The Shootist (1976)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Don Siegel

Writers:

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

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 | Dignity | Marshal | Death | Room

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
Melody Thomas Scott	...	Girl on Streetcar (as Melody Thomas)
Kathleen O'Malley	...	School teacher
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Johnny Crawford	...	Books' victim in flashback (uncredited)
Christopher George	...	Books' victim in flashback (uncredited)
Leo Gordon	...	Books' victim in flashback (uncredited)
Charles G. Martin	...	Murray (the bartender) (uncredited)
Ricky Nelson	...	Books' fellow lawman in flashback (uncredited)
James Nolan	...	Gambler (uncredited)
Henry Slate	...	Pulford confidante (uncredited)
Ralph Volkie	...	White-haired bartender (uncredited)

Directed by
Don Siegel

Writing credits
Glendon Swarthout		(novel)
Miles Hood Swarthout		(screenplay) and
Scott Hale		(screenplay)

Produced by
M.J. Frankovich	....	producer
William Self	....	producer

Original Music by
Elmer Bernstein

Cinematography by
Bruce Surtees		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Douglas Stewart

Production Design by
Robert F. Boyle		(as Robert Boyle)

Set Decoration by
Arthur Jeph Parker		(as Arthur Parker)

Makeup Department
Joe DiBella	....	makeup artist (as Joe Di Bella)
Dave Grayson	....	makeup artist
Vivienne Walker	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Russell Saunders	....	executive production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joseph C. Cavalier	....	assistant director (as Joe Cavalier)
Joe Florence	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Bill Dietz	....	property master
Richard Lawrence	....	assistant art director
Joseph M. LeBaron	....	construction coordinator
William Cruse	....	set designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
Les Fresholtz	....	sound re-recordist
Michael Minkler	....	sound re-recordist
Al Overton	....	sound mixer (as Alfred J. Overton)
Arthur Piantadosi	....	sound re-recordist

Special Effects by
Augie Lohman	....	special effects
David Domeyer	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Denny Arnold	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jim Burk	....	stunt double (uncredited)
Jim Burk	....	stunt double: John Wayne (uncredited)
Jim Burk	....	stunts (uncredited)
Steven Burnett	....	stunts (uncredited)
Roydon Clark	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
Henry Wills	....	stunts wrangler (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Kenneth Adams	....	key grip
Thomas Del Ruth	....	camera operator (as Tom Del Ruth)
Charles Holmes	....	gaffer (as Chuck Holmes)
Richard A. Mention III	....	camera assistant (as Rick Mention)
Timothy E. Wade	....	camera assistant
Dave Sutton	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Luster Bayless	....	costumes: men
Moss Mabry	....	costumes: Miss Bacall
Edna Taylor	....	costumes: women

Editorial Department
Jerrold L. Ludwig	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Jack Casey	....	publicist
Eudie Charnes	....	production coordinator
Dino De Laurentiis	....	presenter
Al Horwits	....	public relations
Betsy Norton	....	script supervisor
Buzz Barton	....	horse wrangler (uncredited)
Robert S. Birchard	....	dailies projectionist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Dino De Laurentiis Company (uncredited)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1976) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinema International Corporation (UK) (1976) (UK) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1978) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Filmayer (Spain)
• Paramount Home Video (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• Paramount Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Roadshow Entertainment
• Roadshow Home Video
• Tobis (1977) (West Germany) (theatrical)

Special Effects

• Burbank Editorial Service Inc. (uncredited)

Other Companies

• Burbank Editorial Service Inc.  sound effects
• D.K. Harris Music Service  music editing (as D. Harris Music Service)
• Polifroni/Sabba  casting
• Universal Optical  titles and optical effects

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:

John Wayne was great to the Carson City locals while he was staying at the Ormsby House Hotel during the filming. He signed autographs for young people readily, including one signed for future famed Nevada Opera lead mezzo soprano Mary Anna Replogle.

Goofs:

Continuity: After he discharges Dobkins setting a foot on his buttock, and Dobkins stretchs out on the ground, Books throws away his hat which falls on his feet. When Dobkins picks it up still lying, it is on his right side almost about his hip.

Quotes:

Carson City Marshal Walter Thibido: Hey, Books; did you hear what happened at the Metropole last night? Faro dealer, Pulford, shot a man clean through the heart at eighty paces. Maybe you should go to the Metropole, let Pulford deal you a game of cards.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Who Killed 'Winter Kills'? (2003) (V)

Soundtrack:

Willow, Tit Willow

REAL courage!

I've never had much use for the swaggering, tough-as-nails `heroic' John Wayne. Perhaps that style of heroism was all one needed to get by in the ‘old west', but even then, death was not an easy thing to face (I bet most gunslingers and sheriffs' boots were filled with liquid just moments before they bit the dust). Finally, here is a film that looks at what courage is really made up of: the ability to accept limitations, to accept change, to have humility, and to be able to say, `I'm afraid'. The Duke is dying of cancer, in reality and within the plot of this film. He is also a living myth in reality and within the plot of this film. That he chose to play out his swan song as a human legend instead of as a mythic one, must have taken a lot of courage. Imagine the Duke propped on a dainty red pillow upon his saddle! Imagine him showing all the physical signs of the wear and tear that illness and age have bestowed on him. Imagine him allowing us to hear the weakness of his infirm body slipping in the bathtub. Imagine his groans of agony. `Death is a very private thing', his character John Books says, but he is man enough to show us how to do it and do it with dignity, despite the fear. Just imagine The Duke admitting that he's afraid of the dark!

At the period in which this film is set, gunslingers – or `shootists' – were soon to go the way of the horse and buggy. The queen (Victoria) had just died. Electricity, modern plumbing, modern commerce, modern transportation, and creature comforts were beginning to take over (check out the electric ceiling fans and mosaic tiles in the saloon!). Forward to ‘real life'. It is 1976. One by one, the mythic legends created by dime novels and Hollywood movies are being demystified. From Billy The Kid to Buffalo Bill, to Bonnie and Clyde, audiences have been shown for over decade how legends have always been manufactured. There are some who may see this demystification as a negative thing, but when people start adoring soldiers, celebrities and gangsters as something more than human, it's time to set the record straight. That's what all the best films of the seventies did. They broke the myths but they did not break the spirit, for what they did was let US, not the supermen on the screen, become the heroes. We could be afraid, old, young, ill, or weak, and we could feel pain and humiliation. In the process of confronting our limitations we become stronger. To be a stronger human being is to become civilized. Like this film shows us, we CAN reject the gun and join civilization. This film is John Wayne's gift to us. He is enabling us to grow up, to look at the past with respect, but to face the future with responsibility. His John Books is worth more to us than all his superheroes put together. We're all gonna die, we're all afraid, and pain is very, very real. It is in the process of surrendering to this fact with dignity and humility that we in a sense become immortal. To try to live as a superman is to die a fool. Only cowards (and very dangerous people) embrace myths over reality. That dainty red pillow has made The Duke sit very tall in his saddle indeed!