The Shootist - Western Movie Review

by Janet
(Boston, MA)

John Wayne's Last Shot and His Last Western!

John Wayne was, and still is, an icon. I knew that, but I was never very much interested in his work until I saw his The Shootist. Actually my husband convinced me to sit and watch The Shootist. and now..I'm a believer. The man could act, convince and inspire. He is not just a caricature. And I decided to write this western movie review for him.


Wayne plays J.B.Books, a famous and feared gunfighter, an old man who is dying. He has been told that he is dying by a doctor, but unable to accept that, he wants to hear it from Doc Hostetler (Jimmy Stewart), who nursed him back to health after a violent episode twenty years before. He rides into Carson City in excruciating pain to hear the same bad news again. The doctor also tells him that the end will be painful. Having seen what the disease can do in its final stages, Books only can imagine the amount of pain he would go through in the end. The Doc directs Books to a boarding house run by Mrs. Rogers, played by Lauren Bacall. He gets his two-dollar room and prepares for the end.


Unfortunately, it doesn't look like a peaceful and dignified end is in the cards for J.B. Books. The news of his presence in the town spreads like fire in the jungle. Word spreads around the country via telegraph, bringing gunfighters to town, looking to make a reputation. Even the undertaker (a cadaverous John Carradine) offers him a free funeral. He'll even throw in a tombstone, casket, flowers and two mourners. What publicity! In these scenes you feel comedy and sadness both.


But Books is having his own plan to go out with a bang and settles in to die with some modicum of dignity. It is during this time that Wayne shows what a multi-dimensional actor he truly was. His interaction with Mrs. Rogers and her son, Gillom (Ron Howard) is so natural that it doesn't even seem like acting.


At first, Mrs. Rogers is not happy about the fact that an old and infamous gunfighter is in her house and certainly doesn't like the fact that her son is developing a case of hero worship. But during his last days alive, a respect grows between them and certain affection follows. An affection which almost blurs the line between friendship and love but still it is vague. At least she doesn't want him dead.


Don Siegel's direction is just understated enough, surprising after films like Dirty Harry. He lets these pros do their jobs and lets them do what they do best. Nothing seems forced in their interplay. Even when Books tries to persuade the young Gillom that the life of violence that he has led is no way to live, he does it so good that we believe him.


At the end, Wayne decides that rather than die in agonizing pain, he will indeed go out with guns blazing to settle a score with some old enemies. His death is a sad commentary, and a paean to the death of the Old West, as well as a commentary on the burden of celebrity.


Although I thought the best line of the movie was when Books sums up his simple code for living with “I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them. “ The way he says "Good day, Mrs. Rogers" at the end of the movie gave me chills.


Probably the fact that Wayne himself was dying of cancer during the filming of this movie, indeed he lobbied for the role, makes it doubly poignant. He was a brave man in life as well.
What can I say? I'm a fan of Duke now.