John Wayne Highlands, fierce fighters against communism, bestowed on Wayne a brass bracelet that he wore in the film and all subsequent films. Wayne finally won a Best Actor Oscar for "True Grit" (1969), two decades after his only other nomination. Wayne took on the role of the eponymous detective in the crime drama "McQ" (1974). His last film was "The Shootist" (1976), whose main character, J. B. Books, was dying of cancer—which Wayne himself succumbed to three years later. "The Shootist" (1976) contains numerous plot similarities to "The Gunfighter" of nearly thirty years before, a role which Wayne had wanted but
Death Wish (1974 film) Westerns. While confronting an armed mugger, he challenges him to draw (Kersey tells him to "fill your hand"—the same challenge issued by Western movie icon John Wayne to his main opponent in the climactic shoot-out in 1969's "True Grit"). When Ochoa tells him to get out of town, he asks if he has until sundown to do so. The killing in the subway station was supposed to remain off-screen in Mayes' script, but Winner himself decided to turn this into an actual, brutal scene. A minor argument occurred when it came to a shooting location for the film. Bronson asked