John Wayne’s last film role would be as J.B. Books in The Shootist, a 1976 western. Directed by Don Siegel, director of Dirty Harry and Two Mules for Sister Sara, The Shootist would feature Wayne in a role that would parallel his own life. Books is a dying gunfighter, stricken with cancer. During production, Wayne’s health was failing and much of the dialogue and imagery of the film was built from his actual condition. Wayne did not have cancer during the making of the movie, however, as he had been cancer-free since undergoing surgery to remove his left lung in 1964. The cancer would return in the last year of his life in 1979.
The Shootist is based on a book of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. When the rights to the book were purchased, producers did not have John Wayne in mind for the title role because of his ailing health. George C. Scott was considered instead, but Wayne campaigned heavily for the role and turned the completion of the film into a personal mission. He eventually won the part and the results are poignant and touching. Wayne’s final film plays out beautifully, mirroring his life in many subtle ways on screen. The opening credit montage is actually comprised of clips from some of his previous films.
Wayne’s J.B. Books is an aging gunfighter or “shootist” who arrives in El Paso, Texas, to get a second opinion from a doctor friend, Doc E. W. Hostetler (James Stewart). Hostetler tells Books that he has “a cancer” and doesn’t have very long to live. He also tells Books that his death will be painful and that he doesn’t recommend that kind of death for any man. Books decides to rent a room from a local widow named Bond (Lauren Bacall) and her son Gillom (Ron Howard) so that he can live out his final days. Soon the presence of the legendary shootist hits the telegraph wires and all of El Paso is excited to learn that his demise will take place in their town. The Marshal (Harry Morgan) is particularly morbid and obnoxious.
With the news of Books’ upcoming demise, a variety of troublemakers hit El Paso with designs on luring him back to his past behaviour. These individuals hope to profit from Books’ infamy. Books decides on one last gunfight before his death, so he prepares for it carefully with Gillom at his side. A father/son relationship forms somewhat, as Books experiences a sort of family unit with Gillom and his mother Bond. As the gunfight nears, Books starts to pass on various bits of advice to Gillom and his mother, hoping to leave the world having done some good for a change.
One of the most interesting things about The Shootist is the character that John Wayne plays. He is vulnerable and afraid of dying, but not afraid of being killed. The implications here are quite interesting, as Wayne’s Books wants to go down in a blaze of glory and to know he was the best shootist around. Death by cancer and pain, though, is something Books wants no part of. We see John Wayne in obvious pain and discomfort, true signs of his ailing health. The character of his face tells more of the story than the screenplay ever could, creating something truly unique in the western.
The Shootist tackles the issue of Books’ attempt to die with dignity in an interesting way. As the time for the climax arrives, Books dresses himself in a well-pressed suit, gets a haircut, and passes of fatherly advice to Gillom. He gives away a trinket to a horse trolley driver, says some nice things to a young lady, and heads to win another gunfight after arranging things with the town’s undertaker. This preparation seems par for the course for a man who knows he’s going to die, yet Books has every intention of winning the gunfight. When Books finishes the gunfight, however, the dignity with which he was supposed to have died seems muted and things seem different than he had planned. Dying with dignity seems impossible for a shootist after all.
The Shootist works because it doesn’t waste time on sentiment, which seems just how The Duke would have wanted it in terms of his own death. Everybody in town wants Books dead or wants to take part in his death. The Marshal does a jig at the prospect of it and even Books’ friend Doc Hostetler seems less than touched. The Undertaker offers a free funeral and the whole works. The cruelty of the townspeople and of Books himself is offset nicely by Bond, who begins to develop a relationship with Books that helps carry him over to the next life.
The Shootist is a sensitive film, but it isn’t sappy. It’s dark, but it doesn’t bog itself down with gloom. Books is a compelling character because of the real-life parallels and many of his observations about life, guns, liberty, and women appear to come right from the heart of The Duke himself. John Wayne wasn’t always an easy man to understand, they say, and he had his demons and his bad ideas. Overall, however, one can’t fully comprehend the meaning of American western cinema without him and one can’t fully comprehend John Wayne without seeing The Shootist.
8/10
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