The Shootist (1976) - IMDb IMDb Robin Williams rejected for Harry Potter role thanks to 'British-only' rule 2 hours ago There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error A dying gunfighter spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity. Director: Guide to the Globes Related News a list of 38 titles created 11 Aug 2011 a list of 41 titles created 26 Oct 2011 a list of 38 titles created 12 Feb 2012 a list of 25 titles created 13 Jun 2012 a list of 25 titles created 28 Dec 2014 Search for " The Shootist " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.

See more awards » Videos Marshal Rooster Cogburn unwillingly teams up with Eula Goodnight to track down the killers of her father. Director: Stuart Millar In 1909, when John Fain's gang kidnaps Big Jake McCandles' grandson and hold him for ransom, Big Jake sets out to rescue the boy. Directors: George Sherman, John Wayne Stars: John Wayne, Richard Boone, Maureen O'Hara Ranch owner Katie Elder's four sons determine to avenge the murder of their father and the swindling of their mother. Director: Henry Hathaway When his cattle drivers abandon him for the gold fields, rancher Wil Andersen is forced to take on a collection of young boys as his drivers in order to get his herd to market in time to ... See full summary » Director: Mark Rydell A drunken, hard-nosed U.S. Marshal and a Texas Ranger help a stubborn teenager track down her father's murderer in Indian territory. Director: Henry Hathaway J.D. Cahill is the toughest U.S. Marshal they've got, just the sound of his name makes bad guys stop in their tracks, so when his two young boys want to get his attention they decide to rob...

See full summary » Director: Andrew V. McLaglen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with an old Indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water. Director: Howard Hawks After the Civil War, Cord McNally searches for the traitor whose perfidy caused the defeat of McNally's unit and the loss of a close friend. Director: Howard Hawks Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County land war. Director: Andrew V. McLaglen A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a cripple, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy. Director: Howard Hawks A senator, who became famous for killing a notorious outlaw, returns for the funeral of an old friend and tells the truth about his deed. Director: John Ford Wealthy rancher G.W.

McLintock uses his power and influence in the territory to keep the peace between farmers, ranchers, land-grabbers, Indians and corrupt government officials. Director: Andrew V. McLaglen Edit Storyline John Books an aging gunfighter goes to see a doctor he knows for a second opinion after another doctor told him he has a cancer which is terminal. The doctor confirms what the other said. He says Books has a month maybe two left. He takes a room in the boarding house and the son of the woman who runs it recognizes him and tells his mother who he is. She doesn't like his kind but when he tells her of his condition, she empathizes. Her son wants him to teach him how to use a gun. Books tries to tell him that killing is not something he wants to live with. Books, not wanting to go through the agony of dying from cancer, tries to find a quicker way to go. Written by rcs0411@yahoo.com See All (139) » Taglines: He's got to face a gunfight once more to live up to his legend once more - TO WIN JUST ONE MORE TIME.

Genres: 20 August 1976 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Did You Know? Trivia George C. Scott was originally offered the role of Books, and accepted it on the condition that not one word of the script be changed. However, the role was given to John Wayne after he expressed interest. The producers claim they had wanted him all along, but did not believe he would be interested in the film. See more » Goofs Books' gun is a six-shooter, but during the climactic gunfight in the Metropole Saloon, it miraculously fires 8 bullets: 1 at Cobb, 3 at Sweeney, 1 at Pulford, and finally, Gillom picks it up and fires 3 to kill the bartender. See more » Quotes John Bernard Books : [Interrupts] Bat Masterson? Gillom Rogers : Yeah, he said that a man has to have guts, deliberation and a proficiency with fire arms. John Bernard Books : Did he mention that third eye you better have? Gillom Rogers : Third eye? John Bernard Books : For that dumbass amateur.

There's always some six-fingered bustard that couldn't hit a cow in the tit with a tin cup. That's the one who usually does you in. But Masterson always was full of... sheep-dip. (El Paso, Texas) – See all my reviews John Wayne is an icon, and so many viewers seem to use his work as a referendum on the larger geo-political issues of our time. I find that distasteful, as this isn't a political movie, and one that doesn't even have an oppressed indigenous person in it. This is a personal story of a man who "has outlived his time", who is dying of cancer, and yet is determined to die with dignity. John Wayne really was dying of cancer when he made this movie... he gathered old friends around him--the widow of Humphrey Bogart, Jimmy Stewart, John Carradine, and addressed the topic of how legends die. (Selling the rights for his corpse to be displayed by the undertaker for $50 cash in advance was a particularly interesting idea.) I am viewing this film 27 years after it was made, and there is 'something' it had which is absent from movies today.

It is a film addressing mature themes for one thing, but it had a pacing, and made time for it's dialouge--it was never dull, never slow, but proceeded towards it's climax with the sort of gravitas you very rarely see in today's cinematic roller coaster rides, which have become little more than special effects vehicles. There is another reason to see this film--it looks back at 1901 with a loving vision. I was impressed with the historical accuracy in which it was filmed--it was impressive to see the town, from the horsedrawn street car and the Stanley Steamer, to little things like the flour dispenser in the kitchen. (Wondered where it was filmed--perhaps the old Old Tucson Studio before it burned down and was rebuilt to be a tourist attraction?) Anyway, this was a lovingly crafted film--I don't know if Hollywood could still pull this off "as real" in 2003. So, for big reasons and small, "The Shootist" is worth your time. It is deeper than it looks. 55 of 65 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes The Shootist Movie - John Wayne - 1976 | Western Classic Movies Awards “The Shootist” was John Wayne’s Goodbye Western Three years after starring in “The Shootist,” John Wayne passed away from lung and stomach cancer. This movie turned out to be his last film, and it is poignant because it is a story about an aging cowboy who is dying of cancer. At the time that he made this western, John Wayne had been living cancer-free for ten years. He was diagnosed with the disease in 1964, but recovered and made the classic western “The Sons of Katie Elder” which was released in 1965. After “The Sons of Katie Elder,” John Wayne starred in 17 more movies, including the film “True Grit” for which he won an Academy Award. In “The Shootist,” John Wayne stars as a legendary old gunfighter named John Bernard Brooks who wants to live the last days of his life peacefully. He visits an old doctor friend, Dr. Hostetler (which was appropriately played by James Stewart) to get a medical diagnosis and is told that he has incurable cancer.

