One of John Wayne’s finest movies, AND every BOY should see it. With the ORIGINAL ending, not sure though, lol.
How many “Alec Baldwin” wardrobe malfunctions did John Wayne have during his many years of gunfights and shoot-em-outs? Still zero?
Saw an interview with the Duke one time. He recounted that he told Bruce Dern that America was going to end up hating him for killing John Wayne in a movie.
Bruce Dern was one of the best bad guys in the history of westerns. The tone of his “smart-ass” voice was perfect for such roles. He was so good at those roles, he made it easy to hate him. I have tremendous admiration for Dern’s talent for playing those roles.
In his older days, I noticed him playing some supporting roles where he is hilarious. I am truly a Bruce Dern fan!!!!
I liked The Shootist.
Had the movie been made truer to the book, “The Cowboys,” by, William Dale Jennings, the movie would be hailed a landmark achievement. Jennings was a homosexual and had a lot of homoeroticism in everything he ever wrote including this book. It would have been a kids’ Brokeback.
As it is, the movie is a coming of age stories. It is not about killing. It is about the boys identifying with their profession and one another and working together to get a job done. It would have been the same movie if John Wayne got COVID and died and the boys finished the work, just not as exciting and without Browne’s classic lines. It’s a movie, for crying out loud, and they went for dramatic effect.
City Slickers is essentially the same movie. The characters find purpose and meaning by taking on a job and seeing it to completion, just no one dies, except for Curly, two horses, and a cow.
I love that Wayne’s character cured a speech impediment.
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It’s time to play Cowboys vs Communists again.