Stars: John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Bill McKinney, James Stewart, Richard Boone, John Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Harry Morgan, Sheree North

Director: Don Siegel

Summary: The last of the legendary gun-fighters is dying from a terminal illness. He seeks what medical care he can from the doctor in Carson City and rests up in the local boarding house. However one last battle still awaits him...

John Wayne, in his last film appearance, stars as famed gunfighter J.J. Brooks. After learning from Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart) that he's dying of stomach cancer and has no more than two months to live, he moves into a boarding house in Carson City run by Bond Rogers (Lauren Bacall) and her son, Gillom (Ron Howard), to die quietly. But when word gets around that the old gunslinger is in town, curiosity seekers come out of the woodwork to get a look, and the ridiculous local marshal (Henry Morgan) contemplates a showdown with the legend. Annoyed by the attention and realizing that if he waits long enough, he'll die in great pain, Brooks decides to seek out his enemies and go down with guns blazing. Yet he works to persuade the hero-worshiping Gillom to foreswear the life of violence he's led. Director Don Siegel fashions a poignant, gracious farewell to the great star, who, like his character, was dying of cancer as the film was being shot. A stellar cast, which includes Western stalwarts such as Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian, John Carradine, and Johnny Crawford, adds much to the film's resonance. As much a meditation on the burden of celebrity as an elegy for the Old West, it's most revealing in its star's final renunciation of violence.

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John Wayne's last film The Shootistcould not have been more fitting; it's 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 great Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--plays the doctor who gives the big man the bad news. Don Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) thoughtfully directs a very special and sensitive production. --Tom Keogh

Aspect Ratio:	1.78 Anamorphic Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1976
Release Date:	June 6, 2005
Runtime:	95 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	P H E 8809
Keywords:	Wide, Screen, Shootist, Westerns
Genre:	Westerns