Brooks then secures a room at a boarding house that is run by a widow named Bond Rogers (Lauren Bacall) and her teenage son Gillom (Ron Howard). The widow has no idea who John Bernard Brooks is until later. Once Brooks is recognized and word spreads about his cancer, he discovers that he can’t live the remainder of his life as peacefully as he would like. There are people who want to make money selling his life story. And, of course, there are numerous, cocky gunfighters who want to make a name for themselves by killing Brooks with their gun. Nevertheless, as Brooks’ days near their end, the old gunfighter becomes a hero to the young teenager Gillom and a friend to his mother. • The horse that John Wayne uses in “The Shootist” was named “ole Dollor.” Wayne purposely had this horse written into the movie, because he had used “ole Dollor” in a number of his westerns and loved the horse.

Although no one can definitely say for sure, it is speculated that Wayne’s horse “Ole Dollor” was also used in the western movies “The Undefeated,” “Rio Lobo” and “Chisum.” Wayne had another horse with a similar name “Dollar” that looked different and this other horse is speculated to have been used by Wayne in the movies “Rooster Cogburn”, “Big Jake” ,”The Cowboys”, “The Train Robbers” and “Cahill, U.S. Marshall.” • The opening scenes of “The Shootist” contains footage from some of John Wayne’s other cowboy westerns. Scenes were used from the movies Hondo, Rio Bravo and El Dorado in order to give a sense of history for his character J. B. Brooks. • The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout was published in 1975. It was made into this western movie in 1976. Although “The Shootist” is his most famous novel made into a movie, Swarthout had seven other novels and short stories made into motion pictures. • “The Shootist” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Set Direction (Robert F.

Boyle and Arthur Parker) • Ron Howard was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Supporting Role for his role as Gillom Rogers. John Wayne: one last shot before the final farewell - Telegraph Classic Movies John Wayne: one last shot before the final farewell In 1976, battling the cancer that would kill him, John Wayne stepped in front of the camera for one final face-off. The result was 'The Shootist’, a rich and elegiac western and, says Philip Horne, a fitting swansong for Hollywood’s most courageous gunslinger. Image 1 of 2 His last stand: John Wayne in a scene from 'The Shootist' (1976), made when he was terminally ill with cancer. John Wayne in The Shootist Photo: PARAMOUNT/ALLSTAR By Philip Horne 5:51PM BST 20 Sep 2010 During the making of The Shootist (1976), Don Siegel’s rich, elegiac western about an ageing gunfighter dying of “a cancer”, its star John Wayne became too ill to film.

The actor had had a lung removed twelve years earlier and was now struggling with the stomach cancer that would eventually lead to his death in 1979. A few days later, when Wayne bravely returned to the set, he picked a quarrel with the director, who had carried on filming a gunfight scene in his absence, over the way his character was shown killing a villain. He forced Siegel to redo the scene, declaring: “Whatever the cause, I would never shoot anyone in the back. It’s unthinkable for my image… I spent many years in this business building up my image.” He certainly did – but he wasn’t the only one. The 6ft 4in Marion Morrison was a former USC American football player with a few bit parts to his rather girlie name, when he was spotted carrying an armchair across the Fox Studios lot by legendary director Raoul Walsh (one-eyed, but sharp-eyed). Walsh cast him in The Big Trail (1930) – a western, the genre Wayne would above all be associated with – and renamed him after Revolutionary War general “Mad Anthony Wayne”.

But it was director John Ford who turned Wayne into an all-time star, by casting him as the Ringo Kid, in Stagecoach (1939), which is perhaps the definitive western (though based on a Maupassant novel). Wayne’s character makes his first appearance standing on the trail, firing into the air to stop the stagecoach and, as the camera whips in to a breathless close-up, he announces that: “You might need me and this Winchester, Curly!” In his dark placket-front shirt, light army-style braces, bandana and broad white hat, Ringo is a dazzling vision of male beauty and heroism. Wayne was already 32, with 78 films behind him – but the freshness of this “Kid” is unforgettable. Related Articles John Wayne's eye patch up for auction 28 Sep 2011 The Shootist opens with a montage of its hero’s past exploits – taken from Red River (Howard Hawks, 1948), Hondo (John Farrow, 1953), Rio Bravo and El Dorado (Hawks, 1959 and 1966).

It’s clear this is a summation of Wayne’s career as well as that of his character in The Shootist, JB Books. Younger film-watchers may not be so aware of the Wayne legend, or of his films – it was against the heroic Wayne, in a sense, that the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone (and then Eastwood) were angled; so too were the Seventies anti-westerns of Peckinpah. Wayne’s fame is probably not dissociable, in fact, from the Cold War era – from anxieties about communism (his quite reactionary politics could be ugly) and gender (it’s often clear that his characters, men’s men, are ill at ease with women). But no one who sees a good John Wayne film (and there are many) will forget his complex, dignified presence. He was large, physically powerful, with a rolling gait, increasingly craggy as time went on – but always a careful watcher of others and a man of few words. He had indomitable courage and a basically decent heart, though also a quick temper and a capacity for black, violent rages.

