The Shootist

Starring:John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian, Bill McKinney, Harry Morgan, John Carradine, Sheree North, Rick Lenz, Scatman Crothers, Gregg Palmer, Alfred Dennis, Dick Winslow, Melody Thomas Scott, Kathleen O'Malley, Johnny Crawford, Ricky Nelson, Christopher George
Director: Don Siegel
Studio: Paramount
Product Type: DVD

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The last film of John Wayne could not have been more fitting, full of details that can't help but make one reflect upon his legacy in the movies and his life as a star. Wayne plays a career gunfighter in the autumn of his life, trying to hang up his pistols after he discovers he's dying of cancer. Boarding in the house of an attractive widow (Lauren Bacall) and her son (Ron Howard), Wayne's character opts for peace in his final days but is dogged by his reputation when a handful of killers seeks him out for a final fight. Howard is fine as a fatherless boy who needs the strong mentor the hero represents, and James Stewart--who costarred with Wayne in the great Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--plays the doctor who gives the big man the bad news. Don Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) thoughtfully directs a very special and sensitive production. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Wayne's Last is Just Right as a Goodbye andThank You to His Fans.......2007-05-27

I noticed some similarities between the Shootist and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. In both, elder Hollywood statesmen reflect upon their contributions to the Western genre while commenting on the characters and personas they've created. Older men grown wise and introspective in changing times. In both, the protagonist is an aging cowboy with a very violent dissolute past. In both, the man reflects on the mayhem and trajedy he has caused others and says, "I was wrong, I guess, that's what other people tell me & maybe they're right. Easy for them to say. They weren't there & its all in the past anyway and now I'm just a tired old man waiting to die. Anyway, I'm not me so much as what others have decided I am." Wayne's character is actually dying and his gruff frightened dignity is by turns pathetic and inspiring. Easily his most touching performance in its self-examination. Wayne battled cancer and other serious health problems as early as the late 50's. He was no stranger to pain, fear and suffering and the Shootist is a fat, tired, sick old man saying, "I really was someone, I made a difference and I know it, right or wrong, and noone can take that away from me. Now it's my turn to say goodbye and thanks." Lauren Bacall & James Stewart lend dignity to the proceedings for Wayne just as Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman and Richard Harris did so for Eastwood.

Simplistic yet warm, and full of action.......2007-03-09

Not quite the typical John Wayne wins-in-the-end movie; the main character is dying from the start. So he "wins" by wrapping up a couple of loose ends in his life and by forming a "family" with the widow who runs the boarding house and her son. Its weakness is that most of the "good" he does is too superficial to be convincing.

The last John Wayne.......2007-02-12

This is a very good John Wayne movie, but rather sad as he was really going through a similar fate as the lead character in the movie. A must for the John Wayne fan!

John Wayne's Last.......2007-02-05

The Shootist is the last film of John Wayne, but its also an end of an era. The end of the John Wayne legend and his style of western

Wayne plays an aging gunfighter (J.B. Books) who is dying of cancer. He wants to spends his last days looking for a way to die with a minimum of pain and a maximum of dignity.He wants his last gunfight, rather than cancer. It is 1901, so the American West is dying, as Books is..it is growing civilized and has no need for the gunfighters/the shootist of old.

The supporting cast of this film is first rate. Such talent as James Stewart, Laurel Bacall, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brien,Harry Morgan, Scatman Crothers, John Caradine and Ron Howard assist Wayne in this last film.

the film is directed by Don Siegal, who directed many of Clint Eastwood's hits including Dirty Harry, Two mules for Sister Sarah, and Coogan's Bluff. It is part tribute to the Wayne Legend and part western

Is it worth getting? YES. To me it is a classic western more than Wayne's Searchers is, just like the Good, the Bad & the Ugly is to me

Bennet Pomerantz, AUDIOWORLD

What Way To Go Out.......2007-02-03

As somebody who loves westerns, it's impossible for me not to be a huge fan of John Wayne (especially his westerns).

At the time this film was made, John's best work was clearly behind him. In fact, he had just come off of making a couple of tough-guy detective movies which, while I enjoyed them, weren't universally praised.

The Shootist was Wayne's last film and what a film it was.

Like the Wild Bunch and Monte Walsh, one of the themes of this film deals with the idea of the fading west of the 1860's to 1880's and how older. legendary and non-legendary characters of the west have to adapt to the changing times.

