FILM · 1976 · USA
The Shootist
75 archived facts 7 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (75)
- #001
When J. B. Books (John Wayne) arrives at Dr. E. W. Hostetler's (James Stewart) office, Hostetler mentions that it has been 15 years since they last saw each other. The joke is that Wayne and Stewart had last worked together 15 years earlier on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962). Undertaker John Carradine also appeared alongside Wayne and Stewart in that film.
- #002
John Wayne caught the flu during production and spent two weeks in the hospital, during which time production was shut down. At one point it was uncertain whether the film would actually be completed, because Wayne was so ill that his doctors were about to forbid him from finishing it.
- #003
James Stewart had not made a film in five years. He agreed to play the doctor as a favor to John Wayne.
- #004
Lauren Bacall, James Stewart, Richard Boone and John Carradine were cast at John Wayne's request.
- #005
John Wayne had enjoyed working with Lauren Bacall on his earlier film Blood Alley (1955) so much that he personally chose her as this film's leading lady.
- #006
In an interview conducted during shooting, John Wayne admitted that he had been ill for most of the previous year. While making Rooster Cogburn (1975) he had contracted viral pneumonia, and he was still ill when that film was released.
- #007
The horse Books owns and gives away was John Wayne's own horse, his favorite sorrel named Dollar, which he rode in Big Jake (1971), The Cowboys (1972), True Grit (1969), Rooster Cogburn (1975), Chisum (1970) and The Train Robbers (1973). Wayne had negotiated with the horse's owner, Dick Webb Movie Productions, over Dollar's special film rights and had demanded script changes that would have Dollar's name mentioned several times.
- #008
There was some opposition to casting John Wayne, as the producers thought he was too old to be convincing as a gunfighter of about 69. It was producer Dino De Laurentiis who insisted on casting Wayne. In the novel, John Bernard Books was only 50 years old.
- #009
John Wayne's diminished lung capacity made it difficult for him to breathe and move at Carson City's elevation of 4,600 feet (1,400 m).
- #010
During shooting, John Wayne was suffering from heart problems as a result of a severe pneumonia attack in January 1974 that had made him cough hard enough to damage a heart valve.
- #011
To add a sense of realism to John Wayne's character, archival footage from several Westerns was used after the opening credits to introduce J. B. Books. Footage from Red River (1948), Hondo (1953), Rio Bravo (1959) and El Dorado (1966) was included.
- #012
For the American Cancer Society, John Wayne made a television public service announcement that opened with a clip from this film of the doctor telling Books he has cancer.
- #013
George C. Scott was initially offered the role of Books and accepted it on the condition that not a single word of the script be changed. After he expressed interest, however, the role went to John Wayne. The producers claim they had wanted Wayne from the start but had not believed he would be interested in the film.
- #014
John Wayne was upset by the film's disappointing box office and blamed Paramount largely for its poor marketing. He complained that Paramount spent too much time focusing on its King Kong (1976) epic at the time and relied too heavily on Wayne's brand alone to sell the film, which was no longer a sure thing in 1976 after several failures in previous years. He also felt it diluted the full potential of an Oscar nomination for his good performance, which the Academy quickly forgot after a few ads placed for consideration in Variety.
- #015
Hugh O'Brian's character, Pulford, is a faro dealer. O'Brian was already known for playing the Western lawman Wyatt Earp on the television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955). The real Wyatt Earp was a part-time lawman who earned most of his income as a faro dealer. When the film industry began in California, Earp served as a technical adviser on many Westerns and even met John Wayne. Wayne stated that he based part of his on-screen persona on Earp.
- #016
Books and Bond ride in a carriage that Gillom says is used only for funerals, an ominous point. In the final scene, the same carriage is seen parked on the street as if ready for a funeral.
- #017
This was James Stewart's last appearance in a Western, though he voiced Wylie Burp, an aging hound-dog sheriff, in Universal Pictures' animated film An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991).
- #018
Although it received generally positive reviews, the film proved to be one of John Wayne's least successful at the box office.
