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!!!!
Hammond (Bruce Dern): Hell, Mr. Pierce, we’d be willing to do it for a lot less than ten thousand dollars.
Frank Pierce (Bruce Cabot): If you could!
The lead character - Billy McBride ( Billy Bob Thornton ) has a continuing dream / premonition of his own death as played out in kind of a High Noon way. The character played by Dern is a frontier outlaw in the same costume and smart ass attitude as his character in The Cowboys-
Dern shoots Billy Bob in the chest - Billy Bob then wakes up.
Billy Bob Thornton is obviously a big fan of classic Westerns - I loved it
Wayne was right. Dern could have face a huge amount of hate, but fortunately he quickly departed the public eye to make his next movie, a studio science-fiction movie, “Silent Running”.