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 | 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
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

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)

Transportation Department
Chris Haynes	....	driver

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)
• Tobis (1977) (West Germany) (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

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 Title and Optical  titles and optical effects (as Universal Optical)

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:

At the beginning of the seventh day, Gillom whistles a Scott Joplin song made famous to audiences three years earlier in The Sting (1973).

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Books arrives in Carson City, the newspaper he buys says "Monday Morning January 22, 1901" at the top. 22 January 1901 was actually a Tuesday.

Quotes:

Dr. E.W. Hostetler: Books, every few days I have to tell a man or a woman something I don't want to. I've been practicing medicine for 29 years, and I still don't know how to do it well.
John Bernard Books: Why don't you just say it flat out?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler: All right. You have a cancer - advanced. Is that what that fella up in Creed told you?
John Bernard Books: Yeah.
Dr. E.W. Hostetler: And you didn't believe him.
John Bernard Books: No.
Dr. E.W. Hostetler: Do you believe me?
John Bernard Books: Can't you cut it out, Doc?
Dr. E.W. Hostetler: I'd have to gut you like a fish.
John Bernard Books: Well, what *can* you do?
[...]

Movie Connections:

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

Soundtrack:

Willow, Tit Willow

Don Siegel crafted a milestone along the trail to the last sunset with "The Shootist"...

"The Shootist" begins with clips from Wayne's previous pictures: "Hondo," "Rio Bravo," "El Dorado" etc...

Wayne portrays J. B. Books, the most famous lawman in the West who killed thirty men in his life... Books arrives to Carson City in 1901, the day Queen Victoria died in England...

Wayne went first to get a medical diagnosis known to everyone as cancer.

Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart) was too practical... He gives Book the most potent pain-killer he gets, and tells him where to stay in town...

The film is build to one and only purpose: To let Wayne die with dignity, without physical pain, at the Metropole gambling saloon, in a showdown with three heavies: Richard Boone, a bad-tempered ugly man who wants to avenge his brother's death; Hugh O'Brien, a skilled dealer and a presumptuous gunfighter; and Bill McKinney, an unpleasant provoking gunman just released from prison...

Ron Howard plays the crude graceless adolescent, the first to meet Wayne in the street: 'The old man ain't worth a bullet,' he says, 'he looks all tuckered out.' In this particular scene, it comes to my mind the insolent young punk, Skip Homeir, who tries to prove something when he confronts Gregory Peck in the psychological Western "The Gunfighter."

Wayne seems surprised by the visit of Serepta (Sheree North), an unscrupulous aging lady-love who tries to take advantage of him, asking him to marry her simply for a marriage certificate, and a famous name... She surely was not the woman of quality, the good prostitute (Claire Trevor) in "Stagecoach."

John Carradine, who plays the mysterious passenger, also in "Stagecoach," makes a brief appearance as the undertaker...

Tying to overcome his bloody past, John Wayne shows, in the film, the other side of the 'Shootist,' his human side... We find him pleasantly amusing when he reveals to Stewart the truth about the red fancy cushion he carries in the film...

Filmed in Carson City, Nevada, and with a fine supporting cast, this untraditional motion picture is a lyrical elegiac Western of the highest quality, a moving tribute to a legendary actor and a tender farewell to a Super Star...