A 1966 Western film directed by Monte Hellman, starring Jack Nicholson as Billy Spear and Warren Oates as Willet Gashade, The Shooting is a deconstruction of the genre made in the same year as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
This film has the examples of:
- Cruel Mercy: After ambushing Billy Spear and beating him senseless, Willett had him at his mercy. He prepared to smash Billy's head with a rock, but then changed his mind and smashed Billy's gun hand instead.
- Doomed Hometown: The film opens with Willett Gashade returning to his mining camp and finding it depopulated. He sees the fresh grave of his partner Leland Drum, but his brother Coigne and their partner Coley are nowhere to be seen.
- Dwindling Party: A variation with the party's horses. They start with a horse for everyone, plus a pack mule. Then the mule disappears. Then the woman's horse dies and she takes Coley's horse. Then Willett's horse dies. Then Billy's horse dies (and he won't even put it out of its misery). Then Coley's horse (being ridden by the woman) dies.
- Eloquent in My Native Tongue: The Indian horse trader at Cross Tree barely speaks English, and resorts to gestures to communicate with Willett. But he can read and write, and runs a successful business. He walks away from the confused Willett muttering in his native language.
- Gainax Ending
- Goshdang It To Heck: Played painfully straight by Coley.
- The Gunslinger: Billy Spear
- Hyper-Awareness: Willett Gashade.
- Jump Cut: Stylishly used.
- Mugging the Monster: Coley's attempt to ambush Billy Spear does not end well for him.
- Retired Gunfighter: Willett Gashade was a bounty hunter before he took up mining.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: Coley's writing on Leland Drum's grave marker. To top it off, he even got the month of Drum's death wrong.
- Kick the Dog: The woman who hires Willet to accompany her to Kingsley keeps killing horses.
- No Name Given: The Woman.
- Revenge: The woman's motivation for her single-minded pursuit.
- Sole Survivor: Of the major characters, only Willet Gashade is alive at the end of the movie, albeit alone in the desert without water or a horse.
- The Western