The great Wayne films directed by John Ford don’t figure in The Shootist montage – they’re too distinctive and different in tone. It was Hawks (at least according to Hawks) who discovered that Wayne could actually act, making him the ruthless Thomas Dunson of Red River – and in that auteur’s view: “If you try to make a western with somebody besides Wayne, you’re not in the sphere of violence and action that you are when you’ve got Wayne.” It was after this that Ford again used him for westerns – starting with the Cavalry trilogy of Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950), in which he plays respectively youngish, oldish and indeterminately middle-aged characters in three films within a period of two and a half years. Wayne had already turned 40 and the elegiac is the keynote of these films. By the Fifties the western was being reshaped and challenged by new, noirish approaches. Although James Stewart (directed by Anthony Mann) and Randolph Scott (directed by Budd Boetticher) were perhaps the pioneers in the reinvention, Wayne played his part in it, too.

Indeed, he is magnificent as scary, obsessed, conflicted, heroic loner Ethan Edwards, “a man that can go crazy wild”, in Ford’s masterpiece, The Searchers (1956), which was an inspiration for Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976). Without his seniors, Ford or Hawks directing him, though, Wayne could be lazy or wayward and autocratic. In his 1993 autobiography, A Siegel Film, Siegel is amusingly vivid about Wayne’s “difficult” behaviour. In the Sixties and Seventies, a grumpy Wayne complained that in the old westerns antagonists despatched each other by the gun – while in the new ones they preferred to talk each other to death. But as the American critic Andrew Sarris points out, the (highly patriotic) films Wayne himself directed, The Alamo (1960) and The Green Berets (1968) are themselves very talky. Good directors – like Ford, Hawks and Siegel – knew how to pare down Wayne’s dialogue and make use of his surprising subtlety.

Hawks said that on Rio Bravo, where Dean Martin is his wrecked, drunken deputy, Wayne wasn’t at first sure how to play their scenes. The director’s tip: “He’s your best friend, watch him. See whether he is coming through.” And Wayne replied: “OK, that’s enough for me.” It obviously was. Toward the end of his career, Wayne often played parts trading self-consciously on his star image – and sometimes, in True Grit (1969), for which he won his Oscar, and The Cowboys (1972), for example, the films are seriously rewarding entertainment. The Shootist, based on a novel by Glendon Swarthout, is the culmination of this reflective, retrospective tendency. It was known that it might be Wayne’s last film, so there’s a remarkable supporting cast – above all James Stewart in a fine cameo as the Carson City doctor (Wayne and Stewart had co-starred in Ford’s The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)), but also Lauren Bacall and the young Ron Howard (who would go on to direct Apollo 13 and Frost/Nixon) – as well as the great western veteran Richard Boone.

The movie is set in January 1901 – Queen Victoria has just died – and in Carson City, Nevada, which has telephones, trams and motor cars, and is planning on introducing metalled roads, gas lamps and electricity. It is the whole 20th-century package. However, Wayne’s character, the abrasive JB Books, almost sole survivor of the violent Old West, does not belong in this tame, commercialised new world – about which the film is pretty ambivalent. A succession of venal characters try to exploit the nationwide fame of Books – by interviewing, marrying, burying, or stealing souvenirs from him – while quite a few others want to kill him. The nasty little sheriff wants to drive him out of town. But while the film is tinged with bitter ironies, the touching drama of his relations with his landlady (Bacall) and her restless son (Howard), who idolises Books, plus our certainty that a John Wayne movie is not going to end with its hero dying of cancer, make it an involving, exciting experience. The Shootist is a fitting memorial to a great star – and leaves his image indelibly fixed on our imagination.

Free John Wayne DVDs Get The Shootist free on DVD inside next Saturday’s Telegraph; and another John Wayne classic, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, with Sunday’s paper. Philip Horne is Professor of English at UCL Start your free 30 day Amazon Prime trial» View All Critic Reviews (14) Audience Reviews for The Shootist The Shootist is a terrific Western starring the legendary John Wayne. The film was to be The Duke's final film role. The plot is about a hired that is dying of a terminal illness and looks in going out in fashion. Wayne is wonderful in his performance and this is a well executed Western and a classic that is a must see for genre fans. The film boasts a good cast alongside John Wayne, and each actor gives the film something unique. This film brings an end to an era of great Westerns. This is brilliantly directed and acted. Despite its imperfections, The Shootist is a fun and entertaining picture and like I said, John Wayne is great here, and he gives his all in a stellar performance that simply is a mesmerizing final Swan Song to his great career. Don Siegel direction is wonderful and he was able to capture something special with this film.

The film at times could have been better; luckily Wayne's performance holds the hold thing together. Although not on par with the far superior Spaghetti Westerns, The Shootist is still worth watching for genre fans. The film bring a comedic tone at times that you can enjoy, but also there is a dramatic overtone as John Wayne on-screen says goodbye to the genre, he made famous. This is a fine, final picture that is a must see for John Wayne fans or any genre fans looking for a standout picture that is among the best swan songs for an actor. The film lives on as a testament to John Wayne's talents and every ounce of the acting ability that Wayne possesses is displayed beautifully in a wonderful near flawless Western. Alex roy Super Reviewer A touching film, heartfelt, as the Duke makes his final bow and he's fully aware that with him goes an era, the good and the bad. Here to say farewell are Stewart and Bacall, the old guard, and Ron Howard, the future. And the Duke makes his final bow. Kevin M. Williams Super Reviewer There is something to be said about an old legend dying of cancer playing an old legend dying of cancer. Randy Tippy The Shootist Quotes Gillom Rogers: Mr.

