He's got to face a gunfight once more to live up to his legend once more. To win just one more time.
Overview
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.
Ratings
Curator score: 6.7/10
IMDb: 7.6/10
Letterboxd: 3.70/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 81%
Metacritic: 77
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Don Siegel
Production
The De Laurentiis Company, Paramount Pictures
Cast
John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian, Bill McKinney, Harry Morgan, John Carradine, Sheree North, Rick Lenz, Scatman Crothers, Gregg Palmer, Alfred Dennis, Dick Winslow, Melody Thomas Scott, Kathleen O'Malley, Jack Berle, Johnny Crawford, Chuck Dawson
Where to watch
fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus, Philo
Curator Review
Verdict
A melancholy, late-period Western that works as both a character study and a genre elegy. It’s slower and more reflective than a typical gunslinger picture, but the quiet sadness, sharp performances, and sense of a fading frontier make it distinctive.
Best for
viewers who like elegiac Westerns
fans of late-career star vehicles
people interested in genre deconstructions
audiences who prefer character-driven drama over action
Skip if
you want a fast, action-heavy Western
you dislike somber, fatalistic stories
you prefer modern revisionist Westerns with more irony
you’re looking for a purely nostalgic or mythic John Wayne showcase
Overview
The Shootist is less a victory lap than a farewell note. It turns the gunfighter legend into a man confronting mortality, and that gives the film a bruised, reflective quality that separates it from more conventional Westerns. Don Siegel keeps the storytelling plainspoken, which lets the sadness land without sentimentality.
Worth noting
John Wayne’s performance is the key reason to see it. He plays Books as a figure of stubborn dignity, but also fatigue, vulnerability, and resignation. The film understands that the old frontier myth is ending not with a bang, but with a long, painful exhale.
Bottom line
It’s not the most dynamic Western of the era, and some viewers may wish for more momentum. But as a swan song for both a star persona and a genre tradition, it’s unusually moving and often very effective.
Top Letterboxd reviews
theriverjordan (4★) · 208 likes
“Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death.” Don Siegel’s “The Shootist” lays the classic Western into its grave with the violent end brought by a half century of violent delights.
John Wayne remade one of his own films, “Rio Bravo,” three times over. For his last ever screen role, he switched it up and rehashed someone’s else’s role. “The Shootist” is essentially a blunt force plot lift from Gregory Peck vehicle “The Gunfighter.” It’s in the tone and… more
Darren Carver-Balsiger (4★) · 174 likes
John Wayne's final film role treats him as a mythical legend but also as a legend that's on his way out. The world has modernised, and Wayne's stubborn character symbolises the death of the frontier, and by the same token represents the death of the western genre. Coming from the mid 1970s, The Shootist is not a traditional western and its seriousness is a testament to that brief amount of time when Hollywood was concerned with cynicism over entertainment. This isn't… more John Wayne's final film role treats him as a mythical legend but also as a legend that's on his way out. The world has modernised, and Wayne's stubborn character symbolises the death of the frontier, and by the same token represents the death of the western genre. Coming from the mid 1970s, The Shootist is not a traditional western and its seriousness is a testament to that brief amount of time when Hollywood was concerned with cynicism over entertainment. This isn't… more
Yves Bouwen (3.5★) · 163 likes
Someone once told me there are seven plots in western movies. No more no less. So, I looked it up and I can't really agree this is simply the outlaw story. If anything, I would put it in the same bucket as Unforgiven and Gunfighter. (Well that are probably outlaw stories.) John Wayne plays the outlaw, J.B. Books. It is 1901. The time of the pistolero is almost over. The elderly outlaw got a cancer. In the movie every time… more Someone once told me there are seven plots in western movies. No more no less. So, I looked it up and I can't really agree this is simply the outlaw story. If anything, I would put it in the same bucket as Unforgiven and Gunfighter. (Well that are probably outlaw stories.) John Wayne plays the outlaw, J.B. Books. It is 1901. The time of the pistolero is almost over. The elderly outlaw got a cancer. In the movie every time… more
Kaijuman (5★) · 132 likes
“I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them”
The end of an era, we’ll never have stars like John Wayne again, and this was a perfectly bittersweet way to end his legacy.
A monumental sendoff for a monumental actor
David Whitman (3.5★) · 115 likes
A dying and infamous gunfighter (John Wayne) spends his last week on Earth coming to terms with himself. In the meantime, every vulture in town wants a piece of his corpse after he’s gone.
This film is not nearly as good as it’s reputation. Yes, Wayne is quite good in this part—he has a tired and humbled quality that we’ve never seen him access as an actor. This is because he was sickly in real life. He came to this… more
1953 · Drama, Western · 1h 58m · NR · Curator 7.7/10 (86.8K ratings) · Where to watch: fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus, Philo
A classic Western about myth, violence, and the cost of being the man everyone expects to draw first.