The Shootist
|
Our Price: $29.95 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $13.93 (click here) Category: DVD See more DVD releases |
|---|
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
Movie Reviews of The Shootist
Movie Review: John Wayne's Last
Summary: 5 Stars
The Shootist is the last film of John Wayne, but its also an end of an era. The end of the John Wayne legend and his style of western
Wayne plays an aging gunfighter (J.B. Books) who is dying of cancer. He wants to spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.He wants his last gunfight, rather than cancer. It is 1901, so the American West is dying, as Books is..it is growing civilized and has no need for the gunfighters/the shootist of old.
The supporting cast of this film is first rate. Such talent as James Stewart, Laurel Bacall, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brien,Harry Morgan, Scatman Crothers, John Caradine and Ron Howard assist Wayne in this last film.
the film is directed by Don Siegal, who directed many of Clint Eastwood's hits including Dirty Harry, Two mules for Sister Sarah, and Coogan's Bluff. It is part tribute to the Wayne Legend and part western
Is it worth getting? YES. To me it is a classic western more than Wayne's Searchers is, just like the Good, the Bad & the Ugly is to me
Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD
Movie Review: "THE DUKE " SAVES THE BEST FOR LAST!
Summary: 5 Stars
'The Shootist' is a great picture, if not a bit eerie that it echoes the tragic fate of it's beloved legendary star. It's even stranger that John Wayne was not the first choice to star in this film! Can you imagine this film with anyone else playing his part? When Wayne was finally cast, many Hollywood stars like Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, Ron Howard and Richard Boone came to "The Duke's" side, and for little or no money gave it their all to make Wayne's last picture a great one!
The film shows a much more subtle side of Wayne's abilities as a actor. Not much action to speak of, but Wayne does convey his feelings beautifully through his eyes and speech. The makers of this film cleverly use footage from Wayne career as a cowboy star to fill the back-story for the character in the movie and it works perfectly to set up the film.
This is one of my favorite westerns and one of Wayne's finest moments. It also signified the end of an era "the great western" was gone forever! The DVD transfer looks clean, but this film deserves the special treatment!
Movie Review: "The Duke" as a real human being
Summary: 5 Stars
There is a real resonance to this film that I have seen in few John Wayne movies. The Duke is still very manly in this film, but most of the macho is gone. I found myself really getting into Wayne's character, and watching with genuine interest what will happen with his relatonship with Lauren Bacall(still looking great) and Ron Howard. The Duke didn't seem to be playing a cariacature of himself but something much more real-it doesn't surprise me that he was dealing with real life and death issues in his own life when the film was made. I kept thinking to myself-"you know, the Duke is really acting in this one!" Also, the fact that the town was changing to more modern ways in the film is analogous to the fact that Westerns were mostly out of vogue when this picture was made-I think the filmmakers were making their own commentary about that in this movie. It probably would have been considered too sentimental to give John Wayne an Oscar for "The Shootist," but it would have made perfect sense-his acting is really deserving of an award in his final performance.Movie Review: The end of the line for a Hollywood legend
Summary: 5 Stars
John Wayne's last picture and a fitting final tribute to a screen icon. After a recap of many of his most famous roles in Western movies (which is supposed to represent his "real" life), Wayne rides into town and into the present movie. He's an old man now, and he learns he's got cancer and not much time to live. His "code of honor" is present up to the end: "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on." But a softer human side is allowed to make its presence, too, a side brought out by the widowed housekeeper he boards with (Lauren Bacall) and her idolizing son (Ron Howard). Wayne is a hero to Howard because of his gunplay, but Wayne tries to downplay that role and educate the boy to better things in life. Of course there's a big shootout at the end, the roots of which go all the way back to SHANE, at least. The movie is a fine compliment to the great star - like Ted Williams hitting a home run in his last at-bat.Movie Review: John Wayne's Greatest Role
Summary: 5 Stars
Red River was a great western; The Searchers was a great western; The Shootist surpasses them. On my personal list of all time greatest movies only The Unforgiven is a better film. Wayne is splendid as a dying man, an anachronism, which is a fair description of his personal life as well as the life of the character he plays, J.B. Books. In the film, as one suspects Wayne is telling us about his life, the hero is unapolgetic; proud and still capable, soaring above the petty concerns of his inferiors who do not understand him or his times. Harry Morgan has a memorable part as a sheriff of the new age dawning at the beginning of the 20th century. Morgan's characterization makes one long for more romantic times when humans were revered not for their conformity, but rather for their ability to ascend beyond mere humanity and into legend. RIP JB Books and John Wayne and thanks for the standards by which we can judge our modern world.