Books, How is it you've killed so many men? My spread wasn't much bigger than yours. Marshall Thibido: Books, I want you out of town. These are law-abiding people here and I don't want any trouble. I can deputize as many men as I need to see that you leave Dr. 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: I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them. John Wayne Dead of Cancer on Coast at 72 John Wayne Dead of Cancer on Coast at 72 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS os Angeles, June 11 -- John Wayne, the veteran Hollywood actor, died today at 5:23 P.M., Pacific daylight time, at U.C.L.A. Medical Center, a hospital spokesman said. The cause of death was given as complications from cancer. Mr.

Wayne, 72 years old, had been hospitalized for treatment of cancer of the lower abdomen since May 2, when he was admitted for his second cancer operation of the year. His lower intestine was partly removed in the operation. Mr. Wayne's second bout with cancer began earlier this year with what was officially described as a routine gall bladder operation. He had entered the Medical Center Jan. 10 and two days later his stomach was removed in a 9*- hour operation when a low-grade cancerous tumor was discovered. 'Duke,' an American Hero by Richard Shephard In more than 200 films made over 50 years, John Wayne saddled up to become the greatest figure of one of America's greatest native art forms, the western. The movies he starred in rode the range from out-of-the-money sagebrush quickies to such classics as "Stagecoach" and "Red River." He won an Oscar as best actor for another western, "True Grit," in 1969. Yet some of the best films he made told stories far from the wilds of the West, such as "The Quiet Man" and "The Long Voyage Home." In the last decades of his career, Mr.

Wayne became something of an American folk figure, hero to some, villain to others, for his outspoken views. He was politically conservative and, although he scorned politics as a way of life for himself, he enthusiastically supported Richard M. Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Spiro T. Agnew, Ronald Reagan and others who, he felt, fought for his concept of Americanism and anti-Communism. But it was for millions of moviegoers who saw him only on the big screen that John Wayne really existed. He had not created the western with its clear-cut conflict between good and bad, right and wrong, but it was impossible to mention the word "western" without thinking of "the Duke," as he was called. By the early 1960's, 161 of his films had grossed $350 million, and he had been paid as much as $666,000 to make a movie--although in his early days on screen, his salary ran to no more than two or three figures a week. It was rarely a simple matter to find a unanimous opinion on Mr. Wayne, whether it had to do with his acting or his politics.

Film critics were lavish in praise of him in some roles and shrugged wearily as they candled his less notable efforts; one critic, apparently overexposed to westerns, angered him by commenting, "It never Waynes, but it pours." Mr. Wayne was co-director and star of "The Green Berets," a 1968 film that supported the United States action in Vietnam. The movie was assailed by many major critics on all grounds, political and esthetic, but the public apparently did not mind; in only six months, it had earned $1 million above its production cost of $7 million. Won Growing Respect As the years passed, Mr. Wayne was recognized as some sort of American natural resource, and his various critics, political and film, looked on him with more respect. Abbie Hoffman, the radical of the 1960's paid tribute to Mr. Wayne's singularity.

Reviewing "The Cowboys," made in 1972, Vincent Canby, film critic of The New York Times, who did not particularly care for it, wrote, "Wayne is, of course, marvelously indestructible, and he has become an almost perfect father figure." But years before he became anything close to a father figure, Mr. Wayne had become a symbolic male figure, a man of impregnable virility and the embodiment of simplistic, laconic virtues, packaged in a well-built 6-foot-4-inch, 225- pound frame. He had a handsome and hearty face, with crinkles around eyes that were too lidded to express much emotion but gave the impression of a man of action, an outdoor man who chafed at a settled life. He was laconic on screen. And when he shambled into view, one could sense the arrival of coiled vigor awaiting only provocation to be sprung. His demeanor and his roles were those of a man who did not look for trouble but was relentless in tackling it when it affronted him. This screen presence emerged particularly under the ministrations of John Ford and Howard Hawks, the directors.

Overcame Great Odds Appearances were not altogether deceiving. Mr. Wayne loved adventure and the outdoors. He did believe that things were either right or wrong, and he came back against great odds. In 1964, a malignant tumor was removed from his chest and left lung, and within several months he was on location making another movie. More recently, he found himself the target of much hate mail from the right wing, whose political idol he had been, after he supported President Carter's espousal of the Panama Canal treaties. He did not mind. Although his basic views had not moderated, his tolerance, it seemed, had. He had even shown up at a function to congratulate Jane Fonda, who was to the left what he was to the right, on winning a screen award. Mr. Wayne made his last public appearance at the Academy Awards ceremony in April, where he drew an emotional standing ovation when he strode out on stage to present the Oscar for best picture. He was recently presented with a special Congressional medal of the kind given to such national figures as the Wright Brothers.

Between his first starring role in "The Big Trail" in 1930, and his last one, as the most celebrated gunslinger in the West who finds he is dying of cancer in "The Shootist," in 1976, Mr. Wayne shot his way through generations of film fans with little change in style or personality. He had consciously adapted his posture for that first movie and retained it. He was sometimes inseparable from it in the flesh. Watched Movies Being Made "When I started, I knew I was no actor and I went to work on this Wayne thing," he once recalled. "It was as deliberate a projection as you'll ever see. I figured I needed a gimmick, so I dreamed up the drawl, the squint and a way of moving meant to suggest that I wasn't looking for trouble but would just as soon throw a bottle at your head as not. I practiced in front of a mirror." His entrance into films was as fortuitous as any made by a young fellow who grew up near the Hollywood badlands.

