So sad...

Agreed that this movie feels like the real death of the Duke to me too. I am old enough to have been alive when John Wayne was, he died when I was 13 the same year my grandfather died making for a bad year for me. I own this movie on DVD but it is hard to watch with the emotions attached to this movie for me personally. Still, it is among his finest films.

I was 14 when this came out, and a big fan of The Duke. I'd seen every one of his movies in the theater since I was 8 or 9. His death in this was visceral at the time, generally feeling like watching him die. He was bigger than life, and he remains bigger than death.

And it's certainly among the saddest films ever, no doubt about it.

I think the saddest moment of the film wasn't at his death - he died on his own terms, after all - but when he and Bond said goodbye on his way past the parlor, both knowing what was coming.