The Shootist (1976)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Don Siegel

Writers:

Glendon Swarthout (novel)
Miles Hood Swarthout (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 August 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Tagline:

He's got to face a gunfight once more to live up to his legend once more. To win just one more time.

Plot:

A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.

Plot Keywords:

Gunfighter | Marshal | Dignity | Death | Cancer

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 nominations

Cast

John Wayne	...	J.B.Books aka John Bernard Books
Lauren Bacall	...	Bond Rogers
Ron Howard	...	Gillom Rogers
James Stewart	...	Dr. E.W. Hostetler
Richard Boone	...	Mike Sweeney
Hugh O'Brian	...	Jack Pulford (faro dealer at Metropole Saloon)
Bill McKinney	...	Jay Cobb (owner, Cob's Creamery)
Harry Morgan	...	Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido
John Carradine	...	Hezekiah Beckum (undertaker)
Sheree North	...	Serepta (Books' ex-girlfriend)
Rick Lenz	...	Dan Dobkins (reporter, 'Morning Appeal') (as Richard Lenz)
Scatman Crothers	...	Moses Brown (liveryman)
Gregg Palmer	...	Burly man
Alfred Dennis	...	Barber
Dick Winslow	...	Streetcar driver

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:PG | West Germany:16 (f) | USA:TV-PG (cable rating) | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Norway:16 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Carson City, Nevada, USA

Company:

Dino De Laurentiis Company

Trivia:

The engraved Colt Single Action Army revolvers used by J. B. Books in this film were in reality a pair of 1950's-made replicas presented to John Wayne by the long-defunct Great Western company. Being Wayne's personal weapons, it is unlikely he would have allowed the bores to be restricted to prevent firing with live ammo as most movie guns must be, so it can be assumed that Wayne had the only live-firing weapons on the set.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: In the opening scene labeled as being set in 1871, a pair of Colt Peacemaker revolvers with 4 3/4 inch barrels is shown. This model was developed for the US Army in 1873. Civilian sales started in 1875, and the 4 3/4 barrel length wasn't available until 1877.

Quotes:

Gillom Rogers: [Books is giving Gillom gunfighting lessons] Mr. Books, my grouping of shots was tighter than yours. How is it you've killed so many men?
John Bernard Books: First thing is, that target wasn't shooting back at you. Second, most men at that last second will flinch; I won't.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Invasion of the Body Snatchers... An Interview with Kevin McCarthy (1985) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Willow, Tit Willow

The Duke exits in a blaze of glory

This was John Wayne's last film, and it sees the Duke as an aging, ailing but still tough as steel gunslinger named John Bernard Books. Wayne's character rides into town at the start of the film and visits James Stewart's pleasant Doc Hostetler, who tells him that he has terminal cancer and will die within two months. After this, Wayne goes and rents a room with widow Lauren Bacall, and begins to reflect on his situation, trying to figure a way to die retaining the dignity he has fought all his life to keep unscathed.

The film is a particularly appropriate one for Wayne's last picture. The protagonist he plays is a man at the top of his profession with nowhere left to go. Any opponent who has ever fought him has died at the end of Books' barrel; but now, he is fighting an enemy he cannot hope to face and beat like a man. Whatever he does to fight the cancer, it will just take him anyway. And so, Books searches for a way to go down fighting and to die with dignity, not dying a slow crippling death in his bed.

Books is a character that has many faults. He is a man who has killed thirty men and shows no remorse. As he puts it himself, `I never killed a man who didn't deserve it'. However, despite all his faults, he shows himself to a gentleman of the old school. He is like a knight in armour transplanted to the last days of the Wild West, trying hard to keep all the old values of a dignity and honour alive. He is a man who lives by a code which he believes in, and which he applies to others: `I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.'

There is no real villain in this film. Books, with all his flaws, is not a bad man. The real villains here are the ordinary people who are all around him in the city, willing to exploit him and use his fame, illness and even his death to further their own wealth. The whole town, from reporters to undertakers, are only too eager to exploit him, with only a few good people being an exception to this tragic rule.

There is no mistaking that this is the Duke's final picture, and not anybody else's film. It is his persona and his charisma that carries and controls the film. The character of Books – a rough, tough, but by no means bad, man – is very much similar to that of Wayne's own and this film is essentially a vehicle allowing him to have a dramatic swansong befitting a star of his magnitude.

That isn't to say, however, that the others involved with this don't pull their weight. Lauren Bacall delivers well up to her usual standard of acting, presenting a character both strong-spirited and tenderly gentle at once, something which she does extremely well. Ron Howard also acquits himself admirably as her son, turning in a performance which has the same strength and heart as that of his screen-mother Bacall. James Stewart turns in a powerful cameo, adding to the overall poignancy of the whole affair, and Harry Morgan turns in a repellent performance as the contemptible Marshal Thibado. Dirty Harry director Don Seigel directs with skill and ensures that the film remains poignant, but never sentimental. For a western, this film does not have a great deal of action, but such is the quality of acting, direction and scriptwriting, that this doesn't really matter. When the violence does erupt, however, it is occasionally graphic but always exciting. The film's climactic gunfight is a particular highlight and is one of the Duke's best shoot-outs.

This is a powerful, entertaining and enjoyable film, regardless; however, it is further ennobled by it being the Duke's final performance. There is something curiously heart-warming about the whole affair, not least the fact that he is enabled to go out in such great style. This is a must for fans of the western genre, for fans of the Duke, or for anyone who just wants to see a well made, poignant film. Highly recommended. [8]