Its a good scene with an interesting actor who didn't have too long a career. His name was Rick Lenz, and he was known at the time for two things:
One was co-starring in a short lived "Mystery Western" called "Hec Ramsey," starring Richard Boone and co-starring Harry Morgan(so three of the "Hec Ramsey" cast were in The Shootist.")
But Lenz was also sold as being "a young Jimmy Stewart" -- and that may have hurt him. When a young star is too MUCH like an old star...its hard to become a star.
Anyway, it ended up doubly ironic that this young reporter so abused by John Wayne would be a young Jimmy Stewart clone.
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You can't say that Books is too pleased with several of the people he encounters. Thibido makes sense -- THAT guy hassles Books from the get-go and talks about how happy he will be when Books dies. But Books comes right at the reporter and, later, when reconiling with a woman he obviously loved dearly -- he turns on HER when he learns she's been talking to the reporter. Later still, Books cuts right through the sales pitch of the undertaker(old John Ford hand John Carradine) and drives a hard counter-offer. Speaking of hard counter-offers, Books isn't all that easy on Scatman Crothers in their horse bargaining. And he's damn tough Ron Howard early in the film.
Recall that "The Shootist" was directed by Don Siegel, who directed Dirty Harry. John Wayne reputedly turned down Dirty Harry and later regretted it. Well,in the The Shootist..John Wayne is PLAYING Dirty Harry...just an older, short-tempered Dirty Harry. Books, like Harry, has heroic tendencies, but Books, like Harry, doesn't have much patience with the rest of the world.
Even though it is sad that the character is dying, John Bernard Books displays glints of meanness and self-preservation all through The Shootist that keep it from becoming maudlin.
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Notice also that Books sticks that gun in the reporter's mouth and drags him outside in full view of the very nice and peaceful Lauren Bacall character. Even as a "house guest" on agreed upon terms, Books cannot help but bring his violent way of life into her home. (It becomes worse later with the shootout in his bedroom.)
And of course, "The Shootist" shows that Books is always going to run into men of equally murderous demeanor: the three men he fights in the saloon at the end have no compunction about killing, either. It was the wild, wild, west.
Good, tough movie. Good, tough characters.
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Searcher229 (16)
2 years ago
Its a good scene with an interesting actor who didn't have too long a career. His name was Rick Lenz, and he was known at the time for two things:
One was co-starring in a short lived "Mystery Western" called "Hec Ramsey," starring Richard Boone and co-starring Harry Morgan(so three of the "Hec Ramsey" cast were in The Shootist.")
But Lenz was also sold as being "a young Jimmy Stewart" -- and that may have hurt him. When a young star is too MUCH like an old star...its hard to become a star.
Anyway, it ended up doubly ironic that this young reporter so abused by John Wayne would be a young Jimmy Stewart clone.
Agreed with all points. Lenz had made enough of an impression in the Broadway and film versions of "Cactus Flower" to be given a shot at film stardom - he was cast in a "showcase" lead role in "How Do I Love Thee?", a comedy which starred Jackie Gleason, Maureen O'Hara, Shelley Winters, and Rosemary Forsyth, in which he played the son of Gleason and O'Hara and the husband of Forsyth, but the movie bombed.
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