John Wayne was the legend cowboy

Staff columnist

I finally got around to watching John Wayne’s last movie, “The Shootist,” and ironically, as I was watching it, I was informed that that very day, May 26, was John Wayne’s birthday.

That wasn’t the only irony of the movie. It was almost as if the film was a tribute to the long-time actor’s legacy of being the tough cowboy, “the shootist” in a sense.link Alisa Boswell

The movie opened with clips from John Wayne’s various movies, implying that it was comprised of scenes from his life as a gunfighter.

His character in the movie, J.B. Books, is dying of cancer and he is the very essence of John Wayne himself with his sense of not wanting to die weak and his attitude of “I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”

That quote said it all. He was the man, the legend cowboy; he was The Duke.

Alisa Boswell loves movies and literature and writes for the Portales News-Tribune. Contact her at aboswell

@pntonline.com or 356-4481 or on Facebook at Cmi staff-Alisa Boswell.