True Grit on AllMovie

The 1978 series pilot True Grit is based on the 1969 John Wayne film of the same name. Warren Oates brings his own characteristic touches to the old Wayne role of Rooster Cogburn, the "one-eyed fat man" (now a one-eyed thin man with a beard) who agrees to help headstrong orphaned teenage girl Mattie Ross (Lisa Pelikan). Mattie wants to get to her relatives in California, but she and Cogburn get off to a bad start when Rooster loses their train fare in a poker game. He tries to recoup their loss by mining for gold in Wyoming, then by riding shotgun on the gold shipments. Had the pilot sold, it would have detailed the further adventures of Cogburn and Mattie (as indicated by the original network title, True Grit: A Further Adventure).