 | "I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them."
Thus runs the not un-libertarian credo of aging gunfighter and former lawman J.B. Books (Wayne, in his very last screen performance). Books rides into Carson City in the early years of the 20th century, to find his old friend Dr Hostetler (Stewart), who confirms that Books is dying of cancer and may only have days to live. Books takes a room at the local boarding house run by widow Mrs Bond Rogers (Bacall) and her wild west-obsessed son Gillom (Howard, of Happy Days fame), intending to live out his remaining days peacefully and in as dignified a manner as possible.
Sparks soon fly between chapel-going Mrs Rogers and the implicitly atheistic gunfighter as news of Books' identity and condition leaks, drawing some unwelcome attention. Books, realising that as the "wild west" gives way to modern society, so his way of life will shortly vanish, decides to go out in style, and on his birthday lures three villainous gunfighters to the local saloon for one last western shootout.
This is one unforgettable and deeply moving movie, marking the end of Wayne's career, and plotwise showing the end of a life, as well as the end of an era, ironically (and deliberately) set during a "false spring" burst of warm weather during winter - with early motorcars sharing the roads with horses and carriages, Gillom's treatment of Books as an almost mythic figure (the gunfighter age essentially being in the past), the opening scenes showing clips from a few of Wayne's previous westerns to symbolise Books' career, before cutting to the aged Books encountering a dimwit would-be robber as he rides into town.
From an Objectivist angle, there is much of interest, such as Mrs Rogers' intitial dislike of Books, seeing him only as a gunfighter and unable to see the distinction between the truly villainous gunfighters whom Books spent his life getting rid of, and those heroic gunfighters such as Books who fought on the right side of the law, thus making the old west safer for the likes of Mrs Rogers. Much as Gillom on the other hand understands the distinction and admires Books and those of his ilk, the movie's closing suggests that Gillom (and symbolically his generation), no matter how much he may wish to, cannot be like Books (nor does he need to be, because there are no villains left); and that Books, ultimately, is happy about it.
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