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

Release Date: August 12, 1976 @ Loews Astor Plaza

Distrib: Paramount


Boxoffice: $8,091,910 2013: $30,164,200
About ten minutes into The Shootist, Doctor Hostetler (James Stewart) tells aging Western gunfighter John Bernard Books (John Wayne), "You have a cancer." Knowing that his death will be painful and lingering, Books is determined to be shot in the line of "duty." In his remaining two months, Books settles scores with old enemies, including gambler Pulford (Hugh O'Brian) and Marshall Thibido (Harry Morgan) and reaches out to new friends, including a feisty widow (Lauren Bacall) and her hero-worshipping son (Ron Howard). Throughout the film, Books' imminent demise is compared with the decline of the West, as represented by the automobiles and streetcars that have begun to blight the main street of Books' hometown.


The Shootist is a 1976 Western film directed by Don Siegel and starring John Wayne in his final film role.
Based on the 1975 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout[1] with a screenplay by Miles Hood Swarthout (the son of the author) and Scott Hale, the film is about a dying gunfighter who spends his last days looking for a way to die with the least pain and the most dignity.[2]
The film co-stars Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Harry Morgan, and James Stewart. In 1977, The Shootist received an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction (Robert F. Boyle, Arthur Jeph Parker), a BAFTA Film Award nomination for Best Actress (Lauren Bacall), and a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Actor (Ron Howard), as well as the National Board of Review Award as one of the Top Ten Films of 1976.[3]