A 69 year old John Wayne plays 50 year old JB Brooks, and 51 year old Lauren Bacall is his 40ish landlord. This wouldn’t be a problem except both leads already looked older than their stated ages. Even 68 year old James Stewart looked 80 plus. Ron Howard was about 21 playing a teenager. This isn’t a big knock but it was a distraction.
A bigger knock are the uneven performances. Harry Morgan just couldn’t deliver his lines with any conviction. That may say more about the lines than him, but they didn’t really work. Stewart, coaxed out of retirement, looked off of his game. And Ron Howard is apparently a terrible actor.
That all said, it’s a pretty interesting story. Also interesting is the story that Wayne, dying of cancer, chose this film to be his last to go out on. Unfortunately that story is also fiction. I understand that the Duke wasn’t diagnosed for another three years. However when pitching the film on Johnny, he did allude to a cancer diagnosis. Either way, it’s not why he wanted to do the film and he never intended it to be his last.
The Shootist was an interesting watch. Wayne’s performance was rather naturalistic and a refreshing change from his regular stock character style. A worthwhile watch, despite its flaws. AMRU 3.5.
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