The Shootist

Audience Reviews

View More

Han S Aug 27, 2018 Straightforward,, beautiful and entertaining. The don't make then like this anymore because they can't. One of the few negative reviews is by Richard Eder. He also dismissed The Outlaw Josey Wales so consider the source. See more

Hagrid S Nov 15, 2017 Damn, this has to be my favorite John Wayne movie now. Great cast, great acting, great story, and it's fitting that it's John Wayne's final role. Loved it right until the end. See more

Harry S May 27, 2017 John Wayne's last film is a fitting and foreboding end to a remarkable career. Wayne play an aging outlaw who learns he is dying. He moves into a boarding house, run by Lauren Bacall and her son (Ron Howard) to wait out his last days. It is emotional, but never becomes a weeper. See more

Han S Apr 15, 2017 Carson City, 1901. An aging gunfighter, JB Books (John Wayne), rides into town. His deeds are infamous and, despite his age, he is still feared and, by some, revered. However, Books is dying of cancer and has about two months to live. Initially his thoughts turn to finding a nice quite place where he can die in peace. Soon, however, he hits upon another plan, one befitting his career and involving more dignity and less suffering... John Wayne's last movie is a great one. It's also quite an appropriate one, it's lead character mirroring Wayne's own life in many respects. Though Wayne did not have cancer at the time of filming, he had serious health issues and died of cancer three years later. Knowing that this is John Wayne's last movie and what he was going through in making it makes the movie so much more intimate and emotional. Not that this is just good because it is John Wayne's last film - it's great anyway. Wonderful, powerful, emotional plot, well directed by Don Siegel. Some good themes too - the dying of the old West, the ending of a career, how you can't escape your past, dying with dignity and life's cycle. Some good action scenes too. It is a Western, after all! Adding to the nostalgia, we have 67-year old Jimmy Stewart in a supporting role. His appearance provides one of the great in-jokes of the movie: when John Wayne and his characters' first meet, Wayne says "It's been 15 years since I last saw you!". John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart last worked together on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, 15 years earlier. Rounding off a great cast we have Lauren Bacall and, representing the new generation, Ron Howard. Less impressive is Harry Morgan (of MASH fame) as the Marshall. Quite hammy. Worth watching for historic reasons, and simply because it is a great movie. See more

Abraham S Jan 3, 2017 An all-star cast with an inevitable, but satisfying ending, this is a psychological shoot 'em up about confronting death on your own terms. See more

Read all reviews

The Shootist

My Rating

Read More Read Less WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW POST RATING