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The Shootist

6.6

2,457

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Original title

The Shootist

Year

1976

Running time

99 min.

Country

United States

Director

Don Siegel

Screenwriter

Miles Hood Swarthout, Scott Hale. Novel: Glendon Swarthout

Cast

Music

Elmer Bernstein

Cinematography

Bruce Surtees

Producer

Paramount Pictures, Dino de Laurentiis Cinematographica

Genre

Western | Old Age / Elderly. Disease/illness

Movie Groups

Glendon Swarthout Adaptations

Synopsis

The last film of John Wayne, The Shootist, could not have been more fitting, full of details that can't help but make one reflect upon his legacy in the movies and his life as a star. Wayne plays a career gunfighter in the autumn of his life, trying to hang up his pistols after he discovers he's dying of cancer. Boarding in the house of an attractive widow (Lauren Bacall) and her son (Ron Howard), Wayne's character opts for peace in his final days but is dogged by his reputation when a handful of killers seeks him out for a final fight. Howard is fine as a fatherless boy who needs the strong mentor the hero represents, and James Stewart - who costarred with Wayne in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - plays the doctor who gives the big man the bad news.

Awards: 1976: Nominated for Oscar: Best Art Direction

1976: Golden Globes: Nominated for Best Supporting Actor (Ron Howard)

1976: BAFTA Awards: Nominated for Best Actress (Lauren Bacall)

1976: Writers Guild of America (WGA): Nominated for Best Adapted Drama Screenplay

1976: National Board of Review (NBR): nominated to Top Ten Films.

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Critics' reviews

"Don Siegel's terrific film is simply beautiful, and beautifully simple, in its quiet, elegant and sensitive telling of the last days of a dying gunfighter at the turn of the century"

Variety Staff: Variety
"Wayne's proud, quietly anguished performance, one of his very best and certainly his most moving, has a richness that seems born of self-knowledge"

Newsweek
"The cast is excellent because it understands the material, and sympathizes with it: James Stewart, as the doctor, and Lauren Bacall, as the widow, play scenes with Wayne that absolutely make us forget we're watching a movie."

Roger Ebert: Chicago Sun-Times
"A brilliantly crafted work and a remarkably moving experience."

Dave Kehr: Chicago Reader
"A fitting memorial to a great star – and leaves his image indelibly fixed on our imagination."

Philip Horne: Telegraph
"A subtle, touching valedictory tribute to both Wayne and the Western in general."

Time Out
"The Duke's last hurrah is one of the very best of a cycle of 70s movies that served as obituaries for the Western itself (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"

William Thomas: Empire

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User history

The Shootist

1976

Don Siegel

6.6

(2,457)