True Grit (2010)

Jeff Bridges: Rooster Cogburn

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Quotes 

• LaBoeuf : As I understand it, Chaney... or Chelmsford, as he called himshelf in Texas... shot the senator's dog. When the senator remonstrated, Chelmsford shot him as well. You could argue that the shooting of the dog was merely an instance of malum prohibitum, but the shooting of a senator is indubitably an instance of malum in se.

  Rooster Cogburn : Malla-men what?

  Mattie Ross : Malum in se. The distinction is between an act that is wrong in itself, and an act that is wrong only according to our laws and mores. It is Latin.

  Rooster Cogburn : I am struck that LaBoeuf is shot, trampled, and nearly severs his tongue, and not only does not cease to talk, but spills the banks of English!

• Cross-examining Lawyer : Mister Cogburn, in your four years as US Marshal, how many men have you shot?

  Rooster Cogburn : Shot? Or killed?

  Cross-examining Lawyer : Let us restrict it to killed so we may have a manageable figure!

• Rooster Cogburn : [after missing a shot on a bottle he threw up in the air]  The chinaman is running them cheap shells on me again.

  LaBoeuf : I thought you were going to say the sun was in your eyes. That is to say, your EYE.

• LaBoeuf : You are getting ready to show your ignorance now, Cogburn. I don't mind a little personal chaffing but I won't hear anything against the Ranger troop from a man like you.L

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

  LaBoeuf : My Appaloosa will be galloping when that big American stud of yours is winded and collapsed. Now make another joke about it. You are only trying to put on a show for this girl Mattie with what you must think is a keen tongue.

  Rooster Cogburn : This is like women talking.

  LaBoeuf : Yes, that is the way! Make me out foolish in this girl's eyes.

  Rooster Cogburn : I think she has got you pretty well figured.

• First Lawyer : Mr. Cogburn, did you find a bottle with a hundred and twenty-five dollars in it?

  Cross-examining Lawyer : Objection your Honor, Leading

  Judge Parker : Sustained. Rephrase the question.

  First Lawyer : What happened then?

  Rooster Cogburn : [slightly annoyed]  I found a bottle with a hundred and twenty-five dollars in it.

• Lucky Ned Pepper : What is your intention Rooster? You think one on four is a dogfall?

  Rooster Cogburn : I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned. Or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which will you have?

  Lucky Ned Pepper : I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man!

  Rooster Cogburn : Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!

• Rooster Cogburn : [to Matty about burying the outlaws]  The ground's too hard. If they wanted a decent funeral, they should have got themselves killed in summer.

• Rooster Cogburn : If he is not in a shallow grave somewhere between here and Fort Smith he is gone. Long gone! Thanks to Mr. LaBeouf, we have missed our shot. He barked and the birds have flown. Gone. Gone. Gone! Lucky Ned and his cohort gone. Your fifty dollars gone. Gone the whiskey - seized in evidence. The trail is cold, if there ever was one. I'm a foolish old man who's been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpy in trouser and a nincompoop. Mr. LaBeouf, he can wonder the Choctaw Nation for as long as he likes. Perhaps the local In'jins will take him in and honor his jibberings by making him chief. You, sister, may go where you like. Our engagement is terminated. I bow out.

• Cross-examining Lawyer : You sprang from cover with revolver in hand?

  Rooster Cogburn : I did.

  Cross-examining Lawyer : Loaded and cocked?

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, if it ain't loaded and cocked, it don't shoot!

• Rooster Cogburn : At The Green Frog, had a billiard table. Served ladies and men both, mostly men. Tried running it myself for a while, but couldn't keep good help. And I never did learn how to buy meat. Is it him?

  Mattie Ross : [Examining hanging body]  I believe not.

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, cut him down.

  Mattie Ross : Why?

  Rooster Cogburn : I might know him.

  [Mattie climbs higher to reach the rope] 

  Rooster Cogburn : That's when I went out to the staked plains of Texas. Shoot buffalo with Vernon Shaftoe and a Flathead Indian named Olly. Well, the Mormons, well they run Shaftoe out of Great Salt Lake City, don't ask me what for. Call it a misunderstanding and leave it go at that. Well, big shaggies, about all gone now. Damned shame. Give three dollars right now for a pickled buffalo tongue.

  Mattie Ross : Why did they hang him so high?

  Rooster Cogburn : I do not know. Possibly in the belief it'd make him more dead.

• Cross-examining Lawyer : So, you say that when Amos Wharton raised his axe, you backed away from him.

  Rooster Cogburn : That's right.

  Cross-examining Lawyer : In what direction were you going?

  Rooster Cogburn : I always go backwards when I'm backing up.

• Rooster Cogburn : We'll sleep here and follow in the morning.

  Mattie Ross : But we promised to bury the poor soul inside!

  Rooster Cogburn : Ground's too hard. If them men wanted a decent burial, they should have gotten themselves kilt in summer.

• Mattie Ross : [cutting the rope on the tree]  Why did they hang him so high?

  Rooster Cogburn : I do not know. Possibly in the belief it'd make him more dead.

• Rooster Cogburn : You go for a man hard enough and fast enough, he don't have time to think about how many's with him; he thinks about himself, and how he might get clear of that wrath that's about to set down on him

• Mattie Ross : [LaBoeuf is whipping her]  Are you going to let him do this, Marshal?

  Rooster Cogburn : [watches for a moment]  No, I don't believe I will. Put your switch away, LaBoeuf.

  LaBoeuf : I aim to finish what I started!

