How about this Anne
For a while when you couldn't make a western for love or money in the 80s, I thought of The Shootist as the last great western and the genre ended with the death of John Wayne. IMO The Outlaw Josey Welles with Clint Eastwood was overrated. Thankfully that's not the case with modern day cowboy flicks like The Last Of The Mochians, Tombstone and Unforgiven among others to enjoy.
One of the sad things for me about The Shootist, is that it isn't just John Wayne's last great film, but IMO it was not only the last important film for James Stewart, but for Lauren Bacall as well, who was still a young woman in the mid 70s and brilliant in the role of Bond Rodgers. Many think Duke was already dying of cancer when filming, but though ill, it would be another couple of yrs before the big C returned.
The Shootist is a magnificent film with director Don Siegal perfectly capturing, with his location shots, the feeling of a cold winters January (you could feel the frost on your fingertips). The film starts of almost as a tribute to Wayne, showing clips of Red River, Rio Bravo and El Derado among others, to show his character J.B Books as a young gunfighter.
Some comentators say they like the platonic relationship between Books and Bond, but I get the impression if they could have had more time to develop, a romance might have been possible.
The Shootist, Duke out with a bang
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klondike
Though never a full-fledged Wayne fan, I caught The Shootist on its first run, in a local theatre, and found it mildly surprising in many pleasant & satisfying ways.
(The "Big C" may not yet have returned in full force to the Duke, but scuttlebut already had this one firmly pegged as John's last.)
I feel that among its other, quiet strengths, one of the nicest triumphs here was the supporting cast, which gave us, besides Bacall & Stewart, Hugh O'Brian, Harry Morgan, Scatman Crothers, and in particular, western icon Richard Boone, who wouldn't be around much longer thereafter than would the Duke!
(The "Big C" may not yet have returned in full force to the Duke, but scuttlebut already had this one firmly pegged as John's last.)
I feel that among its other, quiet strengths, one of the nicest triumphs here was the supporting cast, which gave us, besides Bacall & Stewart, Hugh O'Brian, Harry Morgan, Scatman Crothers, and in particular, western icon Richard Boone, who wouldn't be around much longer thereafter than would the Duke!
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movieman1957
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I thought it a pretty good film. Bacall and Wayne worked well together (again.) Somthing about it seemed a little too economical as far as sets and maybe the look. Overall I found it elegiac as if even Duke knew it would likely be the last. Maybe that is hindsight and timing.
Great supporting cast who maybe needed a little more time, especially those who he would meet in the saloon.
Great supporting cast who maybe needed a little more time, especially those who he would meet in the saloon.
Chris
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana."
I like "The Shootist" as well. It stays pretty close to the novel (of the same name, by Glendon Swarthout?) it was based on.
The cast is very good. I find it neat that John Carradine, who was so important in "Stagecoach" is still on hand in "the Shootist."
And it is always good to see Richard Boone as a Western bad guy.
The cast is very good. I find it neat that John Carradine, who was so important in "Stagecoach" is still on hand in "the Shootist."
And it is always good to see Richard Boone as a Western bad guy.