- #019
Although it is now regarded as one of the finest final films of any star, alongside Clark Gable's The Misfits (1961) and Henry Fonda's On Golden Pond (1981), this was not actually designed as John Wayne's last film, especially since he was not diagnosed with stomach cancer until January 1979, three years after shooting began. After recovering from open-heart surgery in July 1978, he announced plans to make a film called "Beau John" with Ron Howard, but for some reason it never happened. Wayne was ill throughout The Shootist, and his generally poor health made it difficult for him to obtain insurance for additional film projects.
- #020
In the original screenplay, Gillom Rogers shot and killed J. B. Books. The murder disturbed Gillom so much in the script that he threw away the gun in disgust at the act and left the bar. John Wayne changed the screenplay so that Books was killed by the bartender, who was then killed by Rogers.
- #021
The ceiling fans in the Metropole saloon were common in the early 20th century. Unlike modern ceiling fans, they have no motors but are connected to a belt system. A motor is mounted on the ceiling at the back of the building or room, and a long belt hangs from the ceiling connected to each fan. At the bottom of each fan is a cam that is turned to engage the clutch that spins the fan.
- #022
The first name of Lauren Bacall's character was a nod to Ward Bond.
- #023
Despite John Wayne's considerable influence, Don Siegel said that he and Wayne got along well. "He had a lot of ideas of his own… Some I liked, they inspired me, and some I didn't like. But we never fought over any of them. We loved and respected each other."
- #024
In Carson City, the Krebs-Peterson House at 500 Mountain Street was used as the boarding house of the widow Bond Rogers, where J. B. Books stays. The house is located three doors south of the Nevada governor's mansion. The only change to the house was a porch added on the south side.
- #025
John Wayne was pessimistic about the film's chances and acknowledged that his name was no longer enough to guarantee a film's success.
- #026
The film's title comes from a famous quip by the gunman Clay Allison. Allison, a bounty hunter and hired killer whose marksmanship and drunken, murderous rage caused fear throughout Texas, reportedly told anyone brave enough to ask that he worked as a "shootist."
- #027
In addition to heart and lung problems, John Wayne also had an enlarged prostate during filming, but it would not be operated on until December 1976.
- #028
Initially, John Wayne did not want to grow a mustache to play J. B. Books. However, he soon accepted that it seemed right for the character.
- #029
Hugh O'Brian, with his timed fast draw of 0.8 seconds, was actually one of Hollywood's fastest fast-draw artists, if not the fastest.
- #030
John Wayne was highly conscious of his public image, believing it unmanly to be photographed in production photos while his makeup was being applied with a powder puff. He also insisted on using a certain reddish makeup shade that flattered his skin but gave cinematographer Bruce Surtees a headache. Most importantly, he insisted on reducing the profanity and the more explicit references to cancer from the original novel, and refused to shoot the villain in the back in a key fight scene, because these details conflicted with the core morality of his on-screen legend.
- #031
John Wayne treated the people of Carson City very well during his stay at the Ormsby House Hotel during filming. He readily signed autographs for young people, including one signed for Mary Anna Replogle, the future famous Nevada Opera lead mezzo-soprano.
- #032
Paul Newman, Charles Bronson, Gene Hackman and Clint Eastwood had all turned down the lead role before John Wayne was cast.
- #033
Hugh O'Brian wanted to be in the film, so he was given the character Pulford, who originally appears as a card dealer in the novel. In the film, his gunfight with a boss is depicted as taking place after Books arrives in town. In the book, however, the fight takes place much earlier.
- #034
John Wayne greatly admired director Don Siegel and said he wanted to play Clint Eastwood's role in Dirty Harry (1971). Wayne was never offered the role because of his age, but he later made two police films of his own. However, Wayne did not like Siegel's directing and felt the film needed a more visually epic style. The two had disagreements during filming, and Wayne reportedly took over the directing at times.
- #035
The film's exterior scenes were shot in Carson City. Bond Rogers's boarding house is the 1914 Krebs-Peterson House, located in Carson City's historic residential district. The buggy ride was filmed at Washoe Lake State Park in the Washoe Valley between Reno and Carson City. Although it was a Paramount production, the street scenes and most of the interior shooting were done on the Warner Bros. backlot and soundstages in Burbank, California. The horse-drawn streetcar was an original tram that once ran in service between El Paso and Juarez, Mexico.