But the Wayne saga actually started much farther east, in the small town of Winterset, Iowa, where he was born May 26, 1907, and was named Marion Michael Morrison. His father, Clyde L. Morrison, had a drugstore, but when Marion was 6 years old, his father, because of ill health, moved the family to Southern California and became a homesteader with an 80-acre farm. Not long after, the family settled in Glendale, where Mr. Morrison again went and opened a pharmacy. His store was in the same building as a theater, and young Marion, who rose at 4 A.M. to deliver newspapers and then, after school and football practice, delivered orders from the store, went to the movies four or five times a week, free. Even earlier, when he was 7, he had learned about horses and played cowboy. In Glendale, he saw movies being made at the Triangle Studios, where they often shot outdoor scenes. The link between horse and camera was yet to be forged, but the influences were there from the beginning.

Along the way he had acquired the nickname "Duke." It came from an Airedale terrier he had had, he used to say as he debunked press releases that tried to explain the moniker as some sort of rubbed-off nobility. Came to Ford's Attention He worked as truck driver, fruit picker, soda jerk and ice hauler and was an honor student and a member of an outstanding football team at high school. His athletic talents brought him a football scholarship at the University of Southern California, but in his second year he broke an ankle and dropped out. While he was still at school, he got a job, as other football players did, as a scenery mover at Fox Films. John Ford was attracted to the youth's hulking physique and made him a "fourth-assistant prop boy." When Mr. Ford was making a submarine film on location in the channel off Catalina Island, the regular stuntmen refused to go into the water because of rough seas. Mr. Ford asked the prop boy if he would. He did, immediately, and became part of the Ford team. In an early film, Republic Pictures gave him a screen credit as Michael Burn and, in another, as Duke Morrison.

When Raoul Walsh cast him as the star of "The Big Trail," his expensive, $2 million western, the director thought that Marion was too sissified a name for a western hero, and "John Wayne" was born. Rode in 40 Westerns The movie was a flop. It had been shot as a talking picture on 72-millimeter film, a "superwestern" designed for large screens that required protection equipment that few movie houses were equipped with. After two nonwesterns, Mr. Wayne retreated into short-order horse operas. Between 1933 and 1939, he made more than 40 westerns, all Grade B or C undertakings, interspersed with several that took him off the range but not into any particular recognition. Then, like a good guy riding in to relieve the oppressed, his old benefactor, Mr. Ford, came along to cast Mr. Wayne as the Ringo Kid in the Oscar-winning "Stagecoach," the 1939 movie that took westerns from the Saturday afternoon for-kids-only category and attracted the attention of more intellectual film critics. It was a turning point also for Mr. Wayne.

His next major role found him in a milieu far from the cactus sets. He played a simple Swedish lad in the crew of a freighter in "The Voyage Home," Mr. Ford's 1940 film based on the sea plays of Eugene O'Neill. Mr. Wayne's work from that point reads like a bill of lading of popular Hollywood wares. He starred with Marlene Dietrich in three films: "Seven Sinners" (1940), "Pittsburgh" (1943) and "The Spoilers" (1942). Others included Cecil B. De Mille's "Reap the Wild Wind" (1942), as well as a slew of World War II movies that embraced Mr. Ford's "They Were Expendable" in 1945. Later came "Fort Apache" and "Red River," in 1948, and "Three Godfathers" and "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon," both in 1949. In 1952, Mr. Wayne showed off to best effect as the young Irish-American returned to Ireland in Mr.

Ford's "The Quiet Man." It was a much-acclaimed film and is still a frequent feature on television. Invested in 'The Alamo' By the late 1940's, Mr. Wayne had already been transformed from a dashing young adventurer to an older one, no less dashing, but in a somewhat more restrained tempo. In "Red River," directed by Mr. Hawks, Mr. Wayne portrayed a ruthless cattle baron, not altogether a good guy, but one with some depth to him. In this instance, Montgomery Clift, the co-star, represented the forces for good. Mr. Wayne invested $1.2 million in 1960 to make "The Alamo," about the fight between the Americans--the good guys--and the Mexicans--the bad guys. He played Davy Crockett. The picture was very dear to his heart because, he said, "We wanted to re-create a moment in history that will show this generation of Americans what their country still stands for . . what some of their forebears went through to win what they had to have or die*liberty and freedom." He was bitterly disappointed when the film failed.

However, he quickly went on to other work: "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance," "Hatari" and "The Longest Day," all in 1962; "How the West Was Won" in 1963, and "El Dorado" in 1967, another film directed by Mr. Hawks. In 1969, Mr. Wayne was almost universally hailed when he starred in "True Grit," directed by Henry Hathaway. Mr. Wayne played a disreputable, one-eyed, drunken, fat old man who was a Federal Marshal called Rooster Cogburn. In 1970, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences awarded him an Oscar for his portrayal. The success of "True Grit" led to "Rooster Cogburn," in 1975, in which he co-starred with Katharine Hepburn in her first western. Mr. Wayne starred in his first television special, "Swing Out, Sweet Land," a paean of patriotism, in 1970, and later became well-known for various television appearances.

