{"id":28193,"date":"2024-03-12T02:46:09","date_gmt":"2024-03-12T09:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=28193"},"modified":"2024-03-12T02:46:09","modified_gmt":"2024-03-12T09:46:09","slug":"blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-the-shootist-1976","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=28193","title":{"rendered":"Blasts from the Past! Blu-ray Review: THE SHOOTIST (1976)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This picture is now available from Arrow Video as a\n\u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While this reviewer has watched numerous John Wayne films\nover the years like Stagecoach, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, The\nMan Who Shot Liberty Valance<\/em> and several others, the actor never made a big\nimpression on me. Frankly, he always seemed to be playing the same character. The\nShootist<\/em> was Wayne\u2019s last film and a title that passed me by. Now, after\nfinally seeing the movie, I feel unlucky that I hadn\u2019t caught up with it sooner\nand caught the actor doing something a little different. Thankfully, Arrow\nVideo has released a new \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray of the film so that all can\nsee a slightly different side of Wayne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those, like me, who are new to the picture, the story\nbegins in 1901. The filmmakers immediately note that the term \u201cgunslinger\u201d is a\nmodern invention and that a person who used firearms during this era was\nactually known as a \u201cshootist\u201d. The days of the old frontier are fading away,\nwith early automobiles and other more modern amenities. Aging \u201cshootist\u201d John\nBooks rides into town towing a large reputation, even if his reason for\nvisiting has nothing to do with his career. He sees old friend Dr. Hostetler\n(James Stewart), who confirms that the gunman has terminal cancer and, at best,\nonly weeks to live. The doctor prescribes Books laudanum to deal with the pain\nand suggests he spend his final days at a boarding house run by widow Bond\nRogers (Lauren Bacall) and her son Gillom (Ron Howard).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brusque Books makes an immediate impression and can\u2019t\nhide his identity for very long. Old enemies seeking revenge like Sweeney\n(Rochard Boone) as well as those eager to earn fame by killing the famed\nshootist, including Pulford (Hugh O\u2019Brian) and Cobb (Bill McKinney), quickly\ncome out of the woodwork. As if that wasn\u2019t bad enough, others who learn of his\nterminal diagnosis attempt to use the man to make a profit, like reporter\nDobkins (Rick Lenz) and undertaker Beckum (John Carradine) and the less-egregious\nMoses (Scatman Crothers), who at least is upfront and pleasant about his\ntransactions with Books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The brutality of his career and finality of things looms\nlarge on the mind of lonely Books, so much so that he tries to befriend the\nwidow Rogers. She is sympathetic to the lead but none too pleased by his past,\ncreating some friction between them. Knowing that his era is ending, Books\nultimately tries to discourage young admirer Gillom from following too closely\nin his path. But of course, violence can\u2019t help but follow the protagonist and\nhe also knows that dying in a shootout may be a better way to leave than being\nbedridden and in excruciating pain.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is a very good film and one that marked Wayne\u2019s final\nonscreen appearance. He had already lost a lung from cancer and was in ill\nhealth (he would succumb to stomach cancer only two years later). The actor\u2019s\nreal-life situation adds great poignancy to his performance as one watches an\niconic figure deal with aging and mortality. One can certainly see the old\nWayne here, but there is a sadness and humanity in his eyes that lends weight\nto the performance. As a result, this may be the most sympathetic gunman he has\never played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film was directed by Don Siegel (Dirty Harry, The\nBeguiled, Escape from Alcatraz<\/em>) who adds a bit of freshness to the\nproceedings by emphasizing the nastiness of the shootings. When characters get\nhit, they spout a lot of blood and, unlike earlier westerns, it all looks\nremarkably violent. The excellent cast, many of whom had previously worked with\nWayne, also make an impression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Admittedly, the movie isn\u2019t perfect. While it dispenses with\nsome mythic elements of being a shootist who has killed dozens of men, Wayne is\nstill portrayed in an entirely heroic light who always tries to do the right\nthing in every given situation. If the film had continued to push and demystify\nsome elements, it might have been a masterpiece. But as it stands, this is\nstill an above-average western with a surprising and unexpectedly wonderful\nlead performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to Arrow Video, the image here looks sharper than\never before. The film has been given a great new 2K remaster. There is a little\nbit of grain here and there, but the western vistas (shot on location in Carson\nCity, Nevada) are beautiful to behold. There\u2019s more cold weather and snow than\nin most genre pictures and as a result the movie has a unique and striking\nappearance. This Blu-ray also features some dazzling interiors, including an\nimmense bar room set that is wonderfully utilized during the finale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The disc contains some great extras that include a film\nhistorian commentary, as well as a couple of visual essays about the picture\nfrom other film critics. There\u2019s an archived interview with author C. Courtney\nJoyner, who knew the screenwriter (as it turns out, the man who wrote the\nscript was the son of the author who penned the book the movie is based on).