Arrow Video’s new Blu-ray edition of The Shootist will feature an all-new 2K transfer from the 1976 film’s original 35mm camera negative. It will also be loaded with special features, including a new audio commentary by film historian Howard S. Berger. It will also include a number of featurettes, including an appreciation of legendary film composer Elmer Bernstein’s score, a visual essay on John Wayne by filmmaker and critic Scout Tafoya, the film’s original trailer, and much more.
The set will also feature six replica lobby cards from the film, a double-sided poster featuring the film’s original theatrical poster design and a new piece by Juan Esteban Rodríguez, and a collector’s booklet by film critic Philip Kemp. Arrow Video’s Blu-ray edition of The Shootist will be released on March 12, 2024, and can be preordered now on Arrow Video’s website.
What is ‘The Shootist’?
In The Shootist, Wayne stars as aging gunfighter J.B. Books, who comes to Carson City in 1901 to seek out his old friend, Doc Hostetler (James Stewart) to treat his failing health. Hostetler diagnoses Books with terminal cancer, giving him months to live.
Books decides to live out the rest of his days in town, but the presence of the once-infamous “shootist” attracts attention; both from killers looking to be the one to end his life, and from the young Gillom Rogers (Ron Howard), who wants to learn how to be a gunfighter himself over the objections of his mother (Lauren Bacall). Eventually, Books decides to die on his feet rather than in bed, and arranges for a final confrontation. Directed by legendary director Don Siegel (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Dirty Harry), the film also stars John Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Richard Boone, and Harry Morgan.
The Shootist was Wayne’s final role; he would die of cancer himself three years later, in 1979. The Shootist was well-regarded upon its release, especially for Wayne’s heartfelt performance; it made over $13 million USD at the box office, and landed on Roger Ebert’s list of the top ten films of 1976. In his ranking of Wayne’s 25 best films, Collider’s Jeremy Urquhart called it “a near-perfect farewell to the Old West from Wayne, and is expectedly emotional and exciting.”
Arrow Video’s deluxe Blu-ray edition of The Shootist will be released on March 12, 2024. Stay tuned to Collider for future updates, and watch the trailer for The Shootist below, pilgrim.
Leave a Reply