He never made a television series and had deep reservations about the medium's approach to the western. "Television has a tendency to reach a little," he observed, referring to television westerns' propensities for psychological insights. "In their westerns, they are getting away from the simplicity and the fact that those men were fighting the elements and the rawness of nature and didn't have time for this couch-work." His anti-Communist sentiments led Mr. Wayne to help found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in 1944, and he was its president for two terms. The organization, which eventually disbanded, was accused of having given the names of suspected Communists in the film industry to the House Committee on Un-American Activities, although Mr. Wayne said later that he had never been party to any such thing. Once, interviewed about civil rights, he said: "I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to the point of responsibility. I don't believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people." He said that when he was in school, he was a "socialist," but not for long.

He said that he was a rebel, but not one like the youngsters of the late 60's. "Mine is a rebellion against the monotony of life," he said. "The rebellion in these kids*particularly the S.D.S.'ers and those groups*seems to be a kind of dissension by rote." In his later years, Mr. Wayne, who had invested in oil and also in a shrimp business in Panama, among other things, became more financially conservative than he had been. He had not kept a very tight hand on his money earlier, and at one point realized he was not as well off as he had thought. However, he was not impoverished. He lived with his third wife, Pilar Palette Wayne, who was born in Peru, in an 11-room, seven-bathroom, $175,000 house in Newport Beach, Calif., where he had a 135-foot yacht. He owned cattle ranches in Stanfield and Springerville, Ariz. Mr. Wayne's first two marriages, to Josephine Saenz and Esperanzo Bauer, also Latin Americans, ended in divorces. He had seven children from his marriages, and more than 15 grandchildren.

John Wayne Is The Last Shootist (Paramount Pictures) - YouTube John Wayne Is The Last Shootist (Paramount Pictures) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. The interactive transcript could not be loaded. Loading... Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Feb 19, 2008 John Wayne at his best, with his longtime friend Jim Stewart. John Wayne to Lauren Bacall about Queen Victoria. -"I was reading about old Queen Vic. Well, maybe she outlived her time. Maybe she was a museum piece, but she never lost her dignity, nor sold her guns. She hung on to her pride and went out in style. That's the kind of an old gal I'd like to meet." John Wayne about himself.

'Feo, Fuerte y Formal' - 'He was ugly, strong and had dignity'." Category JOHN WAYNE AND THE SHOOTIST (1976) | 366 Weird Movies JOHN WAYNE AND THE SHOOTIST (1976) Alfred Eaker 13 Comments Marlon Brando is not the quintessential American male movie star. That honor belongs to John Wayne. John Wayne was a shrewd actor who carefully manufactured his on screen persona. For many, Wayne represents the All-American WASP, yet he was of Irish descent and a Roman Catholic. Most of the B western actors had a favorite horse. In his B western beginnings, Wayne had the horse Duke, yet he disliked horses, preferred slacks and dinner jacket to western duds, wore a toupee through most of his career, and felt more at home on his boat than he ever did on a ranch. In addition to the being the archetypal cowboy, Wayne represented the ideal American soldier, yet he never served a day in the military. When the second World War broke out in 1941, many of Wayne’s contemporaries, such as Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable, and Henry Fonda, all enlisted.

These actors were already established as “A” list stars in 1941. Even with Stagecoach (1939) behind him Wayne was not yet secure in his career and still languished in numerous “B” films. Wayne saw this as a golden opportunity, while the competition was away, to grab the number one spot, and he did just that. It was less a case of draft dodging, and more a calculating career move, one for which John Ford would relentlessly needle him ever after. The war interrupted the careers of numerous actors, such as George Reeves, who seemed to be on the way up, but had not yet established themselves in a large enough body of “A” productions. Upon his return, Reeves and many others found they had been virtually forgotten while they were away, never to regain their previous career position, let alone surpass it. So much for studio patriotism towards its contract players. Wayne symbolized American virtue, yet he had countless affairs with married women. Some maintain he was racist.

In a 1971 interview he made naive and blatantly ignorant remarks about African Americans and Native Americans, yet he enjoyed working with African American co-stars, and was drawn to native American spirituality, an interest on display in his film Hondo (1953), produced and distributed by Wayne’s own production company. Fellow star Jimmy Stewart was far more inclined to pronounced racist views. Wayne married three Mexican women and bedded many more of them. He was a rabid anti-communist during the cold war. Both Wayne and Howard Hawks saw the film High Noon (1952) as anti-American and both saw to it that scriptwriter Carl Foreman was blacklisted; Wayne bragged about that until the end of his life, yet Wayne also encouraged Hollywood to forgive and forget regarding Larry Parks’ communism. Despite his republican leanings, Wayne began as a socialist and later sided with Jimmy Carter in giving back of the Panama Canal, much to the chagrin of fellow Republicans. Wayne’s response was, “We promised to do so and we should keep our word.” Wayne put on the facade of machismo, yet he was apt to be sentimental and easily shed a tear. His professionalism knew no bias.

He lavished praise on the acting of Montgomery Clift, even if he felt Clift was “an offish fag.” He enjoyed working with Rock Hudson, even though he was well aware of Hudson’s lifestyle. Wayne also could express professional criticism of fellow actors. He frequently criticized Randolph Scott ‘s laconic non-acting (which Bud Boetticher used to great affect), yet Wayne also hooked Scott up with his best director. Fellow actors could certainly return the criticism favor to Wayne. Robert Mitchum recalled that Wayne wore his screen persona as grandiosely as he wore his ten gallon hat. For Mitchum, Wayne was all image and only image. The difference between the two actors’ style lies in the difference between a great character actor and a great screen personality. Even the name John Wayne was a facade for Marion Morrison. Wayne partnered up with skilled directors and learned from consummate professionals. John Ford was slow to realize Wayne’s potential. When the director saw Howard Hawks’ Red River (1948), Ford was surprised by Wayne’s performance and said, “I didn’t know the son of a bitch could act.” Ford was a tyrant and openly ridiculed Wayne’s masculinity frequently and mercilessly.