In the Shootist, Wayne plays an aging gunfighter, J. B Books who rides into 1901 Carson City. He immediately goes to see an old doctor friend - played by another screen legend, Jimmy Stewart, who informs him that the pain Books feels in his lower back is, in fact, cancer and that he doesn't have long to live.

Book's reputation proceeds him and needless to say, there are individuals who want to earn an instant reputation as the man who killed famed shootist JB Books.

The entire movie revolves around the days that he resides in Lauren Bacall's rooming house and preparing for his death.

I loved this movie from the earliest moments of the film when a montage of scenes of previous Wayne films was played depicting the life of JB Books right up to the final gunfight in the Acme Saloon.

This movie is so good on so many levels.

I always thought that John Wayne was significantly underated as an actor. In this film, he plays the dying man with a wonderful sense of dignity. His interaction with the Widow Bacall was very enjoyable to watch.

And there were some good scenes with Scatman Crothers - Ron Howard, who plays Bacall's son and who knows all about the legendary Books. Harry Morgan, who plays the town's sherrif, can't wait to see Books dead - after all it's now 1901 and the west is changing and Morgan doesn't need to have his peaceful town shattered by other gunfighters wanting to claim the trophy known as JB Books.

What a movie to go out on.

Rest in peace, John, and thanks for countless hours of entertainment.

The John Wayne Western Collection (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / True Grit / Hondo / McLintock! / Big Jake / The Shootist / Rio Lobo / The Sons of Katie Elder / El Dorado)

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The John Wayne Western Collection (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance / True Grit / Hondo / McLintock! / Big Jake / The Shootist / Rio Lobo / The Sons of Katie Elder / El Dorado)
Starring: John Wayne , James Stewart , John Ford , Vera Miles , and Lee Marvin
Director: John Farrow , Howard Hawks , and Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B000O179GS
Release Date: 2007-05-22

John Wayne DVD Gift Set (The Shootist/ The Sons of Katie Elder/ True Grit/ El Dorado/ The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)

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Great Classics
Great Set!!!!
DVD
Speedy Delivery
If you like John Wayne

John Wayne DVD Gift Set (The Shootist/ The Sons of Katie Elder/ True Grit/ El Dorado/ The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)
Starring: John Wayne , Lauren Bacall , Ron Howard , James Stewart , and Richard Boone
Director: Don Siegel , and Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
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McLintock! (Authentic Collector's Edition)

ASIN: B00006674Y
Release Date: 2002-05-14

Description

Legendary producer-director Howard Hawks teams with two equally legendary stars, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, in this classic Western drama. Mitchum plays to perfection an alcoholic but gutsy sheriff who relentlessly battles the dark side of the wild West, ruthless cattle barons and crooked "businessmen." The Duke gives an equally adept performance as the sheriff's old friend who knows his way around a gunfight. Filled with brawling action and humor, El Dorado delivers the goods. James Caan and Ed Asner co-star. Ranking with Stagecoach as one of the greatest of its genre, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is the modern-day Western to beat all Westerns. John Ford, whose very name is synonymous with "Westerns," directed the ideal cast. Jimmy Stewart plays the bungling but charming big-city lawyer determined to rid the fair village of Shinbone of its number one nuisance and Bad Man: Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). And as if all that weren't enough, the biggest star that ever aimed a six-shooter plays the Man of the title: John Wayne. Super-sincere Stewart and rugged rancher Wayne also share the same love interest (Vera Miles). One gets the gunman but the other gets the gal. Afflicted with a terminal illness, John Bernard Brooks (John Wayne), the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart). Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow (Lauren Bacall) and her son (Ron Howard). However, it is not Brook's fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle. Katie Elder bore four sons. The day she is buried they all return home to Clearwater, Texas, to pay their last respects. John Wayne is the eldest and toughest son, the gunslinger. Tom (Dean Martin) is good with a deck of cards and good with a gun when he has to be. Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one - nobody ever called him yellow...twice. Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.) is the youngest. Any hope for respectability lies with him. Directed by Henry Hathaway (True Grit), an acknowledged master of the Western, the story has a dual theme: not only is this a he-man's story, but it is also a drama of the maternal influence of Katie Elder, movingly portrayed from beginning to conclusion. In 1970, John Wayne won an Academy Award. for his larger-than-life performance as the drunken, uncouth and totally fearless one-eyed U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. The cantankerous Rooster is hired by a headstrong young girl (Kim Darby) to find the man who murdered her father and fled with the family savings. When Cogburn's employer insists on accompanying the old gunfighter, sparks fly. And the situation goes from troubled to disastrous when an inexperienced but enthusiastic Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) joins the party. Laughter and tears punctuate the wild action in this extraordinary Western which features performances by Robert Duvall and Strother Martin.

