On this day in movie and book history - The Shootist (1976)

The Shootist

directed by Don Siegel,

written by Miles Hood Swarthout and Scott Hale,

based on the novel by Glendon Swarthout,

was released in the United States on July 21, 1976.

Music by Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

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, Jack Berle, Johnny Crawford, Chuck Dawson, George Dunn, Duke Fishman, Christopher George, Jonathan Goldsmith, Leo Gordon, Charles G. Martin, Jim Michael, Ernesto Molinari, Ricky Nelson, James Nolan, Nick Raymond, Henry Slate, Bob Steele, Ralph Volkie, John Zimeas.

Recommended reading:

The Shootist

by Glendon Swarthout.

Introduction by Miles Swarthout.

Filmed as The Shootist (1976), directed by Don Siegel.

Published by Bison Books.
First published 1975.

ISBN-10: 0803238231
ISBN-13: 9780803238237

Description:

"Such style...such a strong central idea...the showdown is an unremitting as the build-up." – Sunday Times of London.

"This is an extremely well-written Western and gives the reader vivid insight into the workings of the mind of a wanderer and gunman." – Baton Rouge, Louisiana Sunday Advocate.

"The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout is the taleof the Old West's version of the modern 'hit man'. It is a splendid story, well-told and with a really satisfying ending." – Charleston, South Carolina Evening Post.

The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a man of principle and the only surviving gunfighter in a vanishing American West. He rides into El Paso in the year 1901, on the day Queen Victoria died, there to be told by a doctor that he must soon confront the greatest shootist of all: Death. In such a showdown, against such an antagonist, he cannot win. Most men may end their days in bed or take their own lives, but a man-killer has a 3rd option, one which Books decides to exercise. He may choose his own executioner.

As word spreads that the famous assassin has reached the end of his rope, an assortment of vultures gathers to feast upon his corpse--among them a gambler, a rustler, an undertaker, an old love, a reporter, even a boy. Books outwits them, however, by selecting the where, when, who, and why of his death, and writing in fire from a pair of Remingtons the last courageous act of his own legend. The climatic gunfight itself is an incredible performance by an incredible man, and by his creator, Glendon Swarthout.

 

The Shootist will rank with such classics as Shane and The Ox-Bow Incident, but it is much more than a Western. When, in the final afternoon of his life, J. B. Books crosses a street and enters a saloon to make something of his death, we cross, we enter, with him. He is us.

From a corner of the south window Gillom Rogers spied on the new lodger. The man unpacked his valise and put things in a drawer of the chiffonier, then hung his Price Albert coat in the closet. When he turned from the closet he was in shirt and vest. The boy's eyes rounded. Sewn to each side of the vest was a holster, reversed, and in each holster was a pistol, butt forward. As he watched, sucking in his breath, the man took the weapons out, revolved the cylinders, filled a chamber in one he had evidently fired, and replaced them before hanging the vest, too, in the closet. The pistols were a pair of nickel-plated, short-barreled, unsighted, single-action .44 Remingtons, obviously manufactured to order. The handle of one was black gutta-percha, the other pearl.

Gillom slipped away to take the horse to the livery, letting the breath of revelation out of his lungs. He was seventeen, and spent much of his time in saloons. He was not yet served, but he enjoyed himself and picked up a great deal of miscellaneous information, some of it true, some of it of doubtful authenticity. But the man in corner room was no stranger to him now. He had heard enough scalp-itch, blood-freeze tales to know that only one man carried a similar pair of guns in a similar manner...

On this day in movie history - Anatomy of a Murder (1959)

Anatomy of a Murder

directed by Otto Preminger,

written by Wendell Mayes,

based on the novel by Robert Traver,

was released in the United States on June 29, 1959.

Music by Duke Ellington.

Cast:

James Stewart, Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, Arthur O’Connell, Eve Arden, Kathryn Grant, George C. Scott, Orson Bean, Russ Brown, Murray Hamilton, Brooks West, Ken Lynch, John Qualen, Howard McNear, Alexander Campbell, Ned Wever, Jimmy Conlin, Royal Beal, Joseph Kearns, Don Ross, Lloyd Le Vasseur, James Waters, Joseph N. Welch, Danny the Dog, Duke Ellington, Irv Kupcinet, Lawrence K. Paquin, Chuck Ramsay, Mrs. Joseph Welch.

