THE SHOOTIST (1976) Wayne goes out with a bang!

In 1901, a terminally ill ex-lawman/ex-gunslinger settles in a town to peacefully live out his final few days at a widow's boarding house. Given John Wayne’s history in Westerns – and because at the time it was well known he had terminal cancer – no other actor could have been more right for the title role of villain/hero in THE SHOOTIST. In fact, the film’s prologue, narrated by Ron Howard, introduces us to the life of “legendary” character of J.B. Books with a series of clips of Wayne aging through some of his most famous film roles – a touching tribute to the actor's life in film. This was to be Wayne’s final film. Jimmy Stewart, who had co-starred with The Duke in the wonderful THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962), plays a cameo role as the town doc who has to tell Books, "You have a cancer so deep you’d have to be gutted like a fish." Books winds up getting his peace by violently making peace – for after a mix of drama, humor and a bit of unrealized romance, the film’s climactic action centers on what he does to help the town, to redeem himself and most importantly, to serve (too briefly) as a badly needed surrogate father to the widow's rebellious son, Gillom (Howard). The final scene in which everything comes together in a hail of bullets is unforgettable.