Oklahoma History Center Presents "Oklahoma Goes to the Movies"

Contact: Jason Harris
(405) 522-0785

Oklahoma City, OK
July 17, 2009
For Immediate Release

The Oklahoma History Center and 46 Star Press invite you to a special screening of True Grit on Friday August 7th. The Oklahoma History Center will host a special night at the movies in conjunction with the release of 46 Star Press’s new book, "Sooner Cinema: Oklahoma Goes to the Movies". Paul Varner - author of the essay "Getting In and Getting Out: True Grit and Oklahoma" from the book Sooner Cinema: Oklahoma Goes to the Movies - and Larry Van Meter, the book's editor will introduce the film. Following the screening will be a discussion of the movie and a book signing for Sooner Cinema: Oklahoma Goes to the Movies.

Released by Paramount Pictures, True Grit is a 1969 western directed by Henry Hathaway and produced by Hal B. Wallis. The film stars John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, Kim Darby as Mattie Ross, and Glen Campbell as La Boeuf. For his performance John Wayne won an Oscar as Rooster Cogburn, a lawman recruited by a teen to seek revenge for her father’s murder.

The Oklahoma History Center will open its doors at 6:30 p.m. The first floor museum galleries will be open for the visitors to enjoy. Seating is limited and available on a first come first serve basis. The program will begin at 7:00 p.m.

Paul Varner is a professor of English at Abilene Christian University, but before moving to Texas he lived for over twenty years in Edmond, Oklahoma. In 2008, he published Historical Dictionary of Westerns in Cinema (Scarecrow Press) and Westerns: Paperback Novels and Movies from Hollywood (Cambridge Scholars Press) and forthcoming the Historical Dictionary of Westerns in Literature (also from Scarecrow Press).

For more information visit our website at www.okhistory.org or contact Jason Harris at 405-522-0785 or by email at jharris@okhistory.org.