The Duke rides again! ‘True Grit’ returns to Pocatello’s big screen for one night

Published at 1:53 pm, October 8, 2026

Lisa Lete, EastIdahoNews.com

The original 1969 Western classic “True Grit,” starring John Wayne, returns to the big screen at Pocatello’s Reel Theatre for a special one-night showing Oct. 17, thanks to local author Kirby Jonas. Watch the original movie trailer above.

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POCATELLO — It’s been more than half a century since John Wayne rode across the silver screen in “True Grit,” but local Western author Kirby Jonas is bringing the Duke back for one night in Pocatello.

Jonas is bringing the original 1969 classic back to the big screen for a one-night-only showing at the Reel Theatre, 315 East Oak Street in Pocatello, on Saturday, Oct. 17, at 7:15 p.m.

And in keeping with a little old-fashioned nostalgia, tickets are just $3 apiece.

Jonas is teaming up with theater owners Sandra and Clesey Lewis to give moviegoers a chance to experience the legendary Western the way audiences did more than half a century ago. That means watching it on the big screen, surrounded by fellow movie lovers and the aroma of freshly popped popcorn.

Released in 1969, “True Grit” stars Wayne as Rooster Cogburn, a gruff, hard-drinking U.S. marshal hired by a determined 14-year-old girl, Mattie Ross (Kim Darby), to track down the outlaw who murdered her father.

Joined by a young Texas Ranger played by country music star Glen Campbell, the unlikely trio heads into dangerous territory in pursuit of justice and runs into plenty of trouble along the way.

The film earned Wayne his only Academy Award for Best Actor and became one of his most beloved Westerns.

Jonas recalls watching True Grit for the first time at Shelley’s Virginia Theater when he was 6 or 7 years old.

“The movie had a huge impact on me. I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” he recalled.

“I’ve wanted to do this for the nostalgia of seeing ‘True Grit,’ and hopefully other classic movies in the future, on the big screen again, and this is finally the time,” Jonas said.

Pocatello Western author Kirby Jonas, who has penned more than 40 novels, is bringing the 1969 John Wayne classic “True Grit” back to the big screen for a special one-night showing at the Reel Theatre on Oct. 17. | Courtesy photo

For Jonas, the evening is about more than watching an old movie. It’s about recapturing a little of the magic that made going to the theater such a memorable experience.

“I just wanted to feel the nostalgia of sitting in a theater full of people, watching a movie … smelling the popcorn and all the magic that went with movies back then,” he said.

Jonas, who is personally covering the cost of bringing the film to Pocatello, hopes to fill the theater with people who remember seeing the movie when it first came out, as well as younger audiences who have never seen the Duke on the big screen.

And if the evening proves popular, he hopes it could open the door to bringing other classic films back to the big screen, possibly the Clint Eastwood Western “The Outlaw Josey Wales.”

For now, though, it’s one night, one legendary cowboy and a chance to experience a little movie magic from days gone by.

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