The Shootist

Plot synopsis:
After a prologue—a clip montage of scenes from Wayne's earlier Western films—summarizing the career of J.B. Books, "the most celebrated shootist extant", an aging and obviously pain-ridden Books arrives in Carson City, Nevada, on January 22, 1901. He laments that the Old West is dying—as is he. A trusted friend, "Doc" Hostetler (Stewart), confirms a Colorado doctor's prognosis of an imminent and painful death from cancer.
Books rents a room at a boarding house owned by the widow Bond Rogers (Bacall) and her teenage son Gillom (Howard). Marshal Thibido (Morgan), alarmed at the presence of a notorious gunfighter in his town, asks him to leave. Books explains that he is dying, and intends to die in Carson City. Thibido relents, but says, "Don't take too long to die."
Word spreads that Books is in town; profiteers, young guns, and old friends and enemies are drawn to him. A newspaperman named Dobkins (Rick Lenz) proposes a spectacular series of articles, exaggerating and glorifying Books' tumultuous career. Books kicks him out, only to be visited by an old flame, Serepta (North), who proposes marriage. He is touched, until he learns that she wants to co-write, with Dobkins, a widow's sensational "memoir". "Woman," says Books, "I still have some pride."
Hostetler prescribes laudanum to ease Books' worsening pain, and reluctantly answers his questions about what will come next: The pain will continue to build, eventually becoming unbearable. Hostetler remarks that if he had Books' courage, the death he has just described is not the one he would choose. The undertaker, Hezekiah Beckum (Carradine) pitches a grand funeral, which Books rejects as another profiteering scheme; but he does order a headstone. Two strangers seeking notoriety try to ambush him as he sleeps, but Books kills them. Gillom is impressed; his mother, who is losing boarders, is angry.
During a buggy ride, Books tells Bond he has never killed a man who didn't deserve it; Bond says a higher power will decide that. She worries that Gillom, lacking a father's guidance, is acquiring a taste for violence and drink. Books negotiates the sale of his horse to the blacksmith, Moses (Crothers), who remarks that Gillom already tried to sell it to him, to compensate for their lost boarders. Books confronts Gillom; after they resolve their differences, Gillom asks for a shooting lesson. To Gillom's surprise, he is nearly as accurate as Books, and wonders aloud how Books won all those gunfights. Books points out that the trees don't shoot back. "It isn't always being fast or even accurate that counts," he adds. "It's being willing."
Books asks Gillom to deliver a message to three men: Mike Sweeney (Boone), who has vowed to avenge his brother, killed long ago by Books; Jack Pulford (O'Brian), a professional gambler and pistol marksman; and Jay Cobb (Bill McKinney), Gillom's ill-mannered employer. Gillom informs each of them, separately, that Books will be at the Metropole Saloon on January 29, his 58th birthday. Books insists that Gillom accept his horse, which he has bought back from Moses, as a gift.
On January 29, the headstone arrives, bearing Books' name, birth date, and "Died 1901", with the day left blank. After bidding farewell to Bond, who has grown to like him, he boards a trolley for the Metropole Saloon. The room is deserted except for the four men and the bartender (Charles G. Martin). Books orders a drink and raises a toast to his birthday and his three "guests".
Cobb is the first to draw his gun, but Books easily dispatches him. He then shoots Sweeney through a table he is hiding behind, but is wounded in the process. Pulford now fires, hitting Books again as he takes cover behind the bar. Pulford works his way closer, but Books sees his reflection in a glass and when he peers over the bar, shoots him dead.
Gillom enters and sees the bartender sneaking up behind Books with a shotgun. He shouts a warning, but the bartender blasts Books in the back with both barrels. As he reloads, Gillom picks up Books' gun and shoots the bartender, then drops the gun in disgust. Books smiles, nods approvingly, and dies. After covering Books reverently with his jacket, Gillom walks home with his mother.

Tags: revenge

Review:
It is a terrific end to a legendary career.After a brief prologue made up of film clips of Wayne in his career prime, we meet his cinematic alter ego, John Bernard Books, an aging gunfighter who rides into Carson City, Nevada in the early 1900's looking for Doc Hostetler (James Stewart), the old sawbones who once saved his life and apparently the only man he trusts.