Wayne consistently and quietly took Ford’s taunting and kissed the director’s ass. Actor Henry Fonda was not so inclined. When Ford punched Fonda on the set of Mister Roberts (1955), Fonda vowed never to work with Ford again, despite the fact that the two had a history of rich collaboration. Fonda kept his word. Intentionally or not, Ford was most likely instrumental in nurturing Wayne’s increasingly public macho image. Other directors found Wayne more humble. Neither Mark Rydell nor Don Siegel, both liberals, wanted to cast Wayne (for The Cowboys in 1972, and The Shootist in 1976), but Wayne approached both directors, humbly asked for the part, and vowed utmost professionalism. Rydell and Sigel were both won over by Wayne and he delivered two of his better latter-day performances. Years earlier, Ford and Howard Hawks were just as instrumental for crafting Wayne’s presence and persona as Wayne himself was. On screen Wayne represented virtue, integrity and honesty. Off screen, Wayne exhibited none of these qualities, but that matters only if one confuses the persona with the person.

If one insists that the two cannot be separated, then turn to Gregory Peck, who was probably the greatest of classic Hollywood’s western stars; he usually played men that fit the ideal mold of integrity, and actually lived up to that image off-screen (and was a better actor than Wayne to boot). Many, including Wayne himself, claimed that Wayne was no great actor. There is some truth in that, but he was a great reactor, and that was the most essential quality for movie stars of yesteryear. Wayne stunned John Ford and critics with Red River, but he surpassed that performance in Ford’s The Searchers (1956), which may be the greatest film about America, bar none. His character was fleshed through rage, loss, despair, racist hatred, and redemption, which Wayne expertly expressed. Wayne gave exceptional performances in The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and The Quiet Man (1952), but his Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969), which won him a long overdue Oscar, was, comparatively, mannered (just as mannered in its way as Brando’s Don Corleone was as in a different way).

Wayne’s last decade saw increasingly lazy performances in routine films. The Cowboys (1972) and The Shootist (1976) were notable exceptions. The former film understandably turned off most critics with its message of revenge for young boys, but Wayne gave a nuanced, emotional performance. The Shootist turned out to be his last film, and ,apart from The Searchers, the best acting performance of his career. The Shootist was not exactly a B budget, but it was not a solid A picture either. The producers knew that a dramatic film about a gunfighter dying of cancer was not going to reap box office gold, so most of the budget went into the superbly detailed sets and costume design, with little money left over for name actors. However, when the script, based off Glendon Swathout’s well received novel, began circulating, the name actors started coming anyway, many so eager to be a part of the film that they drastically cut their salary demands (and, in Hugh O’Brien’s case, did the film for free). Producers William Self and M.J. Frankovich and director Don Siegel were earnestly looking at George C. Scott for the lead role of shootist J.B.

Books, until John Wayne contacted them, letting them knew he desperately wanted to do the film and lobbied for the part. The producers knew that Wayne’s iconic status and wealth of films in the western genre would greatly benefit the film. Wayne was secured. After casting Wayne, Richard Boone, Hugh O’ Brien, Scatman Crothers, Harry Morgan, John Carradine, Sheree North, Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall , and Ron Howard (in the role of the young apprentice) all signed on quickly. Wayne, who had previously beat lung cancer, was ill throughout production. Unknown at the time, Wayne was in the beginning stages of the stomach cancer that killed him three years later. Illness aside, Wayne gives a superlative performance, acting with his expressive eyes and deftly interacting with his co-stars. In the novel, Ron Howard’s character kills Wayne in the end. This was changed in the film, by Wayne himself. Some critics have felt this weakened the film, but Howard never feels threatening in the role. He comes off as a young man, raised by an overly fundamentalist mother, who simply wants to sow some oats; but it’s just not in him to go the route of a J.B.

Books and we know, in the end, that he will be the boy his mother wants him to be. This is a frequent pattern with men raised by religious mothers. The young man may stray a few miles off the course his momma has laid down for him for awhile, but he will return to her course. That side of this story is a slice of pure Americana and, with this casting, the change fits. Lauren Bacall is damn near perfect, as she usually is. Richard Boone is slimy perfection. That quality is what made Boone the perfect anti-hero protagonist, Paladin, in “Have Gun Will Travel” (1957), which easily remains the best western television series of all time. With post “90210” television, preoccupation with surface prettiness has become the norm, and the stardom of someone like the “ugly” Richard Boone is likely never to be repeated. Jimmy Stewart, Scatman Crothers, , Sheree North, and Hugh O’Brien are consummate professionals and give The Shootist a beautiful sheen of great character acting. The Shootist is, by no means, a sentimental film. It is the dawn of the 20th century.

Books is an ugly reminder of the past and everybody wants him dead, gone and forgotten. That lack of sentimentality is to be applauded, but in the performance of Harry Morgan, as the marshal, it is taken too over-the-top and reduced to near caricature. The acting here falters badly and almost sabotages the film. Morgan’s performance aside, the rest of The Shootist remains elegiac and poetic mythos. Books is told by his doctor, Jimmy Stewart, that he is dying of cancer: “Can’t you cut it out?” “I would have to gut you like a fish.” “Damn, you said I was strong as an ox.” “Well, even an ox dies.” So Books ambles away to find a room and die in peace. He winds up at the porch of Lauren Bacall’s character, Widow Rodgers. Immediately, they rub each other wrong. Ms. Rodgers’ son worships the Shootist, which worries his momma even more. Once Rodgers finds out about Mr.