\nAlso featured is an appreciation of the impressive score for the title that was\ncomposed by Elmer Bernstein, a look at the career of John Wayne and more. The\ndisc also contains plenty of publicity materials, as well as a poster,\npostcard-sized lobby card reprints and other goodies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the commentary and visual essays on the film are\nparticularly enlightening. As someone who knew very little about the picture\ngoing in, there\u2019s a lot of information to be gleaned. Apparently, this\nproduction was a tough one, with director Siegel and Wayne having very\ndifferent visions of the finished feature. They also had very different\npolitical views and were constantly bickering throughout the production about\nthe character and approaches to action. Siegel wanted to illustrate the pain of\nwhat the main character was suffering from, as well as more accurately depict\nthe violence of the profession. Wayne was said to have found Siegel\u2019s approach\nvile and in poor taste at times and didn\u2019t want to mess with his onscreen image\nas much as the director desired. So, Wayne was difficult to handle, often\nhaving blowups with Siegel and walking off the set in a huff before returning\nand apologizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Over the course of the extras, viewers also discover that the tense shoot almost wasn\u2019t even completed. Wayne became sick and the production was nearly shut down as a result. Siegel continued shooting around the actor, using stunt doubles for part of the climactic shootout (which infuriated Wayne), but the director managed to get his star back on the set for a few final shots, including the movie\u2019s most important final close-up for its star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viewers learn that Siegel ultimately found it best to pick\nhis battles with Wayne and compromise here and there in order to complete the\nshoot. That\u2019s why the final product isn\u2019t quite as gritty as intended, but\nstill maintains some of what the filmmaker was going for. Curiously, one of the\nfeaturettes notes that George C. Scott was initially going to play the lead\nrole and there was going to be a colonoscopy scene and other frank moments\n(that you never would have seen in a typical western). However, Wayne ended up\ncampaigning hard for the part. When he got it, some of the more extreme\nmaterial was toned down (and there were further cuts as a result of the actor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There are even more interesting details about the movie,\nincluding the fact that the star\u2019s family ultimately found the final product\ndifficult to watch, because they felt like they were seeing the real Wayne\nonscreen in many scenes, with the performer actually living with the same\ndisease that would ultimately take his own life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When The Shootist<\/em> was released, it earned a lot of\npositive press and was even put on the American Film Institute\u2019s 10 Best Films\nof 1976 list. Unfortunately, the movie wasn\u2019t as big of a hit as hoped for and\nfaded away faster than anticipated. No doubt some of this may have been due to\nthe fact that the star and westerns were no longer as big a box office draw as\nthey had been years earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless, the movie holds up quite well. It probably\nfeatures one of, if not the best on screen performances ever from Wayne. There\nare a few welcome nods to classic westerns and short but shocking moments of\nbrutality.  The climactic shootout featuring the lead attempting to go out\nin a blaze of glory is cleverly staged and thrilling to witness. As already\nemphasized, the image quality is stellar and the disc is filled with great\nbonuses that chronicle its rough road to the big screen. Western fans should\ndefinitely pick up Arrow Video\u2019s excellent new Blu-ray of The Shootist<\/em>.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This picture is now available from Arrow Video as a \u201cLimited Edition\u201d Blu-ray. While this reviewer has watched numerous John Wayne films over the years like Stagecoach, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, Rio Bravo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and several others, the actor never made a big impression on me. Frankly, he always […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":28201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[107,1836,2922,2932,3073,6072,10258,10916,12147,17327,22192,22193,24114],"class_list":["post-28193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dvdblu-ray-reviews","tag-107","tag-arrow-video","tag-blasts-from-the-pas","tag-blasts-from-the-past-blu-ray-review-3","tag-blu-ray-review","tag-don-siegel","tag-james-stewart","tag-john-wayne","tag-lauren-bacall","tag-ron-howard","tag-the-shootist","tag-the-shootist-blu-ray-review","tag-western"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28193\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}