MP - Rooster Cogburn

The movie, Rooster Cogburn, depicts Eula and Wolf, a nun and Native American, traveling with Rooster through the west during a time when women and Native Americans were not expected or allowed to do much of anything. Although the film was made in 1975 when the women’s rights movement was over for the most part, this film does not reflect this time period.
Eula is a strong willed character who uncharacteristically keeps up with Rooster throughout the movie. Talking over others and ignoring what she is told to do are two of Eula’s most frequently seen characteristics. Although talking more than the alpha male cowboy is a characteristic expected of women, talking over the men, is not. Constantly showing she can keep up with the boys and even out do them seems to be Eula’s mission throughout the movie. At one point, both Rooster and Wolf come back saying they couldn’t find a turkey but she already had one cooking in the midst of their sentence. Cooking and preparing the food is something that is expected of a female during this time but not to hunt that food first. In the beginning of the movie, she tells Rooster she is going with him even if he does not want her to because she feels a duty to go, just like the alpha male cowboy has a duty to capture the villain. Relating herself to a cowboy reflects how much of an outsider she is to the usual women who would have stayed home and let the men do the dirty work.
Wolf, the Native American boy who travels with Rooster and Eula through the film proves to hold his own amongst the alpha males that he ends up surrounded with. Although cast as the outsider, he aspires to be a Marshal just like Rooster. At one point, he asks Rooster if he has ever heard of someone of his race that has been a Marshal before and when Rooster says no, Wolf becomes even more determined. When given a task, he takes his command promptly and tries his very best to complete that task. Traditionally, Native Americans do not fight with guns or are given guns yet Rooster gives Wolf a gun in order to help protect himself and Eula.