Customer Reviews:

Great Classics.......2007-03-31

I bought this as a gift. My brother in law loved it and so did I, since I asked to borrow them so I can see them too!

Great Set!!!!.......2007-03-26

There are many John Wayne box sets out there, this is THE one to have. These are, in my opinion, some of his best movies. This set is a great set for the John Wayne fan. Great picture and sound quality, and really cool extras also.

DVD.......2007-01-25

This was a gift for my son. He seemed realy please about it. I am very satisfied

Speedy Delivery.......2007-01-20

Amazon delivered this Christmas Gift in lightening speed time. I feel confident ordering from Amazon again. I cannot review the movies for obvious reasons but everything looked fine on delivery. Great Web Site!

If you like John Wayne.......2007-01-11

If you like the movies this is an excellent set to buy

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The Sons of Katie Elder / The Shootist
Starring: John Wayne , Lauren Bacall , Ron Howard , James Stewart , and Richard Boone
Director: Don Siegel , and Henry Hathaway
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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The John Wayne Collection, Vol. II (Big Jake / The Shootist / The Sons of Katie Elder)

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Better Collection Than The First Three..............
Three great movies.
FOUR VERY GOOD FILMS
Worthy

The John Wayne Collection, Vol. II (Big Jake / The Shootist / The Sons of Katie Elder)
Starring: John Wayne
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
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ASIN: B00008CMR8
Release Date: 2003-04-29

Amazon.com

The Sons of Katie Elder
John Wayne recovered from his first bout with cancer to appear in this 1965 film as the brother of Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, and Michael Anderson Jr. All four characters are wandering souls prone to trouble, but after the funeral of their frontier mother, they set out to avenge her death. Directed by Henry Hathaway (Wayne's director on True Grit), the film moves like a conventional, latter-day Western, with good performances from Wayne and Martin, who'd already costarred with the Duke in Howard Hawks's Rio Bravo. Nice support from Dennis Hopper (who had a legendary conflict with Hathaway on this film), Strother Martin, and George Kennedy. --Tom Keogh

Big Jake
Big Jake (1969) is not one of the Duke's classics, but a diverting attempt nonetheless. Everyone seems to think that Jacob McCandles is six feet under ("I thought you was dead" is a running line throughout), so some bad men kidnap his grandson. They want a piece of the family fortune and will kill to get it. Patrick Wayne, the Duke's own son, plays one of Big Jake's kids, and together they start out after the boy's abductors. Richard Boone makes a worthy adversary to Jake's larger-than-life figure, and the final confrontation between the two contains some great gritted-teeth dialogue. Maureen O'Hara is barely in the feature, sharing the same fate as Bobby Vinton as the boy's father. He seems to be onscreen just to get shot. --Keith Simanton

The Shootist
The last film of John Wayne could not have been more fitting, full of details that can't help but make one reflect upon his legacy in the movies and his life as a star. Wayne plays a career gunfighter in the autumn of his life, trying to hang up his pistols after he discovers he's dying of cancer. Boarding in the house of an attractive widow (Lauren Bacall) and her son (Ron Howard), Wayne's character opts for peace in his final days but is dogged by his reputation when a handful of killers seeks him out for a final fight. Howard is fine as a fatherless boy who needs the strong mentor the hero represents, and James Stewart--who costarred with Wayne in the great Man Who Shot Liberty Valance--plays the doctor who gives the big man the bad news. Don Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) thoughtfully directs a very special and sensitive production. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews:

Better Collection Than The First Three.....................2007-03-10

The Shootist at least had the extra features and interviews the other DVD's are lacking. Such a shame, so much more could be added to the other DVD's in this collection as well as the 1st volume. You will have to love them on the movies alone........

Three great movies........2006-06-19

The three DVDs have no extras besides the one feature on The Shootist so I will focus on the movies:

The Sons of Katie Elder has two huge stars, John Wayne and Dean Martin, as the two eldest of the Elders. Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson star as the two younger Elder brothers. All four sons come back to town of Clearwater, Texas, to see her buried and pay their respects. The story is about a broken family trying to find peace but also four sons trying to find out who had killed their father and made their mother move from the family's land. Lots of gun fights but also lots of humor between the four brothers.

