It all really depends on how you define immoral or moral, this is a rather loaded question. Its always hard to answer with anyone because people have different definitions of good and bad. But the truth is no one is perfect
No one is perfect, Rooster certainly has flaws. He can be ill tempered and sometimes downright mean......... Rooster like many Old West characters is to a large degree a product of a dangerous and wild time and therefore is not always exactly as genteel as many think he should be, and therefore has a reputation that paints him as worse than he actually is. And he doesn't really have any qualms about robbing a Federal paymaster even if he wouldn't rob a citizen, but as Mattie points out to him its still stealing, and she is right.
But he's basically a decent man who is capable of showing compassion for and helping others when moved to it, he proves this at the end of the movie with Mattie, shows sympathy for Moon when he is killed by Quincy, and for Ms Goodnight in the Rooster Cogburn movie.
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ck1-5
12 years ago
The main problem with a question like this is trying to judge characters in the proper context of the times. You simply can't apply 2012 standards to someone who lived a hundred or more years previous, in a completely different world.
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neverthereever
12 years ago
This is quite simple to answer.
If Cogburn was immoral he wouldn't have been ashamed at spending his advance before trying to change the deal.
He wouldn't have been bothered about Leboeuf "Liking it too much" when he was spanking a 14 year old girl either.
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dtducharme-1
10 years ago
Rooster Cogburn was what he was, a middle aged, grizzled, and probably disillusioned lawman. That's clear when he makes the comment about petty-foggin' lawyers and how they have ruined the law. I think he was well aware of his failings. When he was giving testimony in the beginning of the film, the defense attorney asked Rooster how many men he had killed in his time as a U.S. Marshall. I love his answer "stoppin' men in flight or defendin' myself?" When he finally comes up with the number he seems a bit regretful.
He also reply's "I never killed no one I didn't have to!" He took his job seriously and cared about catching bad guys, that is moral.
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Florida2
10 years ago
Moral - from Biblical accounts St. Peter in this life sounded very similar - gruf, rough and perhaps even offending at times, but like Rooster and as Mattie found out was someone that you can trust your life to...
I know what that snake bite scene left like - was stung by a scorpion when her age and almost didn't survive, either (but instead of Rooster my best friend drove me 150 miles across the sawgrass prairie to home, in the days before cell phones)...
Ouch...
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Florida2
10 years ago
Moral - from Biblical accounts St. Peter in this life sounded very similar - gruf, rough and perhaps even offending at times, but like Rooster and as Mattie found out was someone that you can trust your life to...
I know what that snake bite scene left like - was stung by a scorpion when her age and almost didn't survive, either (but instead of Rooster my best friend drove me 150 miles across the prairie to home, in the days before cell phones)...
Ouch...
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