Books, with no where else to go, checks into Bond Rogers' (Lauren Bacall) boarding house to live out his final days in peace under the alias "William Hickok."  When Bond's delinquent son Gillom (Ron Howard, in a nice change-of-pace performance and his last major film appearance before becoming a director) informs her of his true identity, she tries to throw him out but relents when she finds out his condition and agrees to help him die in peace.
Since it's obvious that no one will leave him alone in his final days, and since he grows fond (to put it mildly) of both Bond and Gillom and wishes them no harm, Books decides to go out in style and on his own terms, and to take a few scumbags along with him."The Shootist" is one of those rare films that seems to have gotten better with age.
In fact, it is now hard to believe that Wayne was not nominated for an Oscar here, as Books is clearly one of the best performances of his career and definitely eclipses his extravagantly praised, Oscar-winning mugging in "True Grit."  Indeed, "The Shootist" deserves to stand alongside Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and Oscar-winning "Unforgiven" as the last three great Westerns in cinema history.
Everything about it is immaculate--the sets, the costumes, the supporting cast (including Harry Morgan in a terrific cameo as an unsympathetic sheriff who tells Books, "What I put on your grave won't pass for roses."), the script, and the chemistry between Wayne and Bacall, teaming up for the first time since "Blood Alley."  And everything is held together by old pro director Donald Siegel who, aside from the late Hal Ashby, may very well be the most underappreciated director in cinema history.
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.
Wayne, who was also dying of cancer, like the character, was trying to accomplish one last thing, a great film.
John Wayne heads the top-drawer main and support cast , he gives a very good as well as dignified acting as a dying gunfighter who spends his last days looking for a way to die rightly but prevented from doing so various younger gunmen out for vendetta or to prove their worth against him .
Early on, Books is told by his old friend Dr Hostetler that he is dying of terminal cancer, and the film chronicles the last week of his life, from 22nd to 29th January 1901, his search for a dignified death in accordance with his own code of honour.The film is about both endings and new beginnings, so it is significant that the action takes place in the first month of a new century.
The Shootist is a great swan song to the film career of John Wayne and a great movie on its own merit.
The parallels between Wayne's life at the time the film was made and the character(J.B.Brooks) he plays in the movie only add a poignant sadness.
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...
In a way this also shows some parallels with Wayne's death, when he died a piece of the genre Western died with him as well.Beside 'The Duke' the movie also has some fine other great actors such as: Lauren Bacall, James Stewart (also his last Western as an actor, he however later still provided one of the voices for his final movie "An American Tail: Fievel Goes West".), Scatman Crothers and John Carradine.
Either The Shootist or The Cowboys could serve as his monument.But in John Bernard Books, Wayne gives us one of his finest acted roles ever on screen, legendary gunfighter from the Old West who arrives in Carson City, Nevada to get a second opinion from Doctor James Stewart.
He admires the way she left the mortal coil and he resolves in his own mind a plan to go out the same way.Wayne put a great cast together for The Shootist, some of them friends and colleagues he worked with over the years like James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, John Carradine, Harry Morgan, Hugh O'Brian and Richard Boone.
James Stewart was quoted as saying he was just honored to be in this film with the Duke.One of John Wayne's best acted scenes ever in any of his films is with Sheree North who plays a former girl friend.
The legendary John Wayne gives a fantastic understated performance as J.B. Books an aging gunfighter suffering from stomach cancer and looking to live out the final days of his life in peace.
Both stand in contrast to the view of that life held by Gillom and Moses.Back in 1969, the Academy, realizing it had never appropriately honored John Wayne and fearful that time was running out to do so, gave him Best Actor for one of his weaker performances and poorer scripts.
This gives several scenes a real lump-in-the-throat quality, such as when Wayne tells Lauren Bacall "I'm a dying man afraid of the dark."But even when viewed without that knowledge, The Shootist is a thoughtful, sad and very well acted film.
The supporting cast is also outstanding, and Wayne has several great scenes with actors like Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard and even Scatman Crothers.
Again, it is difficult to view these scenes without thinking of the twilight of Wayne's career and the declining popularity of western films, just as you can't help but connect the plight of his character in this film with his own death from cancer a few years later.It's hard to imagine that any other significant actor ever made a more appropriate and moving farewell film.