Big Jake has two stars who are the main focus of the movie. Of course there is John Wayne as Big Jake and then there is Richard Boone as the head of an outlaw gang who has kidnapped Little Jake, Jake's grandson. Richard Boone would show up in a few of John Wayne's films. There is a lot of humor in this movie but the gun fights are also bloody and dark. Maureen O'Hara is in the first act as his wife he hasn't seen in 18 years.

The Shootist is the last film John Wayne would be in and the 69th Western he made. Tons of star power. Richard Boone, James Stewart, Laurea Bacall, Ron Howard, Bill McKinney, John Carradine, Harry Morgan. Hugh O'Brian and more. The story, based on a book by the same title, is about a gunslinger who finds out his days are numbered and he tries to find peace during his final hours. The character of John Bernard Books, played by the ill and tired John Wayne, really comes out as realistic (maybe because John Wayne knew his days were short also). The film is well crafted and one of the first John Wayne movies I ever saw. From the start with the black and white clippings of Wayne movies that act as a background, a history, of the shootist's life to the scene of Ron Howard walking away from the last gunfight everything is set carefully into place like a lovely puzzle. Some of the lines in the movie, many copied right out of the book, sound like wishful echoes of a time long gone.

This three movies are a must for any Western collection.

FOUR VERY GOOD FILMS.......2005-08-09

This second volume in the John Wayne collection features three more later Duke Westerns. While none may be classics, they are all very good and still show the presence that Wayne had towards the end of his career.

Sons of Katie Elder (1965) re-unites Wayne with his Rio Bravo co-star DEan Martin. These two buddies had great chemistry together. They, along with Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson play the four sons of Katie Elder who return home to attend their mother's funeral and to find out why she was driven off her land. James Gregory plays the no-good baddie and George kennedy is the gunfighter hired to run John Elder (Wayne) off.

Big Jake (1971) is one of my all-time favorite Wayne pictures as its the final time he would co-star with Maureen O' Hara. It's also quite violent as the film opens with a band of outlaws led by Richard Boone who come to the McCandles ranch and kidnap Big Jake's (Wayne) grandson. Jake has been estranged from his family for a number of years but his wife (O'Hara) sends for him to come home to help find the little boy. He's joined by his two sons James (Real life son patrick) and Michael (Chris Mitchum) and an old indian buddy played by frequent Wayne co-star, Bruce Cabot. Wayne interplay with his two sons is a blast and Boone was a great villian.

The Shootist (1976) was sadly Wayne's last film as it mirrored his own life. He played an aging gunfighter named J.B. Brooks who finds out he has cancer and not long to live. Jimmy Stewart co-stars with Wayne re-uniting these two who starred in the classic "Man who Shot Liberty Valance". The great cast also includes Ron Howard, Lauren Bacall, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian, Harry Morgan and John Carradine. It's a good film but very sad to watch as Wayne would finally pass away not long after.

Very good set overall.

Worthy.......2005-06-01

First of all, in "The Sons of Katie Elder", it is obviously still a wild wild west and so "Katie Elder" of this movie cannot be the relatively well-known frontier figure, "Big Nose Kate" Elder, Doc Holliday's girlfriend. (If you don't know who Doc is, you're in the wrong genre). Still, she must have been quite a gal as her oldest son (Wayne) is in his late 50s and looks it and his youngest (Michael Andreson, Jr) is in his 20s (but plays it younger). It's a decent tale of revenge with Wayne in a typical larger-than-life role though he was secretly sickly at the time. The other two flicks are more worth the ride. "The Shootist" portrayal might have even been Oscar-worthy in another year in a story of a dying gunfighter who faces a final challenge with three baddies. The character study includes standout performances in small roles by the ever-sexy Sheree North (in middle age), Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, Jimmy Stewart and other well-known faces from Westerns. Richard Boone and TV's "Wyatt Earp", Hugh O'Brian, are two of the gunslicks in a memorable saloon shootout. Richard Boone had also been the chief bad guy in "Big Jake" where Wayne's grandson (in real life his young son Ethan) had been kidnapped from the care of his ex (Maureen O'Hara) for ransom. Son Patrick Wayne also appears, along with Wayne friend Bruce Cabot, and a dog named "Dog" who only has to have Big Jake call his name to cow an offensive person with an impatient threatening growl. All in all, a good package of Duke stuff.

