier child you'll never see than Horace; I bet he broke 40 cup.

• Mattie Ross : There's an old saw that says: One white foot buy 'em, two white feet try 'em, three white feet be on the sly, four white feet pass 'em by.

• Mattie Ross : Who's the best marshal they have?

  Sheriff : Bill Waters is the best tracker. The meanest one is Rooster Cogburn, a pitiless man, double tough, fear don't enter into his thinking. I'd have to say L.T. Quinn is the straightest, he brings his prisoners in alive.

  Mattie Ross : Where would I find this Rooster?

  Sheriff : He'll be at the federal court this afternoon, he's bringing in a load of prisoners from the territories.

• [LeBoeuf is spanking Mattie] 

  Mattie Ross : Are you gonna let him do this?

  Rooster Cogburn : I don't believe I will. Drop that switch, LaBoeuf. Put it down, I said. You're enjoying it too much.

  LaBoeuf : You'll find I go ahead with what I start.

  Rooster Cogburn : [Rooster draws and cocks his pistol]  You do and it'll be the biggest mistake YOU ever made, you Texas brush-popper!

• Mattie Ross : [watching Rooster load his revolver]  Why do you keep that one chamber empty?

  Rooster Cogburn : So I won't shoot my foot off.

• Mattie Ross : Do you know a Marshal Rooster Cogburn?

  Col. G. Stonehill : Most people around here have heard of Rooster Cogburn and some people live to regret it. I would not be surprised to learn that he's a relative of yours.

• Mattie Ross : [Rooster and LaBoeuf gallop away from the ferry, leaving Mattie behind]  Those horses can't get away from Little Blackie - they're loaded down with fat men and iron.

• LaBoeuf : 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.

  Mattie Ross : Well, one would be as unpleasant as the other.

• Mattie Ross : I'm here to take you back to Fort Smith and hang you.

  Tom Chaney : And I think I will not go, now how do you like that?

• Ned Pepper : [laughs]  They will do it. Most girls like little play pretties, but you like guns, don't you?

  Mattie Ross : If I did I'd have one that worked.

• Mattie Ross : Now I know you can drink whiskey and I saw you kill a rat, but all the rest has been talk. I'm not paying for talk. I can get all the talk I need at the Monarch Boarding House.

  Rooster Cogburn : I ought to paddle your rump!

  Mattie Ross : I don't know how you propose to do that from that hog wallow you're sunk into. If I smelled as bad as you I wouldn't live near people.

• [Mattie returns later to buy a pony from Col. Stonehill] 

  Col. G. Stonehill : Do you entertain plans of ever leaving this city?

  Mattie Ross : Yes, I'm off early tomorrow morning for the Indian nation. Marshal Rooster Cogburn and I are going after the murderer, Tom Chaney.

  Col. G. Stonehill : Cogburn. How did you light on that greasy vagabond?

  Mattie Ross : They say he has grit. I wanted a man with grit.

  Col. G. Stonehill : Well, I suppose he has that. He's a notorious thumper. He's not a man I would care to share a bed with.

  Mattie Ross : Nor would I.

• [at the camp, Mattie tastes the water] 

  Mattie Ross : That tastes like iron.

  LaBoeuf : You're lucky to be where water's so handy. I've seen the time I've drank out of a filthy hoofprint - and was glad to get it.

  Rooster Cogburn : If ever I meet one of you Texas waddies who ain't drunk water from a hoofprint, I think I'll... I'll shake their hand or buy 'em a Daniel Webster cigar.

  [points to LaBoeuf's shaggy horse] 

  Rooster Cogburn : How long you boys down there been mounted on sheep?

• [Mattie is arguing with Col. Stonehill] 

  Col. G. Stonehill : I'll take it up with my attorney.

  Mattie Ross : And I will take it up with mine - Lawyer Daggett. And he will make money and I will make money and your lawyer will make money... and you, Mr. Licensed Auctioneer, you will foot the bill.

• Mattie Ross : Now I'm sure you'll find a buyer for those ponies very soon.

  Col. G. Stonehill : I have a tentative offer of ten dollars a head from the soapworks at Little Rock.

  Mattie Ross : It seems such a shame to render such spirited horseflesh into soap.

  Col. G. Stonehill : I'm confident the deal will fall through.

• [Mattie comes to get Rooster and finds him talking with LaBoeuf] 

  Mattie Ross : This man wants to take Chaney back to Texas. That's not what I want.

