True Grit (1969)

A headstrong young girl (Kim Darby) hires a drunken and uncouth U.S. Marshal (John Wayne in his Oscar winning role) to find her father's (John Pickard) murderer (Jeff Corey). A Texas ranger (Glen Campbell) joins up with them in the pursuit which takes them into "Indian Territory". Based on the novel by Charles Portis and directed by Henry Hathaway. Although the 2010 Coen Brothers' remake was a tad more faithful to the novel, this remains my preferred version. Not only is Wayne's performance iconic (it's really a role he was born to play) but there's a straightforward charm to the film that's absent from the Coens' film. The film's major flaw is Campbell's performance. He was a very popular singer in 1969 and makes his film debut here but he's a terrible actor and says his lines as if memorized phonetically without any concept of what he's actually saying. But other than Campbell, this is a first rate western. With Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, Jeremy Slate, Carlos Rivas, Donald Woods, Edith Atwater and John Doucette.