the director, Stuart Millar, can't seem to find a discreet enough distance for the camera.

The whole movie seems so contrived, so obviously a vehicle for its stars and for their former, happier roles, that finally we just get depressed. Talent shouldn't be thrown around like this.

The best thing about Rooster Cogburn is the literate script and cut-above dialogue.

Universal Pictures has taken two of the great old American stars, turned them loose in the Wild West, and come up a genuine old-fashioned horse opera.