- #036
Most of the cast was considered far too old for their characters, especially Ron Howard.
- #037
The film's cast includes three Oscar winners: John Wayne, James Stewart and Ron Howard; and one Oscar nominee: Lauren Bacall.
- #038
This was the last time stuntman and Wayne's longtime friend Chuck Roberson doubled for John Wayne. This is "Bad Chuck" Roberson jumping over the bar in the final scene.
- #039
The gunfight that results in Books's death takes place on his 58th birthday. John Wayne was 69 years old when the film was released.
- #040
Jonathan Goldsmith, who played one of Books's victims, would later become famous for his portrayal of the Most Interesting Man in the World in Dos Equis commercials.
- #041
At the start of the seventh day, Gillom whistles the Scott Joplin tune that had made its mark with audiences three years earlier in The Sting (1973).
- #042
The engraved Colt Single Action Army revolvers used by J. B. Books were in reality a pair of replicas made in the 1950s.
- #043
The events of the film take place over a single week, beginning on January 22 with Books's cancer diagnosis and ending on January 29 with Books's death in the shootout at the Metropole.
- #044
Hugh O'Brian asked that a character be created for him in the script.
- #045
Two years before this film's premiere, Richard Boone, Harry Morgan and Rick Lenz had appeared together in the NBC series Hec Ramsey (1972), which was also set in 1901 and dealt with the fading of the Old West and the rise of modern law enforcement.
- #046
Doc Hostetler relates that Books's first encounter in Carson City took place at the Acme Saloon. During his first meeting with Brooks and Mrs. Rogers, a window advertising the Acme can be seen over Mike Sweeney's shoulder.
- #047
Harry Morgan and John Wayne shared a scene together in How the West Was Won (1962), playing Ulysses S. Grant and W. T. Sherman respectively.
- #048
It is one of many Westerns that take a dim view of Western-era writer Bat Masterson for writing about things he had not experienced.
- #049
While complaining to the undertaker at the barber's, Books mentions another gunfighter, John Wesley Hardin. Among the other similarities, Hardin was killed by a lawman in the Acme Saloon (the same name as the site of Books's earlier gunfight in Carson City in this film). Books noted that the public displayed Hardin's corpse as a paid attraction. A similar dispute arose between the citizens of El Paso and Hardin's relatives, who wanted the body moved. Hardin also wore a mustache.
- #050
The elaborate leaded-glass canopy shown in Bond Rogers's house was made in the early 20th century by the Duffner & Kimberly Company. It is 20 inches in diameter, and the color is listed as "Greek No. 505" in the company's 1906 catalog. One of these shades was featured on Antiques Roadshow and was valued at between $6,000 and $8,000 in 2014.
- #051
Scatman Crothers's character Moses is probably a tribute to Hank Worden, who was John Wayne's sidekick in many films. Worden played Mose in The Searchers (1956).
- #052
The opening street scene shows utility poles with crossarms and wires. Town Marshal Thibido confirms that Carson City has electricity and telephone service. Rogers's house has both.
- #053
Had all of John Wayne's health problems been known, it is unlikely he could have been insured for this film.
- #054
Carson City is shown in 1901 as having horse-drawn streetcar No. 14 of the Carson City Traction. In reality, Reno was the only Nevada community with a rail transit system, the electric Nevada Transit Company / Reno Traction Company, which operated from November 1904 to September 1927.
- #055
Sheree North was made to look somewhat older for the role because her character had had a past relationship with Wayne's character.
- #056
Hugh O'Brian, as faro dealer Jack Pulford, is the last person shot by J. B. Books (John Wayne) before Books himself dies.
- #057
When J. B. Books first introduces himself to Mrs. Rogers, he says his name is William Hickok. Wild Bill Hickok's real name was James Butler Hickok.
