Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
Afflicted with a terminal illness John Bernard Books, the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler. Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow and her son. However, it is not Books' fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle.
John Wayne's swan song is elevated chiefly by its performances — Wayne delivers one of his finest and most self-aware turns, supported by a sterling cast including Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, and James Stewart. The ending carries genuine emotional weight, functioning as both a character resolution and a poignant farewell to Wayne himself and the Western genre. The plot follows a familiar elegiac Western structure without great surprise, and the cinematography is competent but unexceptional. Novelty is moderate — the dying-gunfighter theme had precedents, but the autobiographical resonance and Wayne's real-life cancer diagnosis give it a singular gravity that lifts it above mere formula.