I searched our site to see if this topic had been discussed before and didn't find anything. If I missed something, please forgive me and just point me in the right direction...

I was watching The Shootist the other day and I also watched the short documentary that was with it. The final shootout was discussed and how Duke was supposed to shoot one of his enemies in the back as events progressed. Duke objected to this saying that 'He had never shot anyone in the back before', and the scene had to be reshot. I remember hearing this in another documentary, and I believe I read this account from several sources.

What appears a bit strange to me is that Duke DID shoot people in the back! Recall the final Indian confrontation in Stagecoach - An Indian mounts one of the coach’s horses and the Ringo Kid stands up and shoots him. This is the famous scene where the Indian (Yakima Canutt) falls between the horses and slides underneath the stagecoach.

In The Searchers Ethan Edwards apparently shoots the Indians as they are retreating at the river and Reverend Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton (Ward Bond) attempts to restrain him. Later on Ethan shoots the trader Fudderman and his accomplices in the back after they attempt to rob and kill him. This is mentioned later on by the reverend during the wedding ceremony for Lori when he tells Ethan that the only reason he was wanted for questioning was because the men had all been shot in the back.

I was just wondering if Duke was concerned that he would be shooting someone with a handgun at close range as opposed to a long distance where trajectory and body positioning could be less controlled; or had he just forgotten about these incidents. There may well have been more situations in movies that I haven't recalled.

I don't want this construed as any type of indictment or criticism of Duke, but I have really been curious about this statement and I would like to hear some ideas about this.

Happy Trails!

The only film that I can remember that The Duke shot some one that he was not fighting at the time or Ambushed him was Liberty Valance in "The Man that Shot Liberty Valance"!!! Chilibill :cowboy:

The rise of the anti hero is probably the foundation for it.
The first that I heard of it was during the final shoot out in El Dorado, Duke was suppose to come around behind Chris George at some point and shoot him in the back, and then the line about a chance, followed by , your to good........
I even heard it was filmed, and then someone mentioned it to Duke about this being new to his image, etc . Duke agreed, hit the ceiling and it was reshot.
(Something he couldn't have done in Liberty Valance, for his idea was to step into the street behind Stewart, but only known to Liberty, but you know who didn't like it.)

A battle on screen is one thing, ( Stage coach , Searchers, etc ), but the showdown, on screen is something totally different. John Wayne goes face to face, plain and simple. Its the code of the west, ya might say.



I haven't read the Shootist but from what I 've been told it fits George C Scott, ( the first choice ) more than Duke, so Cobb gets to go face to face with JB, (who gets to die on his own in stead of Gillam putting him out of his misery , before he leaves town and takes up the Shootist trade .)It becomes what people expect in a John Wayne movie and seperates them from say Eastwood's, and Duke protected that .

One of Dukes best on on screen killings is when he shoots a would be assassin in the back in McQ, to add a little more to this the fleeing assassin was effectively unarmed as he had squeezed of all his rounds at Duke before this.

He also in a slightly funny scene shoots two bandits in the back in Comancheros in the final battle. They approach the two lead horses on either side and Duke guns them both down.

In True Grit he shoots the young man in the back during the final shootout but its a brilliant shot.

He was also responsible for the death of a young girl in Reap the Wild Wind due to him crashing his ship into a rock on purpose to simply salvage the loot although he did not know the young girl was aboard.

There are lots of examples of questionable killings(in reality what is an acceptable killing) in Dukes movies but for me it just reinforced his no nonsense attitude and the fact that when he shot these people he was USALLY on the side of right.

:agent: