John Wayne Centenary: The '70s - Big Jake, The Cowboys and The Shootist - Page 5

Helping Rydell create this cinematic masterpiece are cinematographer Robert Surtees and composer John Williams. Surtees worked on Ben Hur (1959) and Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) and he helps give the film its epic feel. John Williams' score is one of his best, rousing when required but capable of subtlety too; just listen to the simple guitar in the scene where Wayne talks about his dead sons. It also has a menacing theme for Watts and his gang that owes much to Ennio Morricone and spaghetti westerns.

Rydell originally wanted George C. Scott for the part of Wil Anderson as he disagreed with Wayne’s views on Viet Nam. Thankfully studio bosses persuaded him to approach Wayne, giving the veteran actor one of his best parts not just in the ‘70s but of his whole body of work.

The first time I saw The Cowboys I was the same age as some of the boys in it and I think this is one reason I rate the film so highly. For me it ranks alongside the Ford and Hawks films as one of the best westerns Wayne made. For any Wayne fan who wants to initiate their children (particularly boys) into the pleasures of Dukedom, this gets my recommendation. It’s a great film for fathers and sons to watch together.

The Shootist (1976)

Famous gunfighter John Bernard Books discovers he has just weeks to live and decides to spend his remaining time in Carson City. He takes a room at a boarding house operated by Mrs Rogers, a widow. The film chronicles Books’ final days as he encounters past acquaintances and forms a relationship with Mrs Rogers and her son Gillom.

As final films go there can be few as fitting as The Shootist. Wayne had battled cancer in the past and was ill while the film was being made, with production shut down for two weeks. In the coming years he would undergo heart surgery as well as further operations for cancer. As Books he gives a poignant yet never overly sentimental performance. Books is a hard man who’s lived a hard life, like many Wayne characters before him and it’s fitting that the opening of the film is a montage of clips from earlier Wayne films used to depict Books’ past; it adds even more to the aptness of this being his last performance.

This isn’t a big action film, it’s a film about relationships and dealing with one's own impending demise. During the film Books encounters many looking to make money from his death; a newspaper man who thinks he can make a name for himself writing Books' life story, an ex-lover looking to marry him and live off his name, even an undertaker who offers to bury him for free knowing he’ll make a killing charging people to view his corpse. The core of the film, however, is his relationship with Mrs Rogers and her son.

Article Author: Ian Woolstencroft

Ian Woolstencroft was brought up on a diet of John Wayne movies and Marvel Comics and still has a passion for both. Now as a blogcritic he finally understands what Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben meant when he said ‘With great power comes great responsibility.’ …

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