The John Wayne Collection (El Dorado, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Shootist, The Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit)

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The John Wayne Collection (El Dorado, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Shootist, The Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit)
Starring: John Wayne , Dean Martin , Martha Hyer , Michael Anderson Jr. , and Earl Holliman
Director: Henry Hathaway , and Howard Hawks
Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Wayne's Last is Just Right as a Goodbye andThank You to His Fans
Simplistic yet warm, and full of action
The last John Wayne
John Wayne's Last
What Way To Go Out

The Shootist [Region 2]
Starring: John Wayne , Lauren Bacall , Ron Howard , James Stewart , and Richard Boone
Director: Don Siegel
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Customer Reviews:

Wayne's Last is Just Right as a Goodbye andThank You to His Fans.......2007-05-27

Simplistic yet warm, and full of action.......2007-03-09

The last John Wayne.......2007-02-12

This is a very good John Wayne movie, but rather sad as he was really going through a similar fate as the lead character in the movie. A must for the John Wayne fan!

John Wayne's Last.......2007-02-05

What Way To Go Out.......2007-02-03

John Wayne DVD Collection - Amazon.com Exclusive (10-Disc Set)

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Awesome If it Were Available for Purchase!
Most Complete Boxed Wayne Collection a 'Must'...

John Wayne DVD Collection - Amazon.com Exclusive (10-Disc Set)
Starring: Rodolfo Acosta , Sheldon Allman , Michael Anderson Jr. , John Doucette , and Paul Fix
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ASIN: B0009XLDY0
Release Date: 2005-08-30

Amazon.com

John Wayne gave his first complex performance in a Paramount picture: 1941's Shepherd of the Hills, a quirky Ozark "Western" directed by Henry Hathaway, who 28 years later would shepherd the Duke to his Oscar in True Grit. It's somehow appropriate, then, that most of the notable films of the star's final two decades were produced and/or released under Paramount's aegis--something borne out proprietarily by the overall high quality of this largest-yet collection of his work.

Might as well get the soft spots out of the way. There are two, both directorial swan songs. Big Jake (1971) is credited to George Sherman, who used to direct Wayne in Republic's "Three Mesquiteers" series in the late '30s; however, biographers agree that Wayne himself pretty much took over. It's a scrappy affair, with Wayne and Maureen O'Hara briefly reunited one last time, then Wayne and old stalwart Bruce Cabot heading into the badlands to rescue a missing grandson from outlaws. Rio Lobo (1970) is better--but more seriously disappointing in that it was the final film from Howard Hawks, the giant who had made Red River, Rio Bravo, and El Dorado. There's a thrillingly spare main-title sequence, and a terrific Civil War commando assault on a Union train (largely the work of ace second-unit director Yakima Canutt). But once the story jumps to the postwar, with Wayne's Yankee officer and his former Rebel foes making common cause to clean up a Southwest bordertown, Hawks and Wayne run afoul of feeble costars, a ragged script, and dismayingly slipshod camerawork.

So much for the downside. Among the eight other very satisfying titles, let's focus first on what, for many, will be the real discovery of this collection. Otto Preminger's In Harm's Way, a fine 1965 film that never got its just deserts, features an excellent Wayne performance that sounds notes unheard anywhere else in his career. The ultraliberal director and the ultraconservative star made a political odd couple, but they got along great as fellow pros. Preminger's studiedly cool, objective style set a tone unlike any Wayne had worked in before, and the actor rewarded his director with a beautifully low-key study of a career Navy officer whose personal and professional lives have been filled with disappointment. Set in the Pacific theater of World War II and shot in lustrous Panavision black and white, this intelligent epic focuses on commanders rather than combat. Its large cast (Kirk Douglas, Henry Fonda, Burgess Meredith, Dana Andrews) includes Patricia Neal as a Navy nurse of a certain age to whom Wayne's character credibly warms. But the best, sometimes startling moments involve his encounters with long-estranged son Brandon De Wilde.

The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), a typically solid Western from director Henry Hathaway, was the Duke's welcome-back vehicle after his initial bout with cancer. That shadow would return, of course, and in Donald Siegel's The Shootist (1976), which became Wayne's final film, the star plays a legendary gunfighter dying of cancer on the cusp of the 20th century. The movie begins with a montage of images from "John Bernard Books"'s violent career--i.e., clips from classic Wayne Westerns--and surrounds the star with an aptly valedictory supporting cast: James Stewart (clearly anguished at the real-life parallel), John Carradine, Big Jake adversary Richard Boone, and Lauren Bacall (who'd watched cancer take another legend two decades earlier).

