Arkansas's movie is...

True Grit

The great John Wayne won his only Oscar for his performance as US Marshall Rooster Cogburn in 1969’s True Grit, one of the last great Westerns. Set in rough and tumble 1870s Arkansas, it follows a mismatched duo of bounty hunters hired by a tenacious teenager (Kim Darby) to find her father’s killer: Texas Ranger La Boeuf (Glen Campbell) and the aging, alcoholic, and one-eyed Cogburn. As the trio leaves the military outpost of Fort Smith to traverse the sprawling landscape of Northern Arkansas, director Henry Hathaway (who directed Wayne in Westerns including Legend of the Lost and The Sons of Katie Elder) makes beautiful use of the film’s scenic landscapes – even though much of the actual filming was done in California and Colorado. (Look for Joel and Ethan Coen’s planned remake of the film to strive for more accuracy, based on Charles Portis’ original novel.)