Born on this day – James Stewart:

James Stewart

Actor

May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997

Credits:

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991); North & South: Book 2, Love & War (1986); Right of Way (1983); Mr. Krueger's Christmas (1980); A Tale of Africa (1980); General Electric's All-Star Anniversary (1978); The Magic of Lassie (1978); The Big Sleep (1978); Laugh-In (1977); Airport '77 (1977); The Shootist (1976); Sentimental Journey (1976); Hawkins (1973); Harvey (1972); The Jimmy Stewart Show (1971); Fools' Parade (1971); The Cheyenne Social Club (1970); Bandolero! (1968); Firecreek (1968); The Rare Breed (1966); The Flight of the Phoenix (1965); Shenandoah (1965); Dear Brigitte (1965); The Jack Benny Program (1950); Cheyenne Autumn (1964); Take Her, She's Mine (1963); My Three Sons (1960); How the West Was Won (1962); Alcoa Premiere (1961); Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962); The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962); X-15 (1961); Two Rode Together (1961); The Mountain Road (1960); Startime (1959); The FBI Story (1959); Schlitz Playhouse (1951); Lux Playhouse (1958); Anatomy of a Murder (1959); Bell Book and Candle (1958); Vertigo (1958); General Electric Theater (1953); Night Passage (1957); The Spirit of St. Louis (1957); The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956); The Man from Laramie (1955); Strategic Air Command (1955); Tomorrow's Drivers (1954); Rear Window (1954); The Far Country (1954); The Glenn Miller Story (1954); Thunder Bay (1953); The Naked Spur (1953); Carbine Williams (1952); Bend of the River (1952); The Greatest Show on Earth (1952); No Highway in the Sky (1951); And Then There Were Four (1950); Harvey (1950); The Jackpot (1950); Broken Arrow (1950); Winchester '73 (1950); Malaya (1949); The Stratton Story (1949); 10,000 Kids and a Cop (1948); You Gotta Stay Happy (1948); Rope (1948); Call Northside 777 (1948); On Our Merry Way (1948); Magic Town (1947); It's a Wonderful Life (1946); Ziegfeld Girl (1941); Pot o' Gold (1941); Come Live with Me (1941); The Philadelphia Story (1940); No Time for Comedy (1940); The Mortal Storm (1940); The Shop Around the Corner (1940); Destry Rides Again (1939); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); It's a Wonderful World (1939); The Ice Follies of 1939 (1939); Made for Each Other (1939); You Can't Take It with You (1938); Screen Snapshots Series 15, No. 12 (1936); The Shopworn Angel (1938); Vivacious Lady (1938); Of Human Hearts (1938); Navy Blue and Gold (1937); The Last Gangster (1937); Seventh Heaven (1937); After the Thin Man (1936); Born to Dance (1936); The Gorgeous Hussy (1936); Speed (1936); Small Town Girl (1936); Important News (1936); Wife vs. Secretary (1936); Next Time We Love (1936); Rose-Marie (1936); The Murder Man (1935); Art Trouble (1934).

On this day in movie history - The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

The Man Who Knew Too Much

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,

written by John Michael Hayes,

based on a story by Charles Bennett and D. B. Wyndham-Lewis,

was released in the United States on May 16, 1956.

Music by Bernard Herrmann.

Song: Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be), performed by Doris Day.

Cast:

Doris Day, James Stewart, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles, Ralph Truman, Daniel Gélin, Mogens Wieth, Alan Mowbray, Hillary Brooke, Christopher Olsen, Reggie Nalder, Richard Wattis, Noel Willman, Alix Talton, Yves Brainville, Carolyn Jones, London Symphony Orchestra, Bernard Herrmann, Covent Garden Chorus, Barbara Howitt, Patrick Aherne, Frank Albertson, Frank Atkinson, Walter Bacon, Frank Baker, John Barrard, Betty Baskcomb, Hyma Beckley, Paul Beradi, Eumenio Blanco, Arline Bletcher, Alexis Bobrinskoy, Lovyss Bradley, Janet Bruce, Naida Buckingham, Clifford Buckton, Barbara Burke, Nora Bush, Peter Camlin, Albert Carrier, Jimmy Charters, Abdelhaq Chraibi, Oliver Cross, Pauline Farr, Harry Fine, Alex Frazer, Wolf Frees, Milton Frome, Leo Gordon, Walter Gotell, Victor Harrington, Sam Harris, George Hilsdon, Alfred Hitchcock, Gladys Holland, Jimmie Horan, George Howe, Allen Jaffe, Philip Johns, Barbara Jones, Harold Kasket, Barry Keegan, Lou Krugman, Anne Kunde, Lloyd Lamble, Anthony Lang, Donald Lawton, Marion Lessing, Carl M. Leviness, Enid Lindsey, Mayne Lynton, Janet Macfarlane, Edward Manouk, Richard Marner, John Marshall, Lewis Martin, Louis Mercier, Lee Miller, Lola Morice, Ralph Neff, Leslie Newport, John O'Malley, Elsa Palmer, Liddell Peddieson, Jean Ransome, Arthur Ridley, Lucile Sewall, Alma Taylor.