The Shootist Jack Pulford was shot in the back by Books, and Books, in turn, was shot by Gillom; Wayne maintained that over his entire film career, he had never shot an adversary in the back, and would not do so now. He also objected to his character being shot by Gillom, and suggested that the bartender do it, because "no one could ever take John Wayne in a fair fight". Wayne was also responsible for many casting decisions. Several friends and past co-stars, including Bacall, Stewart, Boone, and Carradine, were cast at his request. Stewart had not worked in films for
John Wayne filmography Wayne starred in his final film, "The Shootist" (1976), ending his acting career for fifty years, 169 feature length films, and various other television appearances or voice-overs. In 1993, Wayne appeared posthumously as George Abitbol, the central character in the French TV film "La Classe américaine". The film, the story of which revolves around an investigation of Abitbol's death, consists entirely of cut-and-pasted extracts from other films, dubbed with new lines in French and transformed into a new story. Raymond Loyer, who had dubbed Wayne into French in his previous films, returned to do so one last time. John Wayne