He decides to take an easier route, and returns to his old stomping grounds in order to find a quick and painless death.Along the way he meets The Son (Ron Howard in one of his early roles), and a various assortment of other characters, in his search for suicide.Don Siegel ("Dirty Harry") has always been one of my favorite directors -- he's made some truly terrific films in his career.
It's clear from the casting that, even before the Duke's condition was known, the producers and director were casting icons of film (Jimmy Stewart) and TV (Richard Boone, Paladin in "Have Gun, Will Travel" and Hugh O'Brian, the lead in "Wyatt Earp") westerns, as well as just fine, older actors (Lauren Bacall [not so old, really, when this was made], John Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Harry Morgan).More than anything else, this film is about respect: the flawed code of honor that has led Books to kill so many men over honor, respect for the old, respect for the wishes of the dying.
Words can hardly convey the elegiac quality of this beautifully acted mini-masterpiece, with John Wayne playing a part that was surely meant only for him.The whole effect enhanced by superbly filmed locations,authentic period detail (forget the car!) and strong supporting performances from the rest of the cast.It would be pedantic for me to point out that very few Western gunfighters reached the seniority typified by Wayne's character (Wyatt Earp and Frank James excepted) but J B Books apparently survived presumably because of his unrivalled skills in his chosen profession, as demonstrated at the beginning of the film.
It's less a typical western than a man's reflection upon the end of his life.To me, John Wayne will always represent what true American values are all about, and this film, on all levels is the most fitting end to his career that anyone could have dreamed of..
Books (really a tribute to later John "Duke" Wayne movies) – the legendary gunfighter rides his horse into Carson City, Nevada to see a doctor.
In short the entire cast is excellent, although seeing Hugh O'Brian as a bad guy was certainly unusual, for two decades earlier he had starred in TV's popular "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp." Richard Boone too played Paladin in TV's "Have Gun – Will Travel." Wayne's last movie was so much better than his 1970s films like "Cahill US Marshal," "McQ," "Brannigan," and "Rooster Cogburn." So it is indeed true that "The Shootist" was the only way that the Duke could have made his big-screen exit!.
A dying gunfighter named J.B. Books (John Wayne) rents a room from widow Bond Rogers (Lauren Bacall) and her son Gillom (Ron Howard).
His final lesson will come when Books prepares to settle old scores with enemies who have flocked to town with the news Books is dying.John Wayne's final film and one of his finest performances.
Wonderful supporting cast that includes many former co-stars of the Duke like Lauren Bacall, Jimmy Stewart, Richard Boone, and John Carradine.
J.B. Books, a legendary gunman (John Wayne) visits Carson City, Nevada in 1901 to get a second opinion from Doc Hostetler (James Stewart), who'd patched him up after a gunfight years before.
Things don't QUITE work out how he expects (but he's predicted how he'll go earlier in the film), and Gillom finds out gunfighting isn't a good way to grow old....While it's an urban legend that John Wayne was dying of cancer making this movie (he didn't have stomach cancer until some two years later), his 1964 battle with lung cancer played a large part in his wanting to do this.
The Legend Goes Out on Top. The Shootist (1976) **** (out of 4) John Wayne, in his final film, plays a dying gunfighter who goes to a small town for some final rest but ends up going up against a group of men who won't let him die in peace.
Many believe that Wayne made this film, like the character, knowing that he was dying but apparently that wasn't the case but even so he managed to get talent like Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Hugh O'Brien, John Carradine, Richard Boone, Scatman Crothers and James Stewart to appear.
In his final film, Wayne, the great Western star, plays a famous gunfighter dying of cancer.
John Wayne in his last film, and how fitting it should be a western.The Shootist is about a surviving old gunslinger who knows he is dying.
However, the disease was only in remission, and when it became clear in the mid 1970's that the conditional was probably terminal, Wayne chose this film as his way of saying his personal farewell to the movies.Wayne's character, John Bernard Books, is suffering from internal cancer and this is confirmed for him by Carson's Doc Hostetler, played with gentle dignity by James Stewart.
I've often wondered if John Wayne, or someone close to him, intentionally chose this script because they knew Wayne had lung cancer and would likely not be making many more movies.Wayne dying...Jimmie Stewart's, Richard Boone's careers also nearing their end...Boone's character's motorcar ushering in a new era in the movie...western movies out of vogue when this was made...the wild west way of life fading away in the film...these and other symbols are too numerous to be mere coincidences.The cast is excellent...the photography (especially the outdoor shots away from town's center) has the "feel" of authenticity.This was, truly, the only way for John Wayne to make his exit..
