Wayne is J.B. Books, who recently learned he has terminal cancer. Advised to take it easy by his good friend Doctor Hostetler (James Stewart), Books settles in Carson City, Nevada, renting a room from recent widow Bond Rogers (Lauren Bacall), who lives with her son Gillom (Ron Howard) and several other tenants.
Though Bond is none too happy to discover she has a famous gunfighter living under her roof, Gillom quickly befriends Books, and does what he can to help the dying legend with his final wish: to go out in a blaze of glory!
The opening images of The Shootist are just about perfect: a western landscape, in stunning black and white. Using footage from previous John Wayne movies like Red River and Rio Bravo, director Don Siegel gives us his lead character’s backstory (narrated by Ron Howard), establishing Books’ reputation as a shootist. From there, we discover right off the bat that J.B. Books is still a force to be reckoned with when he out-draws a potential thief!
Lauren Bacall and Ron Howard are both superb as the mother and son who welcome Books into their home. Also solid in support are some of Wayne’s co-stars from his Hollywood heyday; James Stewart, who was with Wayne in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, plays Doc Hostetler, who has the unenviable task of confirming a previous diagnosis that his pal Books is dying. Harry Morgan, who appeared alongside Wayne in a key scene in How the West Was Won, plays Carson City’s marshal, who isn’t exactly heartbroken to discover his newest “citizen” is critically ill (Morgan’s glee at Books’ misfortune borders on comedy). In addition, there’s Richard Boone (The Alamo) as a former adversary of Books’ just itching to be the one to end his life; and John Carradine (Stagecoach) as an opportunistic undertaker.
But The Shootist is all about John Wayne, and he is outstanding as the lead, delivering an understated performance as a man past his prime who nonetheless commands respect, and maintains strength and dignity throughout. In one very fun scene, Books kicks the ass (literally) of an exploitative reporter (Rick Lenz) who wants to write an expose of his life; and the moments when he and Bacall’s character butt heads, only to develop a mutual respect for one another, are a definite highlight.
Bacall was nominated for a BAFTA award as Best Lead Actress, while Ron Howard received a nod from the Golden Globes for his supporting role in the film. Both nominations were well-deserved, but The Shootist is John Wayne’s movie, and he delivers a performance that ranks right up there with his turns in Stagecoach, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and The Searchers.
How fitting that in his final performance, Wayne played a man very much like himself: an icon from a bygone era who knows the end is coming, and is going to go out on his own terms. The Shootist is a movie to treasure.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Chicago policeman Jim Brannigan (Wayne) is sent to London to fetch notorious American gangster Ben Larkin (John Vernon), who, with the help of his lawyer Mel Fields (Mel Ferrer), has been hiding out there. Shortly after Brannigan arrives in London, however, Larkin is kidnapped by a pair of goons, who demand a huge ransom for his return.
Teaming up with Commander Sir Charles Swann (Richard Attenborough) of Scotland Yard, Brannigan does what he can to track down the kidnappers and retrieve the missing gangster, all the while dodging a killer (Daniel Pilon) hired by Larkin, who is bound and determined to ensure that Brannigan never gets out of London alive.
As it was with McQ a year earlier, Wayne is a force to be reckoned with in Brannigan. In the opening scene, he confronts a Chicago-based counterfeiter, relying on less-than-legal tactics to coerce information out of him, and when in London Brannigan consistently butts heads with Commander Swann, who objects to the fact that his American counterpart is always packing a gun.
The London setting is also used to great effect, and added an intriguing “fish out of water” element to the story (how ironic that one of the last movies John Wayne, the most American of actors, appeared in was set almost entirely in Jolly Old England). There’s also a great car chase scene that concludes on a partially raised London Bridge (it’s my favorite sequence in the movie).
Along with Wayne’s tough-as-nails title character, Vernon delivers a strong performance as the gangster on the run, while Judy Geeson also shines as Detective Sergeant Jennifer Thatcher, who acts as Brannigan’s partner while he’s in the UK.
