In The Shootist (1976), John Wayne played J. B. Books, an ageing gunfighter who learns he has terminal cancer and rents a room in Carson City, where he faces his past and chooses how he will die. Directed by Don Siegel, the film follows Books as he deals with his landlady, played by Lauren Bacall, her son, and old enemies who come to challenge him.
Wayne gave Books a quiet, dignified farewell. He was a man who had lived by the gun and who now sought a dignified end, and the film, which opened with clips from Wayne’s earlier westerns, became a moving coda to his career. It was Wayne’s final film.
The Shootist remains a signature Wayne role because it was his last, and because Books’ farewell mirrored Wayne’s own: a legend facing the end with courage and grace.