5 Star

The Man, The Swagger, The Leg Iron.

The Man, the legend that was John Wayne (Rio Grande, Red River, My Darling Clementine) delivers his last film role as a man that has been through a lot in his life as a one time sheriff, who turned gunslinger, with over thirty bodies fallen to his pearl handled guns. Based on Glendon Swarthout‘s 1975 novel of the same name, and written by Miles Hood Swarthout (the son of the author). Directed by legendary director Don Siegel (The Killers, Suture, Dirty Harry, Play Misty for Me) who brings the pain of age and that of a man who is fine with his life as a killer, but life will always will deal you a bad hand at some point. With a stellar cast, including Lauren Bacall (The Big Sleep), Ron Howard (Cocoon), James Stewart (The Man from Laramie) and Harry Morgan (High Noon).

Narrated by Gillom Rogers (Ron Howard), who tells the story of J.B. Books (John Wayne) the famed sheriff and gunslinger from the years of 1871-1901, when he arrives in Carson City near the eastern foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where horse-drawn trolley buses share the streets with horseless carriages. It’s January the twenty-second as J.B Books rides into the city to see Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart) about his aches and pains.

“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.”

The prognosis is not good, and J.B. is living on borrowed time. He wants to spend his remaining time in Carson City so he finds a lodging house run by widow Rogers (Lauren Bacall) and helped by her son Gillom. Being a notorious death dealer, he assumes a new identity for the purpose of a quiet end of life experience.

Books’ demeanour doesn’t sit well with the widow and her son, but he tries to soften his edges to fit into their home. Gillom is friends with Moses (Scatman Crothers – The Shining, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) who runs the local stable, and it is Moses who notices the embossed name on the new arrival’s saddle, J.B. Books.

J.B.’s anonymity doesn’t last long as word spreads among the Marshall Thibido (Harry Morgan) and other men of dubious reputation. This soon brings the local reporter wanting to do an exposé on the killers’ life, but he is sent away with a flea in his ear.

No man can outrun his past, but not many can turn around and face it head on. The Shootist can.

The Shootist is a must for any John Wayne, Western fan, especially now that it is available on Arrow Videos Blu-ray format. Final performances don’t get much better than this.

The Shootist is available on Blu-ray

 

LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

2K remaster by Arrow Films from the original 35mm camera negative
High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
Original lossless mono audio
Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
Audio commentary by filmmaker and critic Howard S. Berger
The Last Day, a visual essay by film critic David Cairns
A Man-Making Moment, an interview with Western author C. Courtney Joyner
Laments of the West, an appreciation of Elmer Bernstein’s score by film historian and composer Neil Brand
Contemplating John Wayne: The Death of a Cowboy, a visual essay by filmmaker and critic Scout Tafoya
The Shootist: The Legend Lives On, archival featurette
Theatrical trailer
Image gallery
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Juan Esteban Rodríguez
Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring writing by film critic Philip Kemp