Many of Wayne's greatest roles came from fictional stories, but The Shootist actually had a real-life connection that gave the movie its title. The Shootist follows an older gunfighter named J.B. Books (Wayne) in 20th Century Nevada.

On the first day of filming The Shootist, it is reported that local fans swarmed Mountain Street to get a glimpse of the Duke and his co-stars, including Stewart, Lauren Bacall (who played the widow Bond Rogers) and the man who portrayed her son, a then 21-year-old actor-turned mega-director Ron Howard who, having ...

The Shootist's producers thought Wayne was too old at 69 to be believable as the gunfighter. However, producer Dino De Laurentiis insisted on his casting even though the character JB Books was only 50 in the novel the movie was based on.

Wayne's final film, The Shootist (1976), in which he portrays an aging gunfighter who is dying of cancer, was praised by many as his best western since Rio Bravo. This role was a poignant screen farewell for an actor who himself would succumb to cancer three years later.