Throughout his long and storied career, John Wayne made only two significant cop films, both of in the waning years of his life. And while McQ is undoubtedly the better action film, Brannigan, which also boasts a handful of genuinely funny moments (the best being a barroom fight sequence in which both Brannigan and Swann duke it out with the drunken patrons), is the more entertaining of the two.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Well, I’m happy to report that my fears were unfounded; not only does Wayne do a fine job as the title character, but director John Sturges was also up to the task, telling a damn good story while at the same time delivering a handful of genuine thrills.
When his partner Stan Boyle (William Bryant) is gunned down late one night, Detective Lon McQ (Wayne) makes it his mission to find those responsible. Unfortunately, his superior, Captain Kosterman (Eddie Albert), refuses to let him investigate Boyle’s murder, at which point McQ resigns from the force and joins with Private Eye Pinky Farrell (David Huddleston) so that he can carry out his own investigation.
McQ is convinced that local businessman and suspected drug dealer Manny Santiago (Al Lettieri) is behind Stan’s killing, and supported by Boyle’s widow Lois (Diana Muldaur), McQ gets down to business, coercing information out of his usual contacts while at the same time keeping a close eye on Santiago and his associates.
But there’s more to this case than meets the eye, and as McQ will soon discover, a few crooked cops may be mixed up in it as well!
Even in his ‘60s, Wayne had a commanding screen presence, and it served him well throughout McQ; I fully believed he was not only an active-duty police detective, but also the best man on the whole damn force, and if anyone could get to the bottom of Boyle’s murder it was Wayne’s McQ. Even those scenes in which he mixes it up with the bad guys are effective (upon learning that Boyle was dead, McQ corners Santiago in a restaurant men’s room and pummels him).
Yet as good as Wayne is in the lead role, the real star of McQ is director John Sturges. No stranger to action or excitement (he previously helmed such classics as Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Magnificent Seven, and The Great Escape), Sturges keeps the story moving along at a brisk pace and even delivers not one but two nerve-racking car chases (the first, in which McQ tracks a laundry van he believes is carrying $2 million in stolen drugs, is damn intense, and while I wouldn’t quite put it on par with the chases in Bullitt or The French Connection, it’s not far off either).
Also impressive is the film’s script (written by Lawrence Roman, it features a few clever twists and turns along the way) as well as the supporting cast; along with those already mentioned above, Colleen Dewhurst plays Myra, a drug addict who cozies up to our hero, and Julie Adams appears briefly as McQ’s ex-wife.
Having spent the majority of his film career playing cowboys and soldiers, John Wayne settled into the role of a police detective nicely, and his star power, coupled with Sturges’ penchant for staging quality action scenes, did its part to make McQ a damn fine motion picture.
Rating: 8 out of 10
But this is all just window-dressing, because from the first minute to the last, The Train Robbers belongs to John Wayne.
Lane (Wayne), a former officer in the Union Army, agrees to help the widowed Mrs. Lowe (Ann Margret) retrieve half a million dollars in gold that her late husband and nine of his associates stole from the railroad years earlier. Hoping to clear her husband’s name and make a better life for her son, Mrs. Lowe intends to return the gold to the railroad and claim the $50,000 reward, which she will then turn over to Lane and his associates Jesse (Johnson), Grady (Taylor), Calhoun (George), and Ben (singer Bobby Vinton) as payment for their services.
Unfortunately, some of the bandits who helped Mrs. Lowe’s husband rob that train are still alive, and want their share of the gold. In addition, a mysterious stranger (Ricardo Montalban) has been keeping an eye on Lane, Mrs. Lowe, and the others, following them all the way into Mexico (which is where the late Mr. Lowe stashed the gold).
