John Wayne The Shootist Amsel Art Work 1976-2013 #2 Metal Print

Back when I collected movie posters, my favorite contemporary illustrator was Amsel.

He fashioned this creation for "The Shootist," as seen on the VHS version of the Don Siegel directed film.

While dying of cancer in "The Shootist," Duke was not in real life. His entire left lung and several ribs had been removed in 1964; and he was pronounced cancer free in 1969.

The scourge returned in January 1977, with Duke passing away at 72 on June 11, 1979 after having had his stomach removed and much of his colon.

The opening sequence in Duke's final film included excerpts from "Red River" (1948), "Hondo" (1953), "Rio Bravo" (1959) and "El Dorado" (1966).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7QQD5xoxfw

@2013 David Lee Guss Film homage, JW, Amsel poster, The Shootist, 1976-2013

I first became obsessed with photography and motion pictures while growing up in post WW2 Manila in the Philippine Islands in the late 1940's/early 1950's. Film noirs were a particular influence. But my first love remains the theater. I acted in numerous amateur productions from 1958 to 1978. In 1979 I earned a MA in drama from the University of Arizona; earlier getting a BA in English from the University of Minnesota, where I co-founded the first film society on campus and ran it for four years. While at the U of A, I studied with the master black and white photo essayist W. Eugene Smith (1918-1978) the last year of his life. I am the last person cited in Jim Hughes' definitive biography of Gene, as I wrote about attending his final...