| The Shootist | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster byRichard Amsel | |
| Directed by | Don Siegel |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | The Shootist byGlendon Swarthout |
| Produced by | |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Bruce Surtees |
| Edited by | Douglas Stewart |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Distributed by |
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Release date |
|
Running time | 100 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $13.4 million[1] |
The Shootist is a 1976 AmericanWestern film directed byDon Siegel and based onGlendon Swarthout's 1975 novel of the same name,[2] and written byMiles Hood Swarthout (the son of the author) and Scott Hale. The film starsJohn Wayne in his last film appearance before his death in 1979,Lauren Bacall,Ron Howard,James Stewart,Richard Boone,John Carradine,Scatman Crothers,Rick Lenz,Harry Morgan,Sheree North, andHugh O'Brian.
In 1977,The Shootist received anOscar nomination forBest Art Direction (Robert F. Boyle, Arthur Jeph Parker), aBAFTA Film Award nomination forBest Actress (Lauren Bacall), and aGolden Globe Award nomination forBest Supporting Actor (Ron Howard), as well as theNational Board of Review Award as one of theTop Ten Films of 1976. The film received widespread critical acclaim, garnering an 81% positive rating onRotten Tomatoes.
Widely knownOld WestSheriff-turned-gunfighter John Bernard "J. B." Books arrives inCarson City,Nevada, on January 22, 1901. Books visits Dr. E. W. Hostetler, a country physician who treated Books' gunshot wounds 15 years before. Hostetler confirms that Books has terminalcancer and has only weeks to live. Hostetler prescribeslaudanum for the pain, but advises that his condition will eventually become unbearable, remarking that if he had Books's courage, the death he has just described is not one he would choose.
Books lodges at a quiet boarding house owned by Bond Rogers, a widow who lives with her young adult son, Gillom. Wanting to be left alone, Books gives her a fake name. Gillom deduces his true identity and tells his mother. Upset that Books has lied, Bond summons Marshal Walter Thibido. Books assures him he will be dead soon. Sympathetic to his plight, Bond asks Books to accompany her to church. Books claims he has no need of repentance, saying he never harmed anyone who did not deserve it.
Word spreads about Books' presence in town and the state of his health. Local journalist Dan Dobkins is chased off when he asks Books for an interview. Books' old flame, Serepta, arrives and admits that Dobkins approached her to write a "biography" of Books filled with exaggerated stories of his gunfights. Books orders a headstone, but rejects the undertaker's offer of a free funeral, suspecting he would charge admission to view his remains. The local barber sweeps up Books' hair following a haircut, intending to sell the remnants. Later, two criminals try to ambush Books as he sleeps, but he kills them. Gillom is impressed, but his mother is concerned that Gillom will try to follow in Books' footsteps as the two grow closer.
Books asks Gillom to visit three men with violent reputations: Mike Sweeney, the aging outlaw brother of a man Books killed in self-defense; Jack Pulford, thefaro dealer at the Metropole saloon, a deadly crack shot; and Jay Cobb, Gillom's boss. He is to tell each that Books will be at the Metropole at 11:00 am on January 29, his birthday. On the morning of that day, the headstone arrives. It includes Books' death year as 1901, but with no month or day. Books gives Gillom his beloved horse, Dollar, bids farewell to Bond, and then boards a trolley for the saloon.
Books enters the saloon to find the three men at different tables. Books orders a drink, toasting his birthday and his three guests. Sweeney, Cobb, and Pulford, respectively, and separately each try to kill Books. Despite being shot in the arm, he kills them. A crowd gathers in the street, having heard the gunshots. Gillom arrives and warns Books too late, as the Metropole's bartender shoots Books in the back, mortally wounding him. Gillom takes up Books' gun and kills the bartender. Realizing what he has done, Gillom throws the gun away. Books smiles before dying, approving of Gillom choosing not to follow his ways. Dr. Hostetler arrives and views the scene as Gillom covers Books' body with his coat. Gillom walks silently past the doctor, and outside to his waiting mother.
