John Wayne in "The Shootist" - El Paso Saddlery rig doesn't quite match....

B

BullseyeJC

Member
Joined
Jul 22, 2005
Messages
20
Reaction score
2
Location
Kansas
I know many on this board are John Wayne fans and I thought this might lead to an interesting discussion.

El Paso Saddlery advertises a western holster rig in a style which they claim to have made for John Wayne to wear in his 1976 movie, “The Shootist”. I’m in the market for a new western rig and I happened to be watching this movie the other day. I noticed that John Wayne wore a holster and belt that was nothing like the rig that El Paso Saddlery claims they made for the movie. The picture below shows the El Paso “#44” rig along with a description from their website.


From El Paso Saddlery………“The half-breed style holster and rough out moneybelt we made for John Wayne for use in the 1976 movie, The Shootist.”

44Rig.jpg


Next, you will see some screen shots from The Shootist. Notice that Wayne wears a holster with no loop which has a full flap in the back resting against his thigh. Also, you will see that his belt looks like a 3” or so wide single piece of smooth brown leather and looks nothing like the suede money belt advertised by El Paso Saddlery. What gives?


Screen Shot 1
JohnWayne.jpg


Screen Shot 2
JohnWayne2.jpg
 
Maybe they made the holster for the movie but it wasn't used. If so, it's a bit deceptive.
 
JW wore the so-called "half breed" in nearly all his pictures from the 1950s on EXCEPT in "The Shootist."

The El Paso Saddlery style is JW's most famous although made by different makers through the years. If you recall, JW gained and
lost weight a lot and new belt/holsters were
required.

See "Hondo," "Rio Bravo,""The Comancheros," "The Cowboys", "True Grit" etc. I think El Paso just got its signals crossed on JW's last picture.
 
danski said:
JW wore the so-called "half breed" in nearly all his pictures from the 1950s on EXCEPT in "The Shootist."

The El Paso Saddlery style is JW's most famous although made by different makers through the years. If you recall, JW gained and
lost weight a lot and new belt/holsters were
required.

See "Hondo," "Rio Bravo,""The Comancheros," "The Cowboys", "True Grit" etc. I think El Paso just got its signals crossed on JW's last picture.
Click to expand...

You are correct. Wayne did wear the El Paso #44 style rig in his earlier pictures. I was just curious why they chose to advertise that he wore it in The Shootist when it's obvious he did not and thought someone might have some trivia. Sounds like it's just a goof on the part of EPS.
 
Both look like very nice rigs, but certainly the fully exposed trigger guard in The Shootist grab is very different from the EPS JW rig.

You oughta drop EPS a line and let 'em know. Lotta JW movies. Probably an honest mistake.
 
It is my understanding that the holster and belt rig used by John Wayne in the 'Shootist" was a very simple Hunter Brand rig. The Old El Paso rig is not unlike the style he commonly wore for many of his other Movies but he also required at least two different belts and usually three different "sets" of outfits, for most of his movies because of his up and down weight problems.

I know Old El Paso has been called about this particular "Issue" but they don't seem to care enough to fix the problem. There are and have been up to their eyeballs for some time building rigs for people. If you're expecting "Truth in Advertising" then you're living on the wrong Planet.
 
It's been a while since I watched The Shootist but I think at the beginning of the movie there is a narrative of the character's (JB Books) past. While this short narrative is occurring clips from some of JW's earlier movies are shown. Perhaps in some of these clips he is wearing the El Paso rig? If so it could be said JW wore the rig in The Shootist when his history had been depicted.
 
This may be true because he is shown in clips from a number of his earlier movies at the beginning but at best I would say that they are "Stretching the Facts" if that is the case.
 
Never said they didn't do very nice work. I own a couple of there holsters but most of them are simply outside my budget.
 
I bought the El Paso "John Wayne Rig" a couple of years ago for my Single Action .45...and wore it a number of times while working on an old Ranch near the Mexican Border..went there 4 or 5 times...wore it almost 20 hours a day....Very Comfortable...no problems with it at all...And the Quality of it is Excellent.!!..its the old saying..."Made to last a Lifetime"........Hans "Cowboy" Fischer
icon_smile.gif
 
gib said:
It's still a great rig.
theduke.jpg
Click to expand...

I agree it's a great looking set up and I might end up getting one. I just wondered why I couldn't find it in The Shootist. But, like others have said, it looks to be the exact rig Wayne used in his earlier movies.

When did you order yours? I think I read somewhere that the current suede money belts are not as light colored as the earlier ones.
 
I'm sitting here looking at the El Paso Saddley catalog.

PAGE #2. "DUKE" Outfit
A faithful rendition of the rig The Duke wore in most of his movies.
. lined holster (lined using "roll over" method for easy reholstering)
. open muzzle and hammer thong standard (leg thong on request)
. 2 1/2 wide roughout moneybelt
. cross draw available.
Available for most Single Actions and Double Actions (3" to 7 1/2" barrels)

No where in my catalog does it claim that it was used specifically for the "Shootist".

????

I bought mine years ago and the holster for 4" "N" frames.


RWT
 
I have a "Duke" double rig that I use for CAS. They are great leather, well made and durable.

Also bought a moneybelt that someone had outgrown but fit me and got a crossdraw holster for it. Eventhough the holster is slightly long, originally for my 4 5/8" Blackhawk, it makes a dandy field outfit for the 45 Colt Birdshead Vaquero! (the holster got tilted straight in this photo)

Birdshead-Rugerpair.jpg
 
Kirkpatrick Leather and a few others make a belt and holster that looks almost exactly like that they call the "John Wayne" or the "Duke". I don't know about the "Shootist" but it looks like a very practical western leather rig.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

GF
El Paso Saddlery holster for a J frame
Replies
5
Views
1K
dobegrant
dobegrant
Glenn R. McMannly
El Paso Saddlery?
2 3
Replies
54
Views
3K
rednichols
rednichols
STORM2
EL PASO TANKER
Replies
3
Views
666
Bullet Bob
Bullet Bob
s&wchad
Swap Meet Find - El Paso Saddlery Spyder
Replies
8
Views
609
shell627
S
ENNE-FRAME
a particular holster marked Dale Myres el Paso Mexico
Replies
10
Views
826
rednichols
rednichols

Latest posts

Back
Top