Colonel Stonehill I just received word that a young girl fell head first down a fifty foot well on the Towson Road. I thought perhaps it was you.
"Rooster" Cogburn
John Wayne · 23 quotes
Mattie Ross
Kim Darby · 13 quotes
Ranger La Boeuf
Glen Campbell · 9 quotes
Ned Pepper
Robert Duvall · 6 quotes
Most scenes together: "Rooster" Cogburn & Ranger La Boeuf (3), Mattie Ross & "Rooster" Cogburn (2)
True Grit quotes
Page 1 of 4 Colonel Stonehill Colonel Stonehill Most people around here know of Rooster Cogburn and some people live to regret it. I would not be surprised to learn that he is a relative of yours.
Mexican Bob
My wounds healed by themselves - from the inside!
Moon He never played me false until he killed me.
Tom Chaney A gun will say a whole lot quick!
Tom Chaney Everything happens to me, and now I'm shot by a child!
You're lucky to be where water's so handy. I've seen the time I've drank out of a filthy hoofprint and I was glad to get it.
If ever I meet one of you Texas waddies who ain't drunk from a hoofprint, I think I'll… I'll shake their hand, or buy them a Daniel Webster cigar! [he looks over La Boeuf's horse] How long you boys down there been mounted on sheep?
Go ahead and have your little joke. But I'll tell you one thing: that little fella there will still be running when that big American stud of yours is winded and collapsed.
Ha — sheep! Heh, heh…
I'm here to take you back to Fort Smith and hang you!
Chaney
And I think I will not go. Now how do you like that?
Well, there's a posse of officers up the hill who'll force you to go!
Chaney
How many officers?
I'd say right around fifty — and they mean business! So you just walk up that hill right in front of me.
Chaney
I believe I'll oblige those officers to come after me.
If you refuse to go with me, I'll have to shoot you.
Chaney
Is that so? Well, you better **** your piece. [Mattie pulls back the lever on the revolver to load it. She doesn't pull it all the way.] All the way back, until it locks!
[**** revolver properly]
I know how to do it. Now you mean to say that you won't go with me on your own free will?
Chaney
You just got it the other way around, now you will follow me!
Chaney
[Mattie pulls the trigger as a response and shoots Chaney in the ribcage. The recoil knocks her back and she falls down, while Chaney falls down onto the sand on the river as well.]
I didn't think you'd do it!
I'm down here! I got Chaney!
Chaney
I just didn't think you'd do it! One of my short ribs is broke!
You killed my father when he was trying to help you! You're just a piece of trash! You also killed a senator in Texas when he was sitting on a porch swing!
Chaney
Everything happens to me and now I'm shot by a child!
I'll shoot you again if you don't get up!
What we want to do is get them inside that dugout. I'll shoot the last man through the door, and then we'll have 'em over a barrel!
You'll shoot them without a call?
Well, it'll give 'em to know our intentions is serious! [La Boeuf & Mattie give him disapproving glares] Aw, well, I'll holler down after I shoot and see if any of 'em want to be taken alive — but when they won't, we'll shoot 'em as they come out the door.
[In a scuffle with Chaney, Mattie falls into a rattlesnake pit.]
Help me! Please help me! I'm in the pit! There's a snake down here, and skeletons!
Chaney
[leaning head over edge of pit]
I warrant there'll be another one before long — a little, spindly one! How do you like it?
Chaney
You say you don't like it?
Attorney
[Marshal Cogburn is cross-examined by a defense attorney]
How many men have you shot since you became a marshal, Mr. Cogburn?
I never shot nobody I didn't have to.
Attorney
That was not the question. How many?
Uh, shot, or killed?
Attorney
Oh, let us restrict it to killed, so that we may have a manageable figure!
Well, twelve to fifteen, stopping men in flight and defending myself.
Attorney
Twelve to fifteen? So many that you cannot keep an accurate count! I have examined the record, Mr. Cogburn. A much more accurate figure is available. Come now — how many?
Counting them two Whartons… twenty-three.
Attorney
Twenty-three men in four years. That makes about six men a year!
It's a dangerous business.
Moon [Moon & Emmett Quincy were arrested in previous scene; Moon was shot in the leg during their capture]
Oh, my leg hurts!
I'll bet it do, sonny-boy. Now you just sit right still so it don't bleed so much.
...
Quincy I don't know any Ned Pepper. What's he look like?
Short, feisty fella. He's got a messed-up lower lip. I shot him in it.
Quincy In the lip? What was you aiming at?
His upper lip.
[Ned Pepper, Mexican Bob, and the Parmalee brothers meet Rooster Cogburn blocking the road.]
Where's the girl, Ned?
She was in wonderful health when last I saw her. I can't answer for her now.
You'll answer for her now! Where is she?
Well, Rooster, will you give us the road? I have business elsewhere.
Farrell, you and your brother stand clear. I've got no interest in you today. Stand clear and you won't get hurt.
Harold
****-a-doodle-doo! [other outlaws laugh]
What's your intention, Rooster? You think one on four is a dog-fall?
I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned, or see you hanged at Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience. Which'll it be?
I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man!
Fill your hand, you son of a bitch!
[Rooster brings four dead outlaws to Indian Police outpost.]
Boots, I got Hayes and some youngster outside, along with Moon and Quincy. I want you to bury 'em.
Boots They're dead?
Well, I wouldn't want you to bury 'em if they wasn't!
A fella that carries a big-bore Sharps carbine might come in handy… if we get jumped by elephants, or buffalo, or something.