Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Directed by John Sturges
Written by Leon Uris, suggested by an article by George Scullin
1957/USA
Wallis-Hazen
First viewing?/Netflix rental
#323 of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Wyatt Earp: All gunfighters are lonely. They live in fear. They die without a dime, a woman or a friend.[/box]
It’s always fun to see Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas play off each other.
This legend of the old West has been filmed any number of times. In this version, Doc Holliday (Douglas) rides in town with his mistress Kate Fisher (Jo Van Fleet) in tow. Doc has just about run out of luck as a gambler and has a stormy relationship with Kate. His more serious problem is that he is seriously ill with a bad cough. His immediate problem is that there is a gang of bad guys waiting to gun him down for killing their brother, who cheated Doc at cards.
Soon after, lawman Wyatt Earp (Lancaster) rides into the same town to arrest members of the Clayton gang. It turns out the corrupt local sheriff has released them. Earp meets Holliday and tells him to leave town and take his gun with him. Holliday refuses and kills one of his pursuers. Earp lets Holliday escape.
There is a long build up to the gunfight in this movie and I won’t go into painstaking detail. Along the way, Earp loans a gambling stake to the broke Holliday, earning his eternal gratitude. Earp falls in love with a lady gambler (Rhonda Fleming) and wants to hang up his gun belt and badge. Holliday’s relations with Kate get stormier than ever. Finally, Earp must confront the notorious Clayton brothers to avenge his own brother, leading up to the famous gunfight. With John Ireland as a member of the Clayton gang, Dennis Hopper as the youngest and most salvageable of the Clayton brothers, and Lee Van Cleef as a bad guy.
This is a perfectly serviceable Western with some good performances. I think Douglas is the standout here. I am spoiled, I know, but for some reason it doesn’t work that well for me. For one thing, I thought the basis for the friendship wasn’t fully developed.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was nominated for Academy Awards in the categories of Best Sound, Recording and Best Film Editing.
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Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is my favorite movie version of one of my favorite incidents of the Old West.
I haven’t seen it for a long time. The main thing I remember liking about it is the great cast! Douglas, Lancaster, Fleming, Hopper, Ireland, Van Fleet, Van Cleef.
You didn’t even mention Frank Faylen, Whit Bissell, Martin Milner, Jack Elam and Earl Holliman.
And also DeForrest Kelley as Morgan Earp!
I’m way past due to see this again.
Yeah, it was like a survey of character actors of the 1950’s! I’d have to go for Ford’s My Darling Clementine as my favorite version of the story.
A mixed bag of candy certainly. But there is a joy to watching Kirk Douglas no matter what he does and here he is very good. I understand what you mean about the friendship. It seems forced.
It’s like at first they can’t stand each other and then because Earp loans Holliday some money Holliday is willing to die for him. It didn’t seem to fit with either man’s personality. Certainly this gave Douglas the opportunity to be ultra-intense as only he can be!
I’m not a fan of this one. I found it really cliche-ridden and not much of it worked for me at all, and that’s despite a truly great cast.
If I’m going to watch this basic story, I’m choosing Tombstone. I know it’s inaccurate and silly in places, but it’s ridiculously fun, and really, that’s mostly what I want out of many a western.