Wonderful Westerns: ‘The Shootist’ (1976)
John Wayne. What can you say about him? Whether you enjoy the man’s work or not, there’s no denying that he has made a massive impact on film history and pop culture. But even as a fan, I can’t defend every aspect of the Duke, like the guy’s acting. I can’t think of anyone who’s watched a John Wayne film for his acting chops. The man was more known for his screen persona than his acting abilities, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t have some good advice on acting.
There are, however, a couple of films in which Duke managed pull off a pretty good performance. There’s his iconic role as Ethan Edwards in The Searchers (1956) where he played a cold-hearted and cynical war veteran searching for his niece. Then there’s his Oscar-winning performance as the one-eyed, fat, drunken Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn in True Grit (1969). But in this column, I’m going to talk about his last performance in a feature film: The Shootist (1976), directed by Don Siegel.
Based on the Glendon Swarthout novel of the same name, the film tells the story of an aging gunfighter named J.B. Books, played by Duke, who at the dawn of the 20th century finds out he has terminal cancer. Per this news, he decides to try and spend his final days in peace. But as rumors spread about him through the tiny town of Carson City, Nevada, more people want to get a piece of him. It eventually climaxes with Books realizing that he’ll never escape his past and going out the only way he knows how.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfB9BVhKhtM
Before I go on about John Wayne in the film, I have to talk about the rest of the cast. This film boasts an all-star ensemble, many of whom took the role purely as a favor to Wayne. There’s Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart) who delivers the bad news to Books about his health and becomes a closer friend throughout the film. “You know, Books,” he says, “I’m not an especially brave man. But, if I were you and had lived my entire life the way you have, I don’t think that the death I just described to you is the one I would choose.”
Then there’s the late, great Lauren Bacall as the widowed boarding house owner Bond Rogers and Oscar-winning director Ron Howard as her wide-eyed idolizing son. The film also features a slew of great TV and Western legends — Richard Boone as the vengeance seeking Mike Sweeney, John Carradine as the town’s undertaker Hezekiah Beckum, Bill McKinney as the ill-tempered Jay Cobb, Scatman Crothers as the liver-stable owner Moses Brown, and Harry Morgan as the fast-talking and loud Marshal Thibido.
But, of course, the performance that steals the picture is John Wayne as the eponymous character. While Wayne wasn’t yet suffering from cancer during the filming, it was obvious that the effects of the role were taking their toll on him. It seems more than a perfect part for him given how the film was about an aging and sick gunfighter, and we have the lead role played by an actor who later suffered horrible side effects of it and was obviously getting close to the end of his career. But much like his colleague Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond, Wayne manages to give a completely heartfelt performance despite his deteriorating health.
I think my favorite parts of the film are the scenes with Duke and Bacall. The chemistry displayed between these two is almost on the same level as the chemistry between Bacall and her late husband Humphrey Bogart. But for me the best moment with them is towards the end when Books is about to head out for one final shootout. She manages to figure out what he’s going to do and realizes it’s probably the last time she’ll see him. It’s an amazing bit of acting from both Baby and Duke.
There’s a lot more I could go into — mainly the stuff about the final days of a gunfighter and how he can’t escape that lifestyle — but I’d rather you see it and watch a legendary actor go out on a magnificent note in a terrific story. As you watch it, keep in mind that George C. Scott originally took the role, but when John Wayne expressed interest in the part, they gave it to him instead. Because of Wayne’s long history with Westerns, the filmmakers made a montage at the beginning to set up Wayne’s character by using clips from his previous films. An appropriate send-off in every regard.
