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The Shootist (1976)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writers:
Release Date:
20 August 1976 (USA)
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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. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar.
Another 3 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(7 articles)
John Wayne Rides Again…in a Direct-to-dvd Sci-Fi Western
(From Screen Rant. 11 July 2009, 7:16 AM, PDT)
John Wayne’s Unseen Final Film — A Sci-Fi Western — Will Finally Be Released
(From MTV Movies Blog. 9 July 2009, 10:00 AM, PDT)
(From Screen Rant. 11 July 2009, 7:16 AM, PDT)
John Wayne’s Unseen Final Film — A Sci-Fi Western — Will Finally Be Released
(From MTV Movies Blog. 9 July 2009, 10:00 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
REAL courage!
more (111 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only) | 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
100 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.85 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
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:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
An interviewer asked Ron Howard if John Wayne had given him any tips on acting. He said that, during the filming of the final shootout, Wayne took him aside and said he had some advice for him. As Howard eagerly awaited some profound advice, Wayne said "Ron, if you want to look menacing - close your mouth."
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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.
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Quotes:
John Bernard Books:
Mike Sweeney?
Mike Sweeney: John Bernard Books, now I'm flattered that you remembered me.
John Bernard Books: Well, you look just how I remembered the Sweeneys - mean and ugly.
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Mike Sweeney: John Bernard Books, now I'm flattered that you remembered me.
John Bernard Books: Well, you look just how I remembered the Sweeneys - mean and ugly.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Who Is Cletis Tout? (2001)
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Soundtrack:
Willow, Tit Willow
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FAQ
This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.more (111 total)
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I've never had much use for the swaggering, tough-as-nails `heroic' John Wayne. Perhaps that style of heroism was all one needed to get by in the ‘old west', but even then, death was not an easy thing to face (I bet most gunslingers and sheriffs' boots were filled with liquid just moments before they bit the dust). Finally, here is a film that looks at what courage is really made up of: the ability to accept limitations, to accept change, to have humility, and to be able to say, `I'm afraid'. The Duke is dying of cancer, in reality and within the plot of this film. He is also a living myth in reality and within the plot of this film. That he chose to play out his swan song as a human legend instead of as a mythic one, must have taken a lot of courage. Imagine the Duke propped on a dainty red pillow upon his saddle! Imagine him showing all the physical signs of the wear and tear that illness and age have bestowed on him. Imagine him allowing us to hear the weakness of his infirm body slipping in the bathtub. Imagine his groans of agony. `Death is a very private thing', his character John Books says, but he is man enough to show us how to do it and do it with dignity, despite the fear. Just imagine The Duke admitting that he's afraid of the dark!
At the period in which this film is set, gunslingers – or `shootists' – were soon to go the way of the horse and buggy. The queen (Victoria) had just died. Electricity, modern plumbing, modern commerce, modern transportation, and creature comforts were beginning to take over (check out the electric ceiling fans and mosaic tiles in the saloon!). Forward to ‘real life'. It is 1976. One by one, the mythic legends created by dime novels and Hollywood movies are being demystified. From Billy The Kid to Buffalo Bill, to Bonnie and Clyde, audiences have been shown for over decade how legends have always been manufactured. There are some who may see this demystification as a negative thing, but when people start adoring soldiers, celebrities and gangsters as something more than human, it's time to set the record straight. That's what all the best films of the seventies did. They broke the myths but they did not break the spirit, for what they did was let US, not the supermen on the screen, become the heroes. We could be afraid, old, young, ill, or weak, and we could feel pain and humiliation. In the process of confronting our limitations we become stronger. To be a stronger human being is to become civilized. Like this film shows us, we CAN reject the gun and join civilization. This film is John Wayne's gift to us. He is enabling us to grow up, to look at the past with respect, but to face the future with responsibility. His John Books is worth more to us than all his superheroes put together. We're all gonna die, we're all afraid, and pain is very, very real. It is in the process of surrendering to this fact with dignity and humility that we in a sense become immortal. To try to live as a superman is to die a fool. Only cowards (and very dangerous people) embrace myths over reality. That dainty red pillow has made The Duke sit very tall in his saddle indeed!