Story-wise, the set-up for this 1973 western is fairly basic, with the good guys (Lane, Mrs. Lowe, etc) on one side and the bad guys (who never so much as speak) on the other. But while it’s story may seem a tad rudimentary, The Train Robbers remains engaging throughout thanks to star John Wayne, who plays Lane as a man of unwavering principles. He rejects the idea of keeping the gold once they’ve retrieved it, and is a gentleman at every turn in his dealings with pretty widow Mrs. Lowe, even when she hints that she’d like to be more than friends once the ordeal is over (“I have a saddle that’s older than you”, he says when rebuffing her advance).
In addition, Lane is always on top of things, and knows exactly what needs to be done to get the gold and avoid the gunslingers on their tail. Initially, he and Christopher George’s Calhoun don’t hit it off. Lane is convinced that the younger gunman is too hot-headed (Calhoun, who only just met Lane. challenges his orders on several occasions). Before long, however, Calhoun comes to respect Lane, and like Jesse and Grady, who've ridden with Lane for years, he realizes their best chance of survival is doing exactly what the big guy says! Having made a career out of playing strong-willed, savvy characters, Wayne is perfectly at home as the lead in The Train Robbers, and he commands the screen from start to finish.
Both Ben Johnson and (especially) Rod Taylor are excellent as Lane’s old army buddies, as is Ann-Margret as the alluring widow who isn’t afraid to pick up a gun when the need arises. In addition, there’s a story twist right at the end that made me laugh out loud (once it was revealed, I was kinda pissed that the movie was over). But it’s Wayne, and Wayne alone, who carries The Train Robbers to another level, taking what would have otherwise been a routine western and transforming it into a grand adventure.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Montana cattle man Wil Anderson (John Wayne) is left in the lurch when his hired hands get “gold fever” and abandon him right before his big drive. Spurred on by his friend Anse Peterson (Slim Pickens), Anderson recruits local schoolboys to work as drovers on his 400-mile trek across the rugged wilderness. Though skeptical at first, Anderson soon discovers that the youngsters, including Slim (Robert Carradine), Cimarron (A. Martinez), Stuttering Bob (Sean Kelly), and a mess of others, are eager to prove their worth, and feel they are more than ready to help him take his cattle to market.
After the arrival of company cook Jebediah Nightlinger (Roscoe Lee Browne), Anderson and his “cowboys” set out, not realizing that former jail bird Asa Watts (Bruce Dern) and his cronies, who intend to rustle the entire herd away from them, are following close behind.
The Cowboys is, at times, an exciting western, and features an amazing performance by Bruce Dern, whose Asa Watts is one of the most loathsome characters ever to pollute the silver screen (Dern said that, as recently as 2015, he still receives hate mail for his role in this movie). Yet what makes The Cowboys a truly unforgettable motion picture is the relationship that develops between Wayne’s Anderson and the inexperienced schoolboys he hires to accompany him on his months-long journey.
Though he occasionally loses his patience (a scene where he berates Stuttering Bob seems especially harsh), Anderson takes on the role of father figure throughout the movie, ultimately transforming a group of awkward kids into self-reliant young men. Wayne is superb in the lead role, as is Roscoe Lee Browne as the cook who is just as much a mentor to the boys as their employer. And while the last act of The Cowboys has moments that’ll damn near break your heart, the final 20 minutes are as satisfying as they come, and will have you cheering out loud.
The Cowboys is an amazing motion picture.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Union officer Col. Cord McNally (Wayne) is determined to track down a pair of traitors who passed along information to the Confederates, resulting in a gold heist that caused the death of a very good friend.
With the war over, McNally and his former enemy, Confederate Captain Pierre Cordona (Jorge Rivero), head to the small Texas town of Rio Lobo, where they believe the traitors might be hiding out. Instead, they find an entire community gripped with fear, victimized by a wealthy yet mysterious land baron and his corrupt sheriff (Mike Henry).