  Rooster Cogburn : It'll be the biggest mistake you ever made, you Texas brush-popper.

  [aims gun at LaBoeuf] 

• Emmett Quincy : Don't you go flappin' your gums, Moon! If you blow, I will kill you!

  Moon : I'm played out, Quincy! We seen Ned and Hayes two days ago...

  [Quincy draws a boot knife and cuts Moon's fingers off, then stabs him in the heart. Rooster immediately shoots Quincy in the face] 

  Rooster Cogburn : Goddamn it.

• Rooster Cogburn : I'm a foolish old man who's been drawn into a wild goose chase by a harpie in trousers and a nincompoop.

• Rooster Cogburn : I do not know this man.

• Rooster Cogburn : [outside the cabin]  Who is in there?

  Emmett Quincy : [from inside the cabin]  A Methodist and a son of a bitch!

• Rooster Cogburn : I'd give $3 now for a pickled buffalo tongue.

• Rooster Cogburn : The jakes is occupied.

  Mattie Ross : I know it is occupied Mr. Cogburn. As I said, I have business with you.

  Rooster Cogburn : I have prior business.

  Mattie Ross : You have been at it for quite some time, Mr. Cogburn.

  Rooster Cogburn : There is no clock on my business! To hell with you! How did you stalk me here?

  Mattie Ross : The sheriff told me to look in the saloon. In the saloon they referred me here. We must talk.

  Rooster Cogburn : Women ain't allowed in the saloon!

  Mattie Ross : I was not there as a customer. I am fourteen years old.

  Rooster Cogburn : The jakes is occupied. Will be for some time.

• Rooster Cogburn : That Chinamen is running them cheap shells on me again.

  LaBoeuf : I thought you gonna say the sun was in your eyes. That is to say, your Eye!

• Rooster Cogburn : [after singing for a long time]  That was "Johnny in the Low Ground." There are very few fiddle tunes I have not heard. Once heard they are locked in my mind forever. It is a sadness to me that I have sausage fingers that cannot crowd onto a fretboard... Little fat girls at a cotillion. "Soldier's Joy"!

  [sings more] 

  LaBoeuf : [to Mattie]  I don't believe he slept.

• Rooster Cogburn : [LaBoeuf has been talking about malum prohibitum and malum in se]  It astonishes me that Mr. LaBoeuf has been shot, trampled, and nearly bitten his tongue off, and yet not only does he continue to talk but he spills the banks of English.

• [from trailer] 

  Lucky Ned Pepper : I will kill this girl.

  Rooster Cogburn : Biggest mistake you ever made.

• Rooster Cogburn : [looks up at the hanging corpse]  Is it Cheney?

  Mattie Ross : I would not recognize the soles of his feet.

  Rooster Cogburn : Well, you'll have to clamber up and look. I'm too old and too fat.

• Rooster Cogburn : [referring to the defense attorney]  Pencil-necked son of a bitch!

• Moon : [Cogburn is offering the wounded Moon help in exchange for informations]  My leg is giving me fits.

  Rooster Cogburn : Yes, a young fellow like you don't want to lose his leg.

  Emmett Quincy : [to Moon]  He's trying to get at you!

  Rooster Cogburn : ...with the truth.

• Rooster Cogburn : You are not LaBoeuf.

• Rooster Cogburn : Is that him?

  Mattie Ross : I believe not.

  Rooster Cogburn : Oh, cut him down.

  Mattie Ross : [incredulous]  Why?

  Rooster Cogburn : I might know him.

• Mattie Ross : [haggling with Cogburn]  You're trying to take advantage of me.

  Rooster Cogburn : I'm giving you the children's rate! I'm not a sharper. I'm an old man sleeping in a rope bed in a room behind a Chinese grocery. I have nothing.

  Mattie Ross : You want to be kept in whiskey.

  Rooster Cogburn : I don't need to buy that, I confiscate it.

• Rooster Cogburn : That didn't pan out.

• Rooster Cogburn : Well, Me and Marshal Potter went out to the smokehouse. And that rock had been moved, the jar with the money in it was gone.

  Cross-examining Lawyer : Objection, speculative.

  Judge Parker : Sustained.

  First Lawyer : You found a flat grey rock, in the corner of the smoke house. With a hollowed out space there.

  Cross-examining Lawyer : If the prosecutor is going to give evidence, I suggest he be sworn.

  First Lawyer : What did you find, if anything, in the corner of that smokehouse?

  Rooster Cogburn : We found a flat grey rock with a hollowed out space under it. Nothing there.

• Rooster Cogburn : I'm not a sharper. I am an old man sleeping on a rope bed in a room behind the Chinese grocery. I have nothing.

  Mattie Ross : You want to be kept in whiskey.

  Rooster Cogburn : I don't have to buy that, I confiscate it. I am an officer of the court. Ah, thank you. $100, that's the rate.

  Mattie Ross : I shall not niggle. Can we depart this afternoon?

• LaBoeuf : I was within three hundred yards of Chelmsford once. The closest I have been. With a Sharp's carbine that is within range, but I was mounted and had the choice of firing off-hand or dismounting to shoot from rest, which would allow Chelmsford to augment the distance. I fired mounted... and fired wide.

  Rooster Cogburn : You cannot hit a man three hundred yards if your gun was resting on Gibraltar.

  LaBoeuf : The Sharp's carbine is an instrument of uncanny balance and precision.

  Rooster Cogburn : I've no doubt that the gun is sound.