Hatari! (1962) finds Wayne vigorously in charge of a crew that catches wild animals on the African veldt. Director Howard Hawks had his cast--Red Buttons, Hardy Kruger, Gérard Blain, Bruce Cabot, et al.--do the actual catching, as Russell Harlan's integral camerawork bears out time and again. Hawks admirer François Truffaut took Hatari!, with its easygoing alternation of scenes with the on-location "family" at work and play, as Hawks's metaphor for the joys of moviemaking. A comparable spirit informs John Ford's Donovan's Reef (1963), a very broad comedy about an extended family of World War II veterans who've found paradise on the Pacific island where they fought in wartime. Kauai supplies the unimpeachably paradisaical setting.

Happily, Hawks and Ford--Wayne's most important directors--are also each represented in the collection with a late-career masterpiece. El Dorado (1967) is carelessly discounted as Hawks's self-plagiarizing remake of the 1959 Rio Bravo--and since Rio Bravo (not in this collection) has a place on the movies' All-Time Ten Best list, that's understandable. But El Dorado is a highly self-aware revisit by a director and star acutely conscious of being eight years closer to mortality, from which they wrest heroic, often gloriously comic, poetry. James Caan, a Hawks discovery in the 1965 Red Line 7000, is excellent as the young vagabond who thinks he's hipper than the old crocks he's fallen in with (a brilliant case of Hawks making Pirandellian magic out of his performers' own personalities); Wayne and Robert Mitchum (in "the Dean Martin part") are both superb; and Christopher George, not much of an actor in other circumstances, has his finest career moment as a gunslinger who's every bit the man Wayne or Mitchum is, but has picked the wrong side.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) is famously the film with the line "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend." Some take that as a credo for John Ford and the rationale for (or rationalization of) the director's mythmaking career. But Ford deconstructed myths as much as he celebrated them, and Liberty Valance--framed with allusions to Wayne's 1939 starmaking vehicle Stagecoach, and blatantly passing off the aged Wayne and James Stewart as younger men--is his most reflective meditation on the genre where he reigned supreme, and what the westward march of Progress had brought to the "cactus Eden." Lee Marvin never etched a more malevolent portrait than the title role here. The cumulative power of this movie, over its two-hour running time and every year since its release, is awesome.

A wonderful/rueful running gag in El Dorado involves the Edgar Allan Poe line "Ride, boldly ride" being mangled by toupee-wearer Wayne into "Ride, baldy, ride." Two years later, in True Grit, Wayne put the joke in italics by donning an eyepatch and several inches of girth to play cantankerous territorial marshal Rooster Cogburn. Critics belatedly noticed that he could be a marvelously entertaining actor, and Hollywood finally gave him the Oscar they'd failed to nominate him for in Red River, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, The Quiet Man, The Searchers, et al. But make no mistake: True Grit is a splendid movie, with lovingly textured storytelling and sturdy characters, Henry Hathaway's finest high-country action set-pieces, intoxicatingly ornate frontier language, and a couple of formidable bad guys (Jeff Corey's Tom Cheney and Robert Duvall's "Lucky" Ned Pepper). It's a compliment to say that, from a technical standpoint, the movie could have been made any time in Hathaway's 40-year career, yet its feeling for the reality of violence ceded no ground to The Wild Bunch, released around the same time. Still, the film's most sublime passage falls between bursts of gunplay: Rooster sitting on a hilltop at night recounting his life story, as John Wayne metamorphoses ineluctably into W.C. Fields. --Richard T. Jameson

Description

The John Wayne 10 pack consists of these John Wayne classics - True Grit, Rio Lobo, El Dorado, Donavan's Reef, In Harm's Way, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Big Jake, The Shootist, and Hatari!

Here's a small description of each title -

True Grit: John Wayne earned the 1969 "Best Actor" Academy Award for this larger-than life performance as the drunken, uncouth and totally fearless one-eyed U.S. Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. Rooster is hired by a headstrong young girl (Kim Darby) to find a mind who murdered her father and fled with the family savings. When Rooster's employer insists on accompanying the old gunfighter, sparks fly. And the situation goes from troubled to disastrous when the inexperienced Texas Ranger (Glen Campbell) joins the party. Laughter and tears punctuate the wild action in this extraordinary Western which also features performances by Robert Duvall and Strother Martin.

