Rating: NR
Genre:
Western
Release Date: 04/22/2003
SubTitles: English
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 122 Minutes
Flags: Mild Violence, Western Violence
Distributor/Studio: Paramount
It's one of the sad details of
John Sturges' life that he never thought much of
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). Perhaps he just resented the fact that it was a more popular and successful film than
Hour of the Gun, the film account of
Wyatt Earp and
Doc Holliday's friendship that he produced as well as directed a decade later.
Sturges always regarded
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral as a
Hal B. Wallis film on which he was just a hired hand, without a lot of control -- the script wasn't his and the project wasn't his, but he did his job well and then some, pulling out two of the more complex performances ever given by
Burt Lancaster or
Kirk Douglas, the former playing
Wyatt Earp, as a frontier lawman who surprises himself with the violence that his decency can't prevent and, in fact, seems to instigate; and the latter as
Doc Holliday, an embittered, self-destructive outcast, betrayed by his own body and the disease he can't shake, who finds a streak of decency in himself just large enough to give him a sliver of common ground with
Earp. They're excellent on their own and off the scale when they're together in the same scene or shot. Additionally,
Sturges set up some shots -- including a scene early in the movie between
Lancaster and
Douglas in a barber shop, involving a mirror, the cowboys' invasion of Dodge City and
Lancaster's breaking up of their revels, and the build-up to the final shoot-out -- that are as good as any in the
Western genre. And the final shoot-out, though hardly accurate historically, was about the best staged in any
Western ever seen up to that time. Moreover, the supporting performances are mostly first-rate, from
George Mathews to
Jo Van Fleet, the latter giving a portrayal that is the perfect match for
Douglas' doom-laden, self-tortured
Doc Holliday, and
Dennis Hopper gives one of his better performances from his early career as
Billy Clanton, which anticipated his work in
Curtis Harrington's
Night Tide. That said, the movie does sacrifice a lot of historical accuracy; among many, many problems in this area,
Wyatt Earp was nothing like the way he is portrayed in the script or by
Lancaster (though he is so compelling in the part that one almost wishes it were true). Also,
Rhonda Fleming's character is a somewhat awkward fit; she isn't essential to the plot, though
Sturges does as much and as well with her as one could hope, and more than one would expect given the poor showing that most actresses (apart from
Van Fleet here and
Anne Francis in
Bad Day at Black Rock) get in
Sturges' movies. The title ballad, heard at various points in the movie as sung by
Frankie Laine, may seem dated and hokey, but it does hold together a dramatic arc that stretches across months of time, three towns, and several vignettes that are often only linked in their backgrounds, and it is a very haunting tune as well.
Sturges' subsequent film about
Wyatt Earp and
Doc Holliday,
Hour of the Gun, done ten years later through his own production company, is more realistic and accurate in its historical portrayals, and less romantic and dramatic, but also less accessible.
~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
Average Review:
Number of reviews: 1
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A reviewer
from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
A Sprawling Action-Packed Western Classic.
Director John Sturges and Academy Award producer Hal B. Wallis team-up in assembling an all-star cast led by Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in a re-enactment of one of the most fiercest gun battles in U.S. History with Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Douglas as "Doc" Holliday along with Earp's brothers, Morgan and Virgil as they fought against the vicious Clanton Gang. Also starring Rhonda Fleming, John Ireland, Jo Van Fleet, Frank Faylen, Lyle Bettger, Earl Holliman, Lee Van Cleef, Martin Milner, DeForest Kelley, Dennis Hopper, Olive Carey, Jack Elam, Whit Bissell, Ted de Corsia, and Kenneth Tobey.
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