  Rooster Cogburn : He wants him caught and punished - so do you.

  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.

• [Rooster and LaBoeuf are on the ferry; Mattie comes over to get on board] 

  LaBoeuf : You're not gettin' on this ferry.

  Mattie Ross : This is open to the public. I paid my ten cents for horse and rider.

  LaBoeuf : Red, take this girl into town to the sheriff. She's a runaway. There's also a $50 reward.

  Mattie Ross : That's a big story!

  LaBoeuf : Ask the marshal.

  Rooster Cogburn : Oh, she's a runaway, all right. Bound to be paper on her.

  Mattie Ross : They're in this story together. Now, I've got business across the river and if you interfere with me you may land up in court which you don't want to be. I've got a good lawyer in J. Noble Daggett.

  [Rooster nods to Red; Red pulls her off the ferry] 

  Rooster Cogburn : [to LaBoeuf]  Lawyer Daggett again.

  LaBoeuf : She draws him like a gun.

• Ned Pepper : Now, what are you doin' here?

  Mattie Ross : Tom Chaney shot my father to death in Fort Smith. I was told that Rooster Cogburn has grit. I hired him to go after the murderer. I found him myself and I shot him. If I killed him I would not be in this fix. My revolver misfired.

• Mattie Ross : I have no regard for you, but I'm sure you have enough for yourself to go around.

• Mattie Ross : [about drinking whiskey]  I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains.

• Mattie Ross : I hope you don't think I'm going to keep you in whiskey?

  Rooster Cogburn : I don't buy that, I confiscate it. And a touch of it wouldn't do you any harm against the night air!

  Mattie Ross : I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains!

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, it's the real article! Genuine, double-rectified bust head. Aged in the keg.

• Mattie Ross : I won't rest until Tom Chaney's barking in hell.

• [Mattie prepares to go back to the Monarch Boarding House; Rooster is too drunk to escort her] 

  Mattie Ross : I'll walk over there by myself.

  Rooster Cogburn : You scared of the dark?

  Mattie Ross : I've never been scared of the dark.

  Rooster Cogburn : Well if I had a big horse pistol like that I wouldn't be scared of no "boogerman".

  Mattie Ross : I'm not scared of no "boogerman".

  [she leaves] 

• [Mattie is frustrated with Rooster possibly throwing in with LaBoeuf] 

  Mattie Ross : Give me my $25 back. Hand it over!

  Rooster Cogburn : I spent it.

  Mattie Ross : You sorry piece of trash!

  Rooster Cogburn : I'll get it for you. I'll send it to you.

  Mattie Ross : Aw, that's a big story. If you think you can cheat me, you're mistaken. You've not heard the last of Mattie Ross. You may well hear from my lawyer, Daggett.

  [leaves] 

  Rooster Cogburn : [to LaBoeuf]  Lawyer Daggett? Who's lawyer Daggett?

  LaBoeuf : I wouldn't worry about him. I'd worry about our business at hand.

• [Rooster is caught under his horse; as Ned starts to shoot him, La Boeuf fires from the ridge and hits Ned's horse; Ned falls dead] 

  Mattie Ross : Hooray for the man from Texas! Some bully shot!

• Mattie Ross : I will not bandy words with a drunkard.

  LaBoeuf : That's real smart. You've done nothing when you've bested a fool.

• Mattie Ross : [referring to the dead LaBoeuf]  We cannot leave him like this.

  Rooster Cogburn : I'm the one that's leaving him. If I don't get you to a doctor you're going to be deader than he is!

• Mattie Ross : What is your opinion of a federal marshal called Rooster Cogburn?

  Mrs. Floyd : Rooster Cogburn! Lord, I've heard some *terrible* things about him. He loves to pull a cork, I know that!

• [the other outlaws have left, Mattie heats water on the fire] 

  Tom Chaney : What are you doin'?

  Mattie Ross : I'm getting some water so I can wash my hands.

  Tom Chaney : A liitle smut won't hurt you.

  Mattie Ross : That's true - or else you and your chums would surely be dead.

  Tom Chaney : Don't provoke me. There's rattlesnakes down there in that pit and I'm gonna throw you in it.

• Talkative Woman at Hanging : [Referring to face at courthouse window watching the triple hanging]  It's Judge Parker. He watches all the hangings. Says it's his sense of duty.

  Mattie Ross : Who knows what's in a man's heart.