Knowing he is dying (which he did in real life), famed gun man John Wayne has to negotiate with feisty widow Lauren Bacall and her impulsive son Ron Howard, several folk with grudges against him, an undertaker (John Carradine) and an ex girlfriend, Sheree North, a newspaperman and the town marshal Harry Morgan. (It's filmed in Carson City Nevada). Thus it's a melancholic film, a suitably fitting final film for The Duke, as much about the passing of the Old West (it's 1901) as the passing of The Legend.
Good photography from Bruce Surtees and score provided by Elmer Bernstein.
The ending - in which Ron avenges the murder but then throws away his own gun - is suitably tangy.
With James Stewart, Richard Boone, Bill McKinney (Deliverance), Hugh O'Brian, Rick Lenz, Scatman Crothers, Alfred Dennis (barber). Written by Scott Hale and Miles Hood Swarthout, based on the latter's father's book.
It's a beautiful film. And Wayne's final performance is lovely. It's a brave performance but he doesn't play it for sympathy.
'One day on the set, while waiting for a setup, Wayne reached out and held [Bacall's] hand, saying nothing. Another morning a crew member arrived remarking on what a beautiful day it was. Wayne's response, Bacall said, made her understand what he was thinking: He said that "every day you wake up is a beautiful day..." ' (PB 'Who the Hell's In It?')
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