Episode 5
Captured and left in the company of her father's killer Tom Chaney, and apparently deserted by Cogburn and LaBeouf, can Mattie possibly escape?
Narrated by the aging Mattie Ross, True Grit is Mattie's recollection of events, many years earlier, when, as a fourteen year old girl she undertook an unthinkable quest to avenge her father's death...
Mattie's father, Frank Ross, left the family farm near the town of Dardanelle in Yell County, Arkansas, on a trip to buy some ponies, but was tragically never to return. He was shot dead and robbed by Tom Chaney, one of his own workers, who then fled, and is suspected to be hiding out in Indian Territory.
Mattie travels to Fort Smith to arrange for the return of her father's body and to enquire as to what is being done to find her father's killer. Finding the local lawmen disinterested, Mattie resolves to take matters into her own hands and seeks out the toughest deputy U.S. Marshal in the district, one Reuben J. 'Rooster' Cogburn. Although an aging, one-eyed, overweight, trigger-happy, hard-drinking man, Mattie believes Cogburn has 'true grit' and is the man best suited to help her.
Mattie persuades Cogburn to take on the job, and, joined by a Texas Ranger named La Boeuf, the three travel into dark, dangerous Indian country to hunt Chaney down and bring him to justice.
First brought to the big screen in a classic 1969 western starring John Wayne and more recently by the Cohen brothers in a film starring Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld, True Grit has been abridged for Radio 4 by Doreen Estall, and is read by Nancy Crane.
Produced by Heather Larmour.
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Next
You are at the last episode
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Reader | Nancy Crane |
Author | Charles Portis |
Abridger | Doreen Estall |
Producer | Heather Larmour |
Broadcast
- Fri 3 Jul 2015 22:45Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
Books
Celebrating reading and the 100 novels that have shaped our world.
How many of these 100 Novels have you read?
Short stories to keep
The fiction podcast featuring the best stories from the UK's finest writers