I think it was also a great end to the era of the "Wild West" that succeeded in Hollywood for 40 years.In The Shootist John Wayne plays John Bernard Books, a man who has had an infamous reputation as a gunman.
I'm sure he knew that he didn't have much time left,so he decided to make a movie that reflected his life,a western,the same genre that introduced him to the world.If you thought his performance as Rooster Cogburn was the greatest ever,look no where else but here,because he really shines and goes out on top as J.B. Books in the Shootist..
He takes up residence in the house of a pretty widow (Bacall) with a son (Howard) and waits for his death, but every baddie within riding range wants to challenge him for the fame of killing the legendary shootist.Wayne's performance is a gem, cone of his best, and the supporting cast is able.
This is John Wayne's best western and ranks second for me only to his "Quiet Man" film, another role he played where his human side shines though the iconic presence.
Check the cast out in the mid '70s western: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart, Richard Boone, John Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Sheree North, Hugh O'Brien and Harry Morgan.
Although Wayne doesn't blaspheme, he expresses his non-interest in religion, which must have really pleased the national critics, who liked this film.The positive points are Wayne's still-good performance in his dying days, playing someone who is doing the same thing (dying of cancer); a nice Christian character played by Bacall; some good cameos by other famous actors in their finals years, too, and realistic portrayal of "leeches" - people trying to make a buck out of a dying man (mainly a newspaperman and a former girlfriend).This is obviously a different kind of western, not your normal shoot-em up, but more of a human interest story of a dying man.
Don Siegel directed this western, which stars John Wayne in his final performance, playing aging Gunfighter J.B. Books, who learns that he is dying of cancer, and comes to stay in the home of Bond Rogers(played by Lauren Bacall) and her son Gillom(played by Ron Howard).
Knowing that John Wayne was himself dying when he made this movie, gives this story of a terminally ill gunfighter a dimension of sadness that is difficult to bear, and makes this tragic movie a fitting end to a great career.
Even if you leave aside John Wayne's real life drama pretty much like the film's character he plays (both were dying of cancer) that could add some nostalgic interest to the movie, it stands as a very good product in the genre.John Bernard Books (Wayne) is an aging gunfighter who knows his time is almost over, not only biologically speaking but also because of the inevitable end of his kind as the old west changes with progress.
So he challenges the three top guns in town for a final gunfight in the saloon (where else?).James Stewart, Lauren Bacall and Richard Boone bring a great supporting cast to Wayne -this is his movie- and help a lot to make it a really fine product in the genre.Although a bit slow in the beginning, "The Shootist" turns out as a decent farewell to the actor that was, perhaps, the most representative figure in western films ever.
One of Dukes greatest,The Shootist in my opinion marks the true end of the western era in movies.Wayne who portrays a dying gunfighter @ the turn of the century was himself in real life battling cancer.This movie brings together a cast of characters who in my opinion wanted to be part of what they knew was going to be the Dukes last movie.Duke plays the part with such realism and a level of sadness that has touched me more than any other role he has played.This movie also contains my favorite quote"I won't be wronged,Iwon'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 of them."These word represent what the Duke stood for in life,a philosophy that seems to have sadly passed with him..
The great John Wayne delivers a stunning performance as an aged gunslinger living out his final days, awaiting death from cancer.
Directed by Don Siegel(of the "Dirty Harry" movies) this fond farewell to the end of an era co-stars Lauren Bacall,Scatman Crothers,Ron Howard,and also in his final farewell performance as well,James Stewart.
This,naturally is a shock to him,as he no doubt thought he would die at the smoking end of a gun barrel.On the way to a thrilling climax, Books takes time to make friends with the owner of a boarding house (played with class by the great Lauren Bacall),and her son (played by Ron Howard).Worthy of note here is the performance,although a brief one,of the always flawless Jimmy Stewart as the town's doctor.This movie is a must have for any Duke fan..
The film is replete with character actors, Richard Boone, James Stewart,Hugh O'Brien, Harry Morgan, Scatman Crothers, John Carridine and a young Ron Howard.
John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart last worked together on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 15 years earlier.Rounding off a great cast we have Lauren Bacall and, representing the new generation, Ron Howard.