Book’s past, she calls the Marshal, who finds out Books is terminal and tells the gunfighter, “Don’t take too long to die.” A nosy reporter gets a gun barrel poked in his mouth by Books and literally gets kicked in the daily duties for prying too far into Books’ business. Books here is ugly. The reporter is annoying, but he certainly did nothing to warrant Books’ rough treatment. Books’ doctor gives him an opiate medicine and lets him know there will come a point soon when no amount of medicine will help. “You will die screaming,” warns the doctor, and strongly hints that Books should kill himself. Books and the widow take a ride out through the country and he tells her, with a twinkle in his eye, “I have had a hell of a good life.” It is nearly the only sunny moment in the film, and a necessary one. Books gets a haircut, has his suit dry-cleaned, and tells his young apprentice to contact the local three gunslingers and have them meet him at the town saloon on the morning of his birthday, come Monday. Everyone but Ms.

Rodgers and the faithful doctor are trying to wring the last profitable ounce of celebrity from their shootist—but even they have agendas, albeit well-meaning ones. Ms. Rodgers worries that the gunslinger will drive off her other lodgers (he does) and she wants to convert Books (she doesn’t). The doctor wants his famous patient to die a befitting death, with his boots on (Books obliges him, securing his own legend). Scatman and Howard try to rip off Books for some money, the undertaker is eager for Books’ potentially prosperous funeral, the Marshal feels Books is an obstacle to the future, several local men want to kill Books to secure their own reputation, and even the barber intends to hawk Books’ hair for cash. The off and on relationship between Books and Rodgers gives The Shootist its meat. They are combative but they genuinely come to love one another. She helps when he slips in the bathtub. She knows Books is up to something. He is running out of medicine and doesn’t want any more. He ceremoniously burns the newspaper he bought from the day he arrived, he has had his hair cut, his suit cleaned, but she promises to ask no questions. Come Monday morning everything is in place.

Books departs in his Sunday best. The film falters briefly here, and could have used closer interaction between the two actors. When Ms. Rodgers sees him leave, she knows he is going to go die, but they stand apart in separate rooms. However, anyone doubting Wayne’s skills as an actor should watch his face as he plays the scene in which he tells Miss Rodgers good bye. The shoot-out is expertly filmed by Siegel, in front of a long bar mirror. Books picks his first opponent by a mere glance in the mirror, he shoots Richard Boone through a table that Boone is hiding behind and sees O’ Brien approaching through the reflection of shot glasses on the bar. As the shoot-out begins, the townspeople, knowing full well what is going on, gather together outside to listen at a safe distance. The violence of the 19th century west is having its final gasp inside the bar between Books and his opponents while the progress of the dawning 20th century safely witnesses it with understandable curiosity. Elmer Bernstein’s score is one of his best, which is saying quite a bit. Howard’s throwing of the gun, a rejection of Books’ way, is overdone and contrived.

Subtlety would have worked better. The Shootist is the near perfect coda to Wayne’s mythos and vast body of work. The final scene, in which Books’ dead body lies on the wooden bar floor, his face covered by a coat as Stewart and Howard look on, perfectly captures many of the preserved photographic images of dead 19th century gunfighters, killed in shoot-outs. The subject of The Shootist had been previously approached in Henry King’s The Gunfighter (1950) with Gregory Peck giving one of his best performances. The Gunfighter is a superior and much more richly complex film, but The Shootist has a beauty of its own in its elegant simplicity. John Wayne himself is not so simplistic. It is easy to dismiss him as a Republican thug. Indeed, he was that, but he was not only that and, of course, he was more than that. Wayne the actor was able to enshrine his own mythos, by choosing his own swansong, one that was almost perfect for his life’s work, something few actors are granted. When The Shootist was released, most Wayne fans were disappointed.

It was a drama, rather than an action film, and it predictably sank at the box office. My father often took us to see John Wayne films at the drive-in. It always seemed a special event, even if the films did not always measure up. I recall going, by myself, to see The Shootist in a local theater when it first came out in 1976. I was one of three people in the audience, but somehow I sensed, that, inexplicably, something was passing away. Since then, Wayne’s final film, like Henry King’s The Gunfighter, has developed a cult following and garnered admiration among many critics. Both films, their filmmakers, and their stars, belong to a bygone era. That is as it should be. Share this: June 27, 2016 at 9:02 pm Actually, it doesn’t contradict most biographies, nor is it a judgment.

Rather, these are biographical facts from numerous sources, including American Legends: The Life of John Wayne, by Charles Rivers (and his book on McCarthyism), also Scott Eyman’s bios on both John Ford and Wayne, Michael Turback’s The John Wayne Code, Edward Dmytrk’s memoir on the Hollywood Ten, Victor Navasky’s book on Wayne’s role in McCarthyism and his assistance in getting Carl Foreman blacklisted, Gary Wills’ Biography and even Wiki. Biographies on Wayne tend to be divided into fawning fan books that gloss over his flaws and objective bios, which his fans almost always label liberal hit pieces. Additionally, I make it quite clear that I have a very high respect for Wayne as an actor. However, I don’t pedestal him, think he was flawless, or mantle the attitude that he is above criticism. None of us are and character flaws hardly lessen my esteem for his art and, yes, Wayne was an exceptional actor, which is why he surpassed all the other B movie western stars. And as a good actor, Wayne knew good acting, which is why he (rightly) praised Montgomery Clift and dismissed Randolph Scott as wooden.

As Howard Hawks said: “Wayne is a hell of an actor.” Leave a Reply

Question: What was the title of John Wayne's last movie, made in 1976?
Answer: The Shootist