Peter Frankovich

Documentary short about the making of John Wayne's final movie, the 1976 film The Shootist.

Frank Shelby is a motorcycle racer for whom age, personal tragedy and a love for the bottle have supplanted hopes of the big time. But when he meets Katherine, a widow whose young son, Danny, has leukemia, Frank forms an unexpected bond with them. And Danny's determination in the face of his illness gives Frank a newfound drive to win.

Melissa and Jim Bryant live on an Iowa farm with their adult son Chuck, their adult daughter Karen, and their teenage son Wayne, who is a high school sophomore. Wayne is a talented singer and guitarist who dreams of country music stardom. Karen, newly separated from her husband, has recently rejoined the family with her own young son Tommy, who misses his father. This was a pilot film for a proposed television series that was not picked up.