The Shootist
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Movie Reviews of The Shootist
Movie Review: a poigant farewell to a legend and a genre
Summary: 5 Stars
By now everyone knows that "The Shootist" was John Wayne's last film. But contrary to what most reviewers here, (and most people in general) think, he WAS NOT dying of cancer when he made the film, not at least according to the books, "John Wayne, My Father," by Alissa Wayne, and "John Wayne, American" by Randy Roberts and James Olsen. He was having some major health problems,with his heart, and had a heart valve replaced after the film's shooting wrapped up, but the cancer that took his life was still a year away when he made the film.
That said though, you still come away with the impression that somehow, someway, the Duke knew this was the last one. John Wayne was not saying merely good-bye to his fans, he was also burying a genre. The Western has never, since Wayne's death, been a vivable film genre, with very few exceptions.
This film is one of the best. The casting is super, with hardly a mis-step anywhere. Harry Morgan's protrayal of the city marshall is bit over the top once or twice, butnothing else. Wayne, Bacall, and Ron Howard all blend together wonderfully, and you can FEEL the chemistry growing between J. B. Books (Wayne) and Bond Rogers, (Lauren Bacall) during their sniping at each other, helping each other..(Wayne tries to "make it up" to Bacall when he, defending himself, turns her home into a shooting gallery, and he falls in the tub and Bacall rushes to help him.) And as legendary "shootist" Books,now dying of cancer, (as Wayne himself would, just over 2 years later) prepares for his final showdown, he also prepares Bond for saying good-bye, gently telling her "When you see me walk out that door, please Bond, no tears." Oh there are classic John Wayne type lines too..."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 others, and I expect the same from them."
But basically, "The Shootist" is the classic story of a man who has outlived his time, and is trying to desperately to "leave the stage" with a certain amount of dignity. John Wayne should have AT LEAST gotten an Oscar nomination for this film, if not the award itself, but the only "award" he got for it was the generations of fans, many not even born when the film was made, who have treasured this movie.
No actor has ever had a more fitting farewell performance.
Movie Review: What Way To Go Out
Summary: 5 Stars
As somebody who loves westerns, it's impossible for me not to be a huge fan of John Wayne (especially his westerns).
At the time this film was made, John's best work was clearly behind him. In fact, he had just come off of making a couple of tough-guy detective movies which, while I enjoyed them, weren't universally praised.
The Shootist was Wayne's last film and what a film it was.
Like the Wild Bunch and Monte Walsh, one of the themes of this film deals with the idea of the fading west of the 1860's to 1880's and how older. legendary and non-legendary characters of the west have to adapt to the changing times.
In the Shootist, Wayne plays an aging gunfighter, J. B Books who rides into 1901 Carson City. He immediately goes to see an old doctor friend - played by another screen legend, Jimmy Stewart, who informs him that the pain Books feels in his lower back is, in fact, cancer and that he doesn't have long to live.
Book's reputation proceeds him and needless to say, there are individuals who want to earn an instant reputation as the man who killed famed shootist JB Books.
The entire movie revolves around the days that he resides in Lauren Bacall's rooming house and preparing for his death.
I loved this movie from the earliest moments of the film when a montage of scenes of previous Wayne films was played depicting the life of JB Books right up to the final gunfight in the Acme Saloon.
This movie is so good on so many levels.
I always thought that John Wayne was significantly underated as an actor. In this film, he plays the dying man with a wonderful sense of dignity. His interaction with the Widow Bacall was very enjoyable to watch.
And there were some good scenes with Scatman Crothers - Ron Howard, who plays Bacall's son and who knows all about the legendary Books. Harry Morgan, who plays the town's sherrif, can't wait to see Books dead - after all it's now 1901 and the west is changing and Morgan doesn't need to have his peaceful town shattered by other gunfighters wanting to claim the trophy known as JB Books.
What a movie to go out on.
Rest in peace, John, and thanks for countless hours of entertainment.
