The Shootist

1976 · 100 min · EN · PG · 7.1 (397 votes)

Dir. Don Siegel · Starring John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian · Music Elmer Bernstein

“He's got to face a gunfight once more to live up to his legend once more. To win just one more time.”

Western

Afflicted with a terminal illness John Bernard Books, the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler. Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow and her son. However, it is not Books' fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle.

VIBE

A quiet, elegiac reflection on a life lived hard. It feels like watching the sun set on a legendary era, tinged with the melancholy of inevitable endings and the weight of a storied past.

melancholicstoicwistfulsomberslow-burnclassic westerncharacter studyadult dramaelegiacmortalitylegacylonelinessretirement

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sniperbased on novel or bookwidownevadaretirementterminal illnessagingdying mangunfightboarding houseone last jobgunfighterterminal cancer1900swestern expansionold west legendwesternwidow with son