Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Plot synopsis:
In Fort Griffin, Texas, Ed Bailey (Lee Van Cleef) comes looking to avenge the death of his brother at the hands of gunslinger John H. "Doc" Holliday (Kirk Douglas). Seeing him in a bar, Holliday's girl, Kate Fisher (Jo Van Fleet), returns to Holliday's room, where the two argue—while Holliday throws knives at the wall—once she brings up Holliday's once-prominent family. At the same time, well-known marshal Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) arrives in Fort Griffin thinking he will take outlaws Ike Clanton (Lyle Bettger) and Johnny Ringo (John Ireland) into custody, but instead finds out that the local sheriff, Cotton Wilson (Frank Faylen), released them despite the outstanding warrants for their arrest. Holliday refuses to help the lawman, holding a grudge against Wyatt's brother, Morgan. Holliday kills Bailey with a knife-throw when Bailey attempts to shoot him in the back. Holliday is arrested for murder, though Wyatt and Kate allow him to escape from a lynch mob.
In Dodge City, Kansas, Wyatt finds out that Holliday and Kate are in town. Holliday tells him he has no money, so Wyatt allows him to stay if he promises to not fight while he is in town. Meanwhile, gorgeous gambler Laura Denbow (Rhonda Fleming) is arrested for playing cards since women are not allowed to gamble. She is released and allowed to play in the side rooms of the saloon. Wyatt is forced to deputize Holliday because a bank robber kills a cashier and Wyatt's other deputies are out in a posse catching another outlaw. The bank robbers attempt to ambush Wyatt outside of town, but are instead killed by Wyatt and Holliday.
Back in Dodge City, Holliday learns Kate has left him for Ringo, who taunts Holliday to a shootout and throws liquor on him. Holliday steadfastly refuses to fight him. Shanghai Pierce (Ted de Corsia) and his henchmen ride into town, wound deputy Charlie Bassett (Earl Holliman) and attack a dancehall, but Wyatt and Holliday hold the men and defuse the situation. As Ringo attempts to intervene, Holliday shoots him in the arm. Holliday returns to his room and Kate is waiting for him, but he refuses to take her back. She swears she will see him dead. By now, Wyatt and Laura have fallen in love, but when he receives a letter from his brother, Virgil, asking him to come clean up Tombstone, Arizona, she refuses to go with him unless he changes. Holliday catches up to Wyatt on the trail and both head to Tombstone.
In Tombstone, Wyatt finds out that Ike Clanton is trying to herd thousands of head of Mexican cattle but cannot as long as the Earps control Tombstone's railway station. Morgan Earp (DeForest Kelley) criticizes his brother's association with Holliday, but Wyatt insists the gunslinger is welcome in Tombstone as long as he stays out of trouble. Cotton, the cowardly county sheriff from Fort Griffin, offers Wyatt a $20,000 bribe (about $496,000 today) if he allows the stolen cattle to be shipped, but Wyatt refuses. He rides out to the Clanton ranch, returning young Billy Clanton (Dennis Hopper) to his mother after finding Billy drunk. Wyatt informs Ike that he has been made a U.S. Marshal and has legal authority in every county in the United States. Finding no recourse, the Clantons decide to ambush Wyatt as he makes his nightly rounds, but kill his younger brother James Earp (Martin Milner) by mistake.
The next morning, Ike and five of his henchman go to Tombstone to face off against the Earps at the O.K. Corral. Holliday, who is sick from tuberculosis, joins them. Though Virgil and Morgan are wounded in the gunfight, all six in Clanton's gang are killed, including Billy, who is given a chance to surrender but refuses. After the fight is over, Wyatt joins Holliday for a final drink before heading off to California to meet Laura, as promised.

Tags: cult, historical

Review:
Its fine score and excellent production values--color, sets, costumes, effects--are met by a a deep bench of lead and character actors that inhabited 50's Hollywood movies and TV.Lancaster and Douglas both bring their full-throated intensity to their parts; Rhonda Fleming is hauntingly beautiful; Lyle Bettger gets by with the grasping, selfish evil he could project so well.
"Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" has some of the Sturges virtues, but not all It doesn't however disappoint when it comes to the crunchthe gunfight itself This is magnificently staged It probably equals anything that law and order movies have produced in set-piece battles The film also focuses on the friendship between Earp and Holliday and the good will of two different kinds of men...
Holliday's character as the black sheep, is much more interesting than the straight marshal who is at the same time the lawman, the judge and the jury.' The main assets of the motion picture are Lancaster and Douglas, two great stars conscious of their potentialities with excellent ability...Douglas is