Movie Review: A moving tribute to a legendary star...
Summary: 5 Stars
"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...
Movie Review: I don't insult, or lay hands on people; I expect the same
Summary: 5 Stars
John Wayne's farewell to movies is like this movie, when (not) ironically John Book (strangely Harrison Ford's name in "Witness" 11 years later) says farewell to the west that made him, one way or another.
Of course Wayne the actor was the product of a different time when you really could do it your own way. I suppose at least if you had the money and the press wasn't out to turn over all of your rocks. His friends and colleagues raised hell, showed up for work, and then raised some more hell. Of course we're not privvy to those stories, or at least the real ones, and maybe it was better that way. I tire of the check-out lines at Kroger and Jewel and Farmer Jack where you are forced to see young girls exploding out of their tops telling the secrets of what Paris and Tom and Brad did just last week in Nice or St. Tropez.
Certainly the Duke went out in his own way, bombastic, bigger than life and not afraid (or reluctant) to take what he gave. And his lifelong friends are here too in The Shootist, Boone, Stewart, O'Brian, Bacall and Morgan. And this little kid Ronnie Howard whom I guess thought he had some future in movies.
You just have to love Duke as Robert Stack's co-pilot Dan Roman ('Whistling Dan') in "The High and the Mighty" through "The Searchers" (my favorite) up to the end here in "The Shootist." Other actors flocked to him and though he was never accused of plumbing uncharted depths of thespian skills, he did what he did better than anyone else.
His films of the west, probably the major part of his resume, were never duplicated. The only character actors that hold a flame to him now are Kevin Costner and Tom Selleck. And, regrettably, we really aren't interested in westerns any longer. (But see Duvall and Costner in "Open Range" to get a feel for the spaciousness of the country and the code that few lived by.)
I guess that's what the characters The Duke played had, a code. And here Ron Howard tells us what that code was in the first words spoken in the movies. And the last words, 'Thank you, Sir.' were the last words spoken by Wayne on film. And as has been said, I would add, "No. Thank you." Larry Scantlebury. 5 stars
Movie Review: Say Goodbye to the Duke
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh, John Wayne's last film. Year is 1976. It doesn't show.
This is an all-time classic Western and I defy anyone to name anything remotely like it.
John Bernard Books (Wayne) is an elderly gunslinger dying of cancer. He boards at Old Widow Rogers' (Bacall) boarding house, waiting for the End. Since the character, like most of Wayne's characters, is based on Wyatt Earp, expect some slam-bang adventures even for a dying old man. This movie is a hit eighteen times over!
The turn-of-the-century setting is magnificent, though to modern eyes it is a bit movie-studio-tourist-attraction. To my then-youthful eyes it was a marvel, and few films remind me of this early marvel. There is Oscar-worthy acting and in spite of a predictable storyline, it is fun and compelling.
Widow Rogers' rebellious teen son Gillom (a hilariously cute young Ron Howard) learns a few pointers from Books, when he isn't harassing him. The obnoxious Sheriff Thibbido (Harry Morgan, whose character's name is always misspelled considering he spells it for us in the movie) is a bit of thorn in Books' side, as are many others. And it is this that drives the film beautifully.
I was also enchanted seeing Richard Boone (Sweeny the mean-ass former outlaw) and the incomparable John Carradine (undertaker trying to swindle Books on his funeral arrangements)-- also, if I am not mistaken, in their final roles here. Jimmy Stewart, though not his final role, is pretty close to the end also, and acts wonderfully here as Books' old pal the doctor. It is he, ironically, who confirms the diagnosis of Books' cancer.
There is rarely mention of the cameo Scatman Cruthers offers here, charming and smooth as silk. How I miss that fella too. And that is ultimately what we have: a nostalgiafest of epic proportions. Everybody in this film is dead now except Bacall and of course fancy-pants director Ron Howard. Please correct me if I am wrong.
You HAVE to have this if you are even remotely into Westerns.