Watching The Shootist, I kind of figured how it was going to turn out. In most Western films, I have seen, the plot always turns out the same. Usually, a stranger comes riding into town no one knows who he is or where he came from. Some people are curious about who he is, others feel threatened that he is trying to take over their town, like the high dealer in the saloon, the man that got out of jail, and lastly Boone. The stranger generally meets people and makes some friends while he is at the town. Then the heavies of the town try to "spin the wheel" with the stranger, and end up getting shot and killed. Finally, the stranger becomes the hero and rides off into the sunset.
Since most of John Wayne movies are easily predicted, they are often criticized. Stanley Kauffmann states," Out of this view of the past that reflects the vantage point of the present, a touching elegiac film might have been made, but this script is absolutely awful (24)." Jay Cocks, Dying in the Saddle, adds, " The Shootist is deliberately low keyed and sometimes affecting. But it is hampered by a sentimental, over wrought script and, finally, by its own reserve. The movie keeps the rigid bearing of a kid trying to sit still at a wake (72)." I feel what Cocks was trying to say, is John Wayne movies are old and boring. Kauffmann says, "Pictures about young people predominate of course, and always will, because young is sexier and youth has a wider range of options (24)." Which what he was actually saying, to me, is younger people of today are not really interested in older films, but newer ones.
Every one, who has seen Western movies, is aware of what is probably going to happen before even finishing the movie. But I am convinced what makes people keep coming back for more, is the actors. The actors make the movies in a lot of pictures, and not just in Westerns. John Wayne movies, I believe, are pretty much all the same.
