The Shootist

As I've shared before, I've been watching classic movies that I've not seen before through my Netflix subscription. Tonight I watched The Shootist. After watching it, I realized why it is considered one of the top ten Westerns of all time. In some ways, it is a Western in the style of Forgiven. While it's about a gunslinger or shootist, it's really about much deeper issues than that. It's about the legacy that we leave. It's about the life we choose to live and how it impacts others. It's about death and life. It's about how our past can haunt us. It's about one of the most mysterious things of life - death.
I learned later by watching the "making of" documentary on the DVD that it was John Wayne's last movie. He would die two years after making the movie and his health was not good throughout the shooting of the film. Ironically, Wayne suffered from cancer just as J. B. Books, "the Shootist" does. It also stars huge Hollywood giants: Jimmy Stewart, Ron Howard, Lauren Bacall, and Harry Morgan.
I've never been a big fan of Westerns. It's not a genre of movies that I identified with or much enjoyed. However, I do like stories about the West and set in the West. For me, The Shootist is more this kind of "Western". It's set in 1901. The days of the wild west are fading fast. A new century has dawned and the town of Carson City, Nevada is becoming more civilized. It will get electrified street cars the next year. The town marshal (Harry Morgan) is not just a law man who keeps peace by shooting the gunslingers. He is accountable to a town council. He even worries if his wife will get a pension from the town council if he is killed by Books.
It's a wonderfully entertaining movie. Bacall is wonderful. Ron Howard is in his prime during his Happy Days years. Jimmy Stewart is wonderful as the aging doctor who talks straight to the dying Books and even encourages him to avoid the painful death ahead of him by taking his own life. However, this is not Books' "way out". He does it on his own terms. In the few days he spends in the small western town, he impacts lives. He confronts his past. He unapologetically makes peace with himself and his life in his own way. Yet, he also make it known that he is scared. The man who killed so many becomes "a dying man, scared of the dark."
So, if you've never seen The Shootist, I highly recommend it. It is full of wonderful performances. Also, it still has me thinking about its themes and underlying message. I like that most of all in a movie.
I hope you are having a wonderful week. Thanks for being a part of my journey!