Cinema: John Wayne as the Last Hero

At the edge of a birch grove, four mounted outlaws try to stare down the aging lawman.

"I mean to kill you or see you hanged at Fort Smith. . ." barks Marshal Rooster Cogburn.

"Bold talk for a one-eyed fat man," the bandit leader sneers.

"Fill your hand, you sonuvabitch!"

Cogburn answers, clamping his reins in his teeth and letting loose with a two-handed fusillade from his Winchester and long-barreled revolver.

At the end of the battle, four villains —and one horse—lie punctured and defunct upon the ground. "Dammit, Bo," says Cogburn...