ProducerMike Frankovich announced that he had purchased the movie rights to Glendon Swarthout's novelThe Shootist, and Wayne expressed a strong desire to play the title role, reportedly because of similarities to the character Jimmy Ringo inThe Gunfighter, a role that he had turned down 26 years earlier.[3][4] He was not initially considered due to the health and stamina issues that he had experienced during filming ofRooster Cogburn.[5]Paul Newman passed on the role, as didGeorge C. Scott,Charles Bronson,Gene Hackman, andClint Eastwood, before it was finally offered to Wayne. His compromised lung capacity made breathing and mobility difficult at Carson City's 4,600 ft (1,400 m) altitude, and production had to be shut down for a week while he recovered from influenza, but Wayne completed the filming without further significant medical issues.[6]
The Shootist was Wayne's final cinematic role, concluding a 50-year career that began during thesilent film era in 1926. Wayne was not terminally ill when the film was made in 1976. He had been a heavy cigarette smoker for most of his life, and he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964. It is also believed that Wayne may have contracted cancer as a result of working on the 1956 filmThe Conqueror, which was filmed downwind of a nuclear testing site. He underwent surgical removal of his left lung and several ribs. He remained clinically cancer-free until early 1979, whenmetastases were discovered in his stomach, intestines, and spine; he died in June of that year.[7] Nonetheless, Wayne appeared in a televised public service announcement for theAmerican Cancer Society that began with the scene in which his character is informed of his cancer. Wayne then added that he had enacted the same scene in real life 12 years earlier.[8]
The film's outdoor scenes were filmed on location in Carson City. Bond Rogers' boarding house is the 1914 Krebs-Peterson House, located in Carson City's historic residential district. The buggy ride was shot atWashoe Lake State Park, in theWashoe Valley betweenReno and Carson City. It was aParamount production, yet the street scenes and most interior shots were filmed at theWarner Bros. backlot and sound stages inBurbank, California.[9] The horse-drawn trolley was once used as a shuttle between El Paso andJuarez, Mexico.[10]
Wayne's contract gave him script approval, and he made a number of major and minor changes, including moving the location fromEl Paso to Carson City[11] and the ending. In the book and original screenplay, Books kills his last opponent by shooting him in the back, is fatally wounded by a bartender with a shotgun, and is finally put out of his misery by Gillom. Wayne maintained that over his entire film career, he had never shot an adversary in the back and would not do so now. He also objected to his character being killed by Gillom and suggested that the bartender do it, because "no one could ever take John Wayne in a fair fight".[12]
Wayne was also responsible for many casting decisions. Several friends and past co-stars were cast at his request, including Bacall, Stewart, Boone, and Carradine. James Stewart had not worked in films for a number of years, due in part to a severe hearing impairment, but he accepted the role as a favor to Wayne. Stewart and Wayne had worked together in two previous Westerns:The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance andHow the West Was Won, both released in 1962.
While filming the sequence in the doctor's office, both Stewart and Wayne repeatedly muffed their lines over a long series of takes, until director Don Siegel finally pleaded with them to try harder. "If you want the scene done better," joked Wayne, "you'd better get yourself a couple of better actors." Later, Wayne commented in private that Stewart knew his lines, but apparently could not hear his cues.[13]
Another casting stipulation was using the horse owned and given away by Wayne's character, a favoritesorrel Quarter Horse gelding named Dollar (or sometimes Dollor) that Wayne had ridden inBig Jake,The Cowboys,True Grit,Rooster Cogburn,Chisum, andThe Train Robbers. Wayne had negotiated exclusive movie rights to Dollar with the horse's owner, Dick Webb Movie Productions, and he requested script changes enabling him to mention Dollor's name several times.[14]
By one account, Wayne's numerous directorial suggestions and script alterations caused considerable friction between director and star,[11] but Siegel said that Wayne and he got along well.
He had plenty of his own ideas ... some I liked, which gave me inspirations, and some I didn't like. But we didn't fight over any of it. We liked each other and respected each other.[15]
Upon its theatrical release,The Shootist was a modest success, grossing $13,406,138 domestically,[1] About $6 million were earned in Americantheatrical rentals.[16]
It was named one of the Ten Best Films of 1976 by the National Board of Review, along withRocky,All the President's Men, andNetwork. Film criticRoger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times rankedThe Shootist number 10 on his list of the 10 best films of 1976.[17] The film was nominated for anOscar (for Best Art Direction, today called Best Production Design), aGolden Globe, aBAFTA film award, and aWriters Guild of America award. The film has an 81% rating on thereview aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 26 reviews.[18] In 2008 the film was nominated by theAmerican Film Institute as one of the best Western films.[19]
In 2020, filmmakerQuentin Tarantino wrote:
There’s nothing inThe Shootist you haven’t seen done many times before and done better … but what you haven’t seen before is a dying John Wayne give his last performance. And it’s Wayne’s performance, and the performances of some of the surrounding characters (Howard, Richard Boone, Harry Morgan, and Sheree North) that makeThe Shootist not the classic it wants to be, but memorable nonetheless.[20]
| Year | Award | Category | Subject | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Academy Awards[21] | Best Art Direction - Set Decoration | Robert F. Boyle andArthur Jeph Parker | Nominated |
| BAFTA | Best Leading Actress | Lauren Bacall | Nominated | |
| Golden Globe Awards | Best Supporting Actor | Ron Howard | Nominated | |
| Writers Guild of America Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay | Scott Hale,Miles Hood Swarthout | Nominated | |
| 1976 | National Board of Review Awards | Top Ten Films | The Shootist | Won |
Also in 2008, the American Film Institute nominated this film for itsTop 10 Western Films list.[22]
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