The Great Richard Boone
SPOILERS
"The Shootist" has one of John Wayne's best performances in Wayne's last movie. It's his show, all the way.
But damn if Richard Boone doesn't make magic in his three brief scenes.
Boone was a personal friend of John Wayne's who didn't work much in the 70's. He turned down the bad guy role in "The Sting," for instance. But Wayne personally asked him to play the short role in "The Shootist" as one of Wayne's three opponents, and Boone was happy to comply.
Boone didn't look too good, unfortunately. Years of drinking and smoking had turned his already craggy face into a real mess by 1976. So he made his magic with his great voice, line delivery, and style.
These are Boone's three scenes:
1. First meeting Wayne, sitting on his tiny "motorcar" like a grizzly bear on a tricycle. Note how Boone moves his finger in the air to make points: "John Bernard Books...well ain't I pleased to see that YOU (points at Wayne) remember ME (points at himself.)
Wayne rises to Boone's greatness here, gets more funny and interesting himself: "Mike Sweeney. Still as ugly looking as ever."
The two men exchange friendly dialgoue like good old buddies -- and it is clear that Boone would like very much to kill Wayne, and that Wayne would welcome the chance to kill Boone first.
2. First entering the saloon for the big gunfight. Boone had great dialogue in his earlier scene. In this one, he doesn't say a word. Note how the camera follows him to the bar, how when he silently orders a bottle of whiskey, he knocks the proffered shot glass off the bar as he walks away. He takes a seat at his table, realizes that two other guys are there to fight Wayne, too, laughs, tosses the bottle cap away, drinks.
3. During the final gunfight. Boone goes second, watching in disgust as the first shooter is easily blown away by Wayne. Boone is better, and manages to wing Wayne in the shoulder.
Not terribly smart, Boone uses the table as a shield. Wayne shoots right through it, Boone drops the table and dies telling Wayne that he fought becuase Wayne killed his brother Albert. Boone himself devised the line and cadence he used as he dies:
"...and I will tell you that was for Albert!" (dies.)
Albert thanks you.
Three short scenes. Only a few lines. Richard Boone made an unforgettable foe to John Wayne in "The Shootist."
P.S. For a better Wayne-Boone match-up, try the two of them in "Big Jake." (1971.) One critic called Richard Boone in "Big Jake": "The best villain in any John Wayne Western."