Still hopeful they will find the traitors, McNally and Cordona also take some time out to help the locals, including Shasta Delaney (Jennifer O’Neill), whose business partner was gunned down by one of the sheriff’s deputies; and Cordona’s former Confederate pal Sgt. Tuscarora Phillips (Christopher Mitchum), who along with his father (Jack Elam) is being forced off his land.
At times, Rio Lobo feels lighthearted, and even gets a little silly. Jack Elam’s drunken escapades, though over-the-top, still manage to generate some laughs, but the ill-conceived “romance” that develops (far too quickly) between Cordona and Shasta never goes anywhere, and results in a few awkward moments.
As for John Wayne, he’s… well, John Wayne! The legendary actor has played characters like McNally dozens of times (if not a hundred) over the course of his career, so he gives us exactly what we expect from him: a strong, brave, honest lead character who never backs down from a fight.
Not to be outdone, the director of Rio Lobo – equally as legendary as its star – kicks things off with a tremendously staged sequence, i.e. a train heist. Carried out during the waning days of the Civil War by Capt. Cordova, Sgt. Phillips, and the rest of their unit, they ride off with a small fortune in gold, only to be chased by Col. McNally and the rest of the Union army. This sequence, as well as the final shoot-out between the good guys and the bad, proved that, even in his mid 70s, Hawks could bring us to the edge of our seats.
So, even if Rio Lobo isn’t the best Hawks / Wayne collaboration, getting a chance to see these two powerhouses team up one last time, and generate a little Hollywood magic in the process, is reason enough to see it.
Rating: 7 out of 10
I agree with Mr. Ebert, but only to a point.
Chisum is, indeed, unlike many John Wayne Westerns in that the Duke, despite playing the title role of John Chisum, is ultimately a secondary character. But while he may not be front and center the entire time, his Chisum, with his no-nonsense demeanor, frontier heroism, and determination to see that justice is carried out regardless of the odds, is a John Wayne character through and through.
John Chisum (Wayne), the most powerful cattle rancher in Lincoln County, New Mexico, is none too happy that entrepreneur L.G. Murphy (Forrest Tucker) has been buying up businesses in the area. Joining forces with fellow cattle baron Henry Tunstall (Patric Knowles), Chisum does what he can to prevent the unscrupulous Murphy from gaining a foothold in the territory.
But it is going to take more than diplomacy to keep the peace, and when Murphy hires notorious gunman Jess Evans (Richard Jaeckel) to protect his interests, Chisum and Tunstall turn to Billy “The Kid” Bonney (Geoffrey Duell) and Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett) for help in what will likely develop into an all-out war.
Many of the characters in Chisum are based on real-life individuals. Chisum, Turnstall, and Murphy were the catalysts of what became known as the 1878 Lincoln County War, a conflict in which Billy the Kid (at the time a protégé of Henry Tunstall’s), Pat Garrett, and many others fought and died. Even Chisum’s niece Sallie, played here by Pamela McMyer, left her mark on history (the real Sallie kept a journal detailing her relationship with both Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett).
Yet despite its reliance of actual events, Chisum is every bit a Hollywood western, complete with drama, action (the final shoot-out is intense), even romance (Sallie falls in love with Billy the Kid, much to her uncle’s dismay). The performances are first-rate, especially Duell’s turn as “The Kid”, who, for a change, is on the right side of the law. In addition to those already mentioned, Christopher George is strong as Dan Nodeen, a bounty hunter with a personal grudge against The Kid, and Andrew Prine is effective as Easterner Alexander McSween, who accepts a job with Murphy only to quit so he can work for Chisum and Turnstall instead.
As for John Wayne, he may not have been the focal point of Chisum (I’d bet money Geoffrey Duell’s Billy the Kid has more screen time), but the legendary actor definitely makes his presence known. His various confrontations with Tucker’s Murphy are among the film’s most memorable scenes.
A thrilling, engaging take on a key moment in American history, Chisum is a western that fans of the genre will definitely enjoy.
Rating: 8.5 out of 10