While I'm definitely comfortable calling last week's recommendation (The Man From Snowy River) "great fun" and a "must watch," I'm only kinda comfortable calling it a Western. It's got many of the right trimmings, to be sure. But there's just something "other" about it. Maybe because I have no idea when it actually takes place, historically? Possibly because it lacks the Black and White Hats (and posses and shootouts) so common in the genre? Probably because I'm biased towards representations of the American West (even when they're filmed in Italy)?
Today's recommendation, on the other hand, requires no such reservations. It's the original True Grit, starring the unchallenged King of the Western in the lone Oscar-winning performance of his career. I don't think I like it quite as much as the Coens' more recent effort (either as an adaptation or as a film), and I'm not sold on the idea that Wayne won his statue based on the strength of this particular performance (rather than for his overall body-of-work). But it and he are still highly enjoyable, and it's streaming on NETFLIX INSTANT.
Teenage tomboy Mattie Ross enlists the help of crusty lawman Rooster Cogburn to track down the hired hand who murdered her father.