The Shootist was Wayne's final cinematic role, concluding a 50-year career that began during the silent film era in 1926. Wayne was not terminally ill when the film was made in 1976. He had been a heavy cigarette smoker for most of his life, and he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1964.

Wayne was 69 at time of filming, and Bacall was 51. The two had previously starred together in the sea adventure Blood Alley (1955), and they are mesmerizing here.

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.

In his final western, 1976's "The Shootist," the nearly 70-year-old Wayne had visibly aged. He certainly couldn't play characters like "The Ringo Kid" anymore.