Rio Lobo: A classic action-filled John Wayne Western is set into motion with a spectacular robbery of a Union pay train by Confederate guerillas. The train's colonel (Wayne) jails the enemy leaders (Jorge Rivero, Chris Mitchum) but the three men later become friends when the war ends. Together they seek the Union traitors responsible for a string of Confederate train robberies, a mission that culminates in a rousing shoot-'em-up finale.

El Dorado: Legendary producer-director Howard Hawks teams with two equally legendary stars, John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, in this classic Western drama. Mitchum plays to perfection an alcoholic but gutsy sheriff who relentlessly battles the dark side of the Wild West, ruthless cattle barons and crooked "businessman." The DUKE gives an equally adept performance as the sheriff's old friend who knows his way around a gunfight. Filled with brawling action and humor, El Dorado delivers the goods. James Caan and Ed Asner co-star.

Donavan's Reef: Acclaimed director John Ford and screen legend John Wayne team up for what would be their final collaboration in this boisterous, rowdy South Seas escapade. The DUKE, Lee Marvin and Jack Warden play WWII navy buddies who have made the French Polynesian island of Haleakaloha their post-war paradise. Local headquarters is Donavan's Reef, Wayne's rough-and-tumble watering hole where bragging, brawling, and full-blown misbehavior are the order of the day. But destined to create more turmoil than any barroom fisticuffs is the sudden arrival of Elizabeth Allen, a straight-laced Boston blue blood. She's hoping to locate her long-estranged father (Warden), affirm that he is "not of good moral character," and then assume control of the family's shipping dynasty back home in the States. Suave, debonair Cesar Romero and a sarong-clad Dorothy Lamour add to the laughs - and mayhem - in this tropical comedy treat.

In Harm's Way: Producer - Director Otto Preminger's epic treatment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor details the devastating attack on the Hawaiian naval base as well as the explosive, behind the scenes stories. An awesome cast - including John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Patricia Neal, Henry Fonda, Carroll O'Connor, Burgess Meredith, Paula Prentiss, Dana Andrews and host of other notables - is interwoven into this account of the attack itself, as well as into the triumphs and tragedies of disobeyed orders, the American counter-offensive, father-son reunions, battles at sea, and layers of romantic entanglements. It's a story that's been told and re-told, but perhaps never so completely.

The Sons of Katie Elder: Katie Elder bore four sons. The day she is buried they all return home to Clearwater, Texas, to pay their last respects. John Wayne is the eldest and toughest son, the gunslinger. Tom (Dean Martin) is good with a deck of cards and good with a gun when he has to be. Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one - nobody ever called him yellow...twice. Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.) is the youngest. Any hope for respectability lies with him.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: Ranking with Stagecoach as one of the greatest of its genre, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is the modern-day Western to beat all Westerns. John Ford, whose very name is synonymous with "Westerns," directed the ideal cast. Jimmy Stewart plays the bungling but charming big-city lawyer determined to rid the fair village of Shinbone of its number one nuisance and bad man: Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin). And as if all that weren't enough, the biggest star that ever aimed a six-shooter plays the man of the title: John Wayne. Super-sincere Stewart and rugged rancher Wayne also share the same love interest (Vera Miles). One gets the gunman but the other gets the gal.

Big Jake: In this action-filled Western, John Wayne stars as Big Jake McCandles, a husband who hasn't seen his wife (Maureen O'Hara) in over 18 years. But he returns home after his grandson is kidnapped by a vicious outlaw gang. While the law gives chase in rickety automobiles, Jake saddles up with an Indian scout (Bruce Cabot) and a box of money - even though paying a ransom isn't how Jake plans to exact good old frontier justice. Spiced with humor and first-class gunfights, this is a vivid depiction of the last days of the wild frontier.

The Shootist: Afflicted with a terminal illness, John Bernard Brooks (John Wayne), the last of the legendary gunfighters, quietly returns to Carson City for medical attention from his old friend Dr. Hostetler (James Stewart). Aware that his days are numbered, the troubled man seeks solace and peace in a boarding house run by a widow (Lauren Becall) and her son (Ron Howard). However, it is not Brooks' fate to die in peace, as he becomes embroiled in one last valiant battle.

Hatari!: Director Howard Hawks re-teams with John Wayne, who heads up a group of highly skilled professional game hunters in Africa. Only they don't use bullets - they capture the ferocious big game with strong ropes and cameras for zoos and circus attractions. It is an exciting, death-defying business that pits man against beast. "Hatari!" means "danger!" in Swahili, but Hatari! also means a spectacular adventure film.