- #058
The film ended up full of unwanted coincidences and ironies involving both cancer and its ending. The gunfighter J. B. Books is dying of cancer and seeks one last fight so that he can have a quick and honorable death. This turned out to be John Wayne's last film, though it was not planned as such; one reason Wayne felt a kinship with the character of Books was that Wayne had narrowly survived a bout with lung cancer, having had his left lung and several ribs removed by surgery in 1964. Wayne did not have cancer during filming, but only three years later, in January 1979, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died six months afterward. Another sad ironic coincidence was that Richard Boone, who played Books's chief enemy Sweeny in this film and John Fain, Jacob McCandles's chief enemy, in Big Jake (1971), was diagnosed with throat cancer shortly after this film. He soon began to lose the use of his voice, another sad irony since Boone was known for his gruff, serious voice; Boone died of cancer in January 1981, only 18 months after John Wayne's death.
- #059
At the time this story is set, Carson City, Nevada, was a fairly new town, officially founded in 1858; John Wayne's character Books was 15 years old at the time. It began as a rest stop for travelers heading west. The discovery of silver and gold in the nearby hills (the Comstock Lode) in 1859 gave the town momentum and led to many improvements. Most of the mines were exhausted by 1874, though some mining continued into the 1920s. After gaining statehood in 1864, Carson City became the state capital. Chief of Police tells Books that Carson City is modernizing and foresees a bright future. At that time the population was 2,893, representing a 50% decline over the previous 20 years. This was largely because the railroad bypassed the town, running through Donner Pass about 24 kilometers north of Carson. As modernization took place, there would be no significant increase in population until the mid-fifties. A century after this film, the population had risen to 48,000. As of 2020 it is the tenth-largest city in Nevada. Streetcars would continue to run in Carson City throughout the 1950s; meanwhile, as wartime production facilities were converted back to consumer goods and automobiles, the boom in car production led to the disappearance of streetcars nationwide. This was due not only to the availability of affordable cars, but also to General Motors embarking on a major buying spree, purchasing and shutting down streetcar lines. This was the main plot device in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).
- #060
When the film was released, there were some criticisms that it seemed as though it had been made for television.
- #061
The first and only theatrical film screenplay written by Miles Hood Swarthout and Scott Hale; Scott Hale is known as an actor who appeared in many films directed by Don Siegel, who also directed this film. Here Miles adapts the screenplay from a novel written by his father, Glendon Swarthout.
- #062
The name Gillom is an old name brought to England with the Norman Invasion of 1066 and first recorded in 1198. It derives from the French name Guillame and was later Anglicized as Gilliam and William. It also appeared as Gillanus and Jellion. The earliest record of the name Gillam in America belongs to a ship's carpenter who arrived in Boston in 1635. The true meaning of the name is unknown.
- #063
Melody Thomas Scott, the young girl on the streetcar, also appeared in director Don Siegel's Western The Beguiled (1971), starring Clint Eastwood.
- #064
This was Buzz Barton's last film.
- #065
Since January 29, 1901 was a Tuesday and not a Monday, the dates given are not correct for the year 1901 in which Queen Victoria died and these events are supposed to have taken place. The calendar used was the 1900 calendar.
- #066
Body count: 9, plus 7 in the opening flashback montage, for a total of 16.
- #067
To emphasize the accuracy of the real-life timeline, Brooks drops the names of many historical figures, among them Wild Bill Hickock, Bat Masterson and John Wesley Hardin.
- #068
This is the only film in which John Wayne plays a character under the influence of morphine (because his character is dying and is given the bottle he drinks from constantly throughout much of the film).
- #069
Hugh O'Brian appeared in In Harm's Way (1965), starring John Wayne, but O'Brien's character never overlaps with Wayne's character (he has an affair with Kirk Douglas's wife, but never meets Kirk either).
- #070
The film was considered a flop in terms of box office revenue.
- #071
J. B. Books (John Wayne) arrived in Carson City, Nevada, about 950 miles from Creede, Colorado.
- #072
Richard Boone, Rick Lenz and Harry Morgan appeared in Hec Ramsey (1972).
- #073
The first choice for John Wayne's role was Paul Newman, the second choice was George C. Scott, and John was the third.
- #074
According to Wayne's son Patrick in the documentary The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout (2023), this was his father's best performance of his career. Patrick Wayne says that of all the roles his father John Wayne played, this one was closest to who he really was, and that the way John Books accepts his death at the end is exactly the same as what Wayne did.
- #075
Hugh O'Brian appears in In Harm's Way (1965), starring John Wayne, but they do not share any scenes.
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