Great interview! Makes me want to pull the film out again and give it a watch. I've read the book and the endings are totally different. I'm glad they did change it for the film. I've also read The Last Shootist, and thought it a very good read as well. It was a seamless continuation of the first book. Thanks for sharing this, Kevin.
Mark
That is a really cool picture. That type of glimpse back in time is one of the things I love about the opening of The Shootist. The using of clips from Duke's past movies as showing the progression of J.B. Book's past was pure genius!
Mark
That must have been really cool, Bill. Did you take any pictures? Has it changed much? It has been 30 years or so. I envy you all the same.
Mark
I'll have to admit, Tbone, that I was puzzled by this post. I don't remember any vulgar language in The Shootist. Maybe I'm desensitized by the cussing in so many movies of today that I don't notice it in older films. I'll have to watch The Shootist again to see what you mean.
I know that he addressed the use of profanity in his Playboy interview when asked:
Quote
Playboy: Audiences may like your kind of violence on the screen, but they'd never heard profanity in a John Wayne movie until "True Grit". Why did you finally decide to use such earthly language in a film?
Wayne: In my other pictures, we've had an explosion or something go off when a bad word was said. This time we didn't. It's profanity, all right, but I doubt if there's anybody in the United States who hasn't heard the expression son of a bitch or bastard. We felt it was acceptable in this instance, At the emotional high point in that particular picture, I felt it was ok to use it. It would have been pretty hard to say, "you illegitimate sons of so-and-so! "
So, I guess he may have felt that it was appropriate for the scenes in The Shootist. I've never read anywhere about him having an issue with it. He just disagreed on how the movie should end and they rewrote it to end in a way that pleased Duke.
Mark
Here is an example of the book. Enjoy!
Mark
While the book was a very good read, it does not end on a high note. Gilliam starts out being in awe of Books in the beginning of the book, but after he finds out that Books is dying, and sees how weak he has become, he actually starts treating him with disdain. And Giliam does shoot Books in the end, but it is Books who asks him to do it, after being shot in the back by the bartender. I won't go into any more detail to save those who intend to read the book.
I did read elsewhere that John Wayne wanted the part but wanted the ending to be different. He wanted Gillaim to learn that Books life isn't the way Gilliam should aspire to be. He wanted him to be dispelled of the adoration he held for the life with the gun and go in a different direction. so they rewrote it to end that way. I liked the way the movie ending was way more than the book.
Another thing about the book. It was very graphic in it's description of J.B.'s cancer and what it was doing to him. It also goes into detail about each bullit as it enters it's intended victim and the damage it did. Kinda gory. 
Mark
