Gunfight at The OK Corral (1957)

Gunfight at The OK Corral (1957) – Legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, along with his brothers and Doc Holliday face down the Clantons on their way to a legendary shootout.

Directed by John Sturges                          Starring Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas

Thirty seconds of gunplay in 1881 in Tombstone Arizona has spawned hours of movie and television footage over the years.  Curiously, the event was largely unknown to most people until a book in the 1930s brought the story forward.  The level of legend that has surrounded the events over the years has made it all a much bigger event than it ever was in real life.

It also gives filmmakers lots of room to just make up the story as they go along.  In general, I have no issue with them exercising their creativity.  Until it comes to historical events.  Screenwriter Leon Uris treats the history as strictly optional here.  The character of Doc Holliday is wrong, an Earp brother who lived into old age dies here before the real shooting even begins.  And that thirty-second time limit?  Not nearly interesting enough, so the fight goes on for about eight minutes here.  Holliday was not a notorious killer.  And the historical piece that everyone chooses to ignore, the shootout took place blocks from the OK Corral.  I understand that sometimes things need to be juggled for the purpose of storytelling.  But this was just one unnecessary change after another.

While that may not bother a lot of viewers as much as it does me, it is unfortunate because there is a reasonably interesting movie here.  It’s Lancaster and Douglas that are the center of it all.  It is the second of seven times they would work together.  I’m not sure there are any two other actors who brought as much swagger to the big screen.  So to see the two of them going at it together is a treat.

On the other hand, there are two truly awful songs that are just dropped into the movie.  The first one was annoying, it was the second one that suddenly brought “Blazing Saddles” to mind.  Just awful.

If I’m being honest, this is not my favorite OK Corral movie by a long stretch.  For me, it will always be John Ford’s 1946 “My Darling Clementine”.  I’m not saying it’s more historically accurate, but it’s a much better movie overall.

Trivia note – watch for a very young Dennis Hopper (almost didn’t recognize him) as Billy Clanton, plus “Star Trek” star DeForest Kelley and “Adam-12” star Martin Milner as Morgan and James Earp.  Kelley would get another chance at the OK Corral in the Star Trek episode “Spectre of the Gun”.

Why You Will Like It – Lancaster and Douglas are old school movie stars.  They give it a show here.

Rating – *** Worth A Look