Last Rites: John Huston, James Joyce and The Dead

SteynonLine ^ | December 27, 2025 | Rick McGinnis

[Twotone]

John Huston was dying when he made The Dead, his last movie, in early 1987. It's the kind of thing that the mordant Huston would have found amusing, but the details of filming, as recalled in Jeffrey Meyer's biography John Huston: Courage and Art, are a grim read.

"Huston," he writes, "was a dead man walking, or wheeling, attached to a tall green rocket of oxygen that shot air into his failing lungs and enable him to breathe." He would have preferred to shoot on location, as he always did from the moment he freed himself from the Hollywood backlot, but director Karel Reisz was on standby to take over should the emphysema take an early victory, and Huston's doctor had forbade him to get on a plane and fly to Ireland.

"His lungs are like lace," the doctor said, "and he'll be dead when he steps out of the plane."

And so, except for some second unit exteriors filmed in Dublin, The Dead was shot in a warehouse in Valencia, in Santa Clarita, thirty-five miles north of Los Angeles. "He had bags under his watery eyes," Meyer writes," hollow cheeks and drawn features. He abandoned his once-stylish clothes and, bundled up in a warm vest and jacket, wore an old man's zipped-up track suit. The ailing Huston said he could now concentrate fully on the picture since 'there were no longer any distractions.'"

The film is based on the final and what's generally considered the best story in Dubliners, James Joyce's collection of short stories, published in 1914.

[P.O.E.]

I’ve had “Finnean’s Wake” on my bucket list for decades, now.

Every time I pick it up, I end up spending an hour or so on only a page or two, because I keep looking up the references, puns, etc.

[Savage Beast]

Maybe that’s why she loved the music of Eric Clapner.

[SaveFerris]

WE HAVE A WINNER 🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆🏆😄🤣🤣🤣

[Savage Beast]

Maybe the point is that if you drink enough of them you'll be able to get through Norma.

[Albion Wilde]

Thanks, He certainly did justice to The Dead.

[Jolla]

“John Huston - the actor - always brought a completely unique presence to his personal movie scenes.”

For me Chinatown is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. His directing is as good as his acting, both top shelf.

[zeestephen]

Re: "The Man Who Would Be King"

I had a good friend in college who worshiped that movie as the "Greatest Film of All Time."

I do not think I have seen it since the 1970s.

Strange - because I have had cable and a premium movie channel for the last 40 years.

I always root for the criminals - unless they are psychopaths, or abuse women.

[zeestephen]

Re: "Chinatown"

In my "Top 5" since the 1970s.

[Rummyfan]

The author of movie reviews who preceded McGinnis was the late Kathy Shaidle. Her reviews are archived at Steyn Online.

[ek_hornbeck]

If I had to pick someone as the greatest filmmaker of all time, it would be John Huston. There are individual films by other directors that are the equal or the better of any one of Huston's films, but no other director produced the sheer number of high quality movies that have stood the test of time as Huston. The Dead was a great swan song.

What also impresses me about Huston is that he was equally adept at making entertaining, action-driven movies such as The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, etc. as he was at making low-key, art-house type films like The Dead or Wise Blood. Most other great directors do a good job with either entertaining action-driven films or with slower-paced, cerebral films, but not both.

[ek_hornbeck]

There's also the more readable, abridged version of Finnegans Wake edited by Anthony Burgess (of Clockwork Orange fame) that's easier to get through.