Customer Reviews:

Awesome If it Were Available for Purchase!.......2006-01-17

I wish this were available for purchase. RE-visited this site several times in the past month or so and still not available. This collection is the best of all the JW weterns. Hopefully, AMAZON will figure out a way to put it up for sale again!!!!

BG

Most Complete Boxed Wayne Collection a 'Must'..........2005-07-10

I love John Wayne movies, and I love Amazon's dedication to offer the most for your dollar, so this Exclusive, to me, is the best of both worlds! While several 'signature' Wayne films (the Ford 'Cavalry' trilogy, in particular), are absent, and other 'classics' can be purchased individually, or in other boxed sets, this John Wayne DVD collection offers 10 of the Duke's most memorable films of the 60s and 70s...at less than $10, each! Talk about getting your money's worth!

The titles include:

"El Dorado" and "Rio Lobo": Howard Hawks' two variations of his classic, "Rio Bravo", all starring Wayne. "El Dorado", in particular, is a most worthy 'remake', offering Robert Mitchum in a wonderful comic send-up of the Dean Martin role, James Caan more entertaining than Ricky Nelson, and Arthur Hunnicutt, complete with bugle, filling Walter Brennan's shoes. Add Ed Asner as the villain, and Duke, standing tall (even while carrying a bullet inside him), and you have a first-rate actioner. While "Rio Lobo" is a disappointment (both Wayne and Hawks were sadly showing their years), it does offer the gorgeous (if wooden) Jennifer O'Neill, future studio boss Sherry Lansing, and Mitchum's son, Chris (along with an unbilled appearance by Wayne's youngest son, Ethan), in support.

"Hatari!": One of the BEST Hawks/Wayne teamings, this vastly entertaining African comedy/adventure may be the longest 'Buddy' film ever made, at 157 minutes, but Wayne, with all-star support including Hardy Krüger, Elsa Martinelli, and Red Buttons, makes capturing wild animals for zoos and circuses an irresistable experience!

"The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance": John Ford's last 'Classic' western, a deconstruction of the mythic West that he and Wayne helped create. Equal parts comedy and tragedy, with a healthy dose of old-fashioned politics, as Jimmy Stewart achieves national acclaim by shooting town bully Lee Marvin...an act actually done by Wayne! "When people prefer the myth to the truth, print the myth" is a credo Ford believed in, and this film is it's purest embodiment. A MUST!

"Donovan's Reef": Ford and Wayne, teamed again with Lee Marvin, in a delightful South Seas romp, as prim Elizabeth Allen learns to 'loosen up' under Wayne's brawny charms (forget the 27-year age difference!) Brawling fun, with Jack Warden, Cesar Romero, and saronged Dorothy Lamour in support.

"The Sons of Katie Elder": Most significant as being Wayne's triumphant return to the screen after losing a lung to cancer, this sprawling Henry Hathaway-directed western reteams Duke with Dean Martin (as BROTHERS?), in an entertaining tale of four brothers' vengeance; with a flavorful Elmer Bernstein score.

"True Grit": Hathaway directs Wayne to an Oscar, as one-eyed Rooster Cogburn. An underappreciated gem (Duke playing an old, fat reprobate upset many fans), but he has a ball in the role, and few of his films captured the 'feel' of the period, better!

"In Harm's Way": Otto Preminger and Wayne made a great team, in the director's HUGE saga of Pearl Harbor, and the early days of the Pacific war. No superhuman heroics, here, just a dedicated Naval officer (Wayne), his relationships (with Patricia Neal, Brandon De Wilde, and a superb Kirk Douglas), and his part in helping turn the tide of the war.

"Big Jake": Violent, but engrossing late western, as Duke's grandson (played by son Ethan) is kidnapped by Richard Boone's gang, and his estranged wife (radiant Maureen O'Hara, in her last teaming), depends on him to recover the boy. Featuring another Wayne son, Patrick, Robert Mitchum's son, Chris, and MANY of the old John Ford 'stock company' in support; at times quite brutal, but still one of Wayne's best 'late' films.

"The Shootist": Wayne's swansong is a loving tribute, despite the many difficulties his declining health caused. A legendary gunfighter must choose between dying from cancer or in a blaze of glory; from the wonderful opening montage of Wayne clips from several of his most popular westerns, to the bittersweet conclusion, a fitting film finale, with several 'old friends' in supporting roles.

Bravo, Amazon! You've done it right!

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Ein Hund namens Beethoven and Eine Familie namens Beethoven