The Shootist (1976)

John Wayne is J.B. Brooks, a legendary gunman who arrives in Carson City looking for a second opinion from an old friend, Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart).

He gets it, and the news isn’t good. He has cancer; it’s fatal. And he’s going to die a slow agonizing death.

He moves into a boarding house run by the widow Rogers (Lauren Bacall), who wants to kick him out once she learns his real identity.

They spar for a while, but he eventually wins her over. The same is true of her son Gillom (Ron Howard), who’s bored with his life, loves the thrill and notoriety that comes with having a famous killer live in his home, and eventually comes to respect Brooks.

Reaction from others around town is mixed. The sheriff wants him to pass on, the sooner the better. Two men looking for the fame of being the man who killed J.B. Brooks come calling in the middle of the night. Brooks guns them down instead.

And lots of folks would like to turn a buck from his name, from the barber to the undertaker to an old flame who shows up with an offer of marriage. She’d like the Brooks name so can put her name on a biography of his life.

But Brooks insists on a dignified death. And, remembering the advice from Dr. Hostetler, he just might take a hand in planning that death.

John Wayne as J.B. Brooks, an aging gunman dying of cancer in his final film, The Shootist (1976)

Lauren Bacall as Bond Rogers, the boarding house owner who opens her home to J.B. Brooks in his final days in The Shootist (1976)

Review:

A fitting tribute to the career of John Wayne. Today, knowing what we do — that it would be his final film and that he’d die of cancer just three years after its release — it seems implausible that anyone else would have been considered for the role.

But according to TCM, the part was offered to Paul Newman, George C. Scott, Clint Eastwood and at least two others before The Duke landed the role. Of course, none of them could have matched that opening. which shows Wayne surviving gunfight after gunfight from his earlier Westerns.

The film strikes a few false notes. Sheriff Thibido seems way too gleefully disrespectful regarding Brooks’ demise; former lover Serepta way too transparent when she approaches Brooks with an offer of marriage.

And the ending seems marred. Having stage managed his own death by inviting three gunmen to the saloon at the same time — none aware the others will be showing up — Brooks still manages to kill all three, only to be gunned down by the bartender (?). For what reason? The role Ron Howard plays in the ending also seems a bit trite; by all accounts, it was a script change Wayne wanted.

But he turns in a memorable final performance. And anyone who’s a fan of Wayne or Westerns is likely to be touched by it.

Ron Howard as Gillom Rogers, telling J.B. Brooks that he doesn’t appreciate being bossed around in The Shootist (1976)

James Stewart as Dr. Hostetler, delivering his grim diagnosis to J.B. Brooks in The Shootist (1976)

Directed by:
Don Siegel

Cast:
John Wayne … J.B. Brooks
Lauren Bacall … Bond Rogers
Ron Howard … Gillom Rogers
James Stewart … Dr. Hostetler
Richard Boone … Mike Sweeney
Hugh O’Brian … Jack Pulford
Bill McKinney … Jay Cobb
Harry Morgan … Walter Thibido
John Carradine … Undertaker Beckum
Sheree North … Serepta
Rick Lenz … Dobkins
Scatman Crothers … Moses

Runtime: 100 min.

Richard Boon eas Mike Sweeney, an old enemy encountering J.B. Brooks in The Shootist (1976)

Hugh O’Brian as Jack Pulford, one of the three men invited to celebrate J.B. Brooks’ birthday in The Shootist (1976)

Memorable lines:

J.B. Brooks, to a man who tries — unsuccessfully — to steal his wallet: “Friend, you better get another line of work. This one sure don’t fit your pistol.”

Dr. Hostetler: “There’s one more thing I’d say. Both of us have had a lot to do with death. I’m not a brave man, but you must be. Now this is not advice. It’s not even a suggestion. It’s just something for you to reflect on while you mind’s still clear.”
J.B. Brooks: “What?”
The doctor: “I would not die a death like I just described.”
J.B. Brooks: “No?”
The doctor: “Not if I had your courage.”

J.B. Brooks, on his motto for living: “I won’t be wronged. I won’t be insulted. I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”

John Wayne as J.B. Brooks, putting a bandit in his place en route to Carson City in The Shootist (1976)

Sheree North as Serepta, an old lover hoping to cash in by marrying J.B. Brooks just before his death in The Shootist (1976)

Marshal Thibido: “The day they lay you away, what I’ll do on your grave won’t pass for flowers.”

J.B. Brooks: “Mike Sweeney?”
Mike Sweeney: “John Bernard Brooks, now I’m flattered that you remembered me.”
Brooks: “Well, you look just how I remembered the Sweeneys — mean and ugly.”

Jack Pulford, upon hearing of J.B. Brooks’ illness: “That’s hard news. That’s a man I could have taken.”
Gambler: “My ass.”
Pulford: “You have two ways of leaving this establishment, my friend — immediately or dead.”

Marshal Thibido: “You wouldn’t gun down a police officer.”
Brooks: “What would stop me? Fear of dying?”

Harry Morgan as Marshal Walter Thibido, hoping J.B. Brooks doesn’t linger too long in Carson City in The Shootist (1976)

Bill McKinney as Jay Cobb, reacting rudely to J.B. Brooks as Gillom Rogers (Ron Howard) looks on in The Shootist (1976)

Rick Lenz as Dobkins, the newspaperman who wants to write about the ‘real’ J.B. Brooks in The Shootist (1976)

Scatnab Criothers as Moses, negotiating to buy J.B. Brooks’ horse, Dollar, in The Shootist (1976)

John Carradine as Beckum, the undertaker, negotiating to handle J.B. Brooks’ funeral in The Shootist (1976)

John Wayne as J.B. Brooks, trying to find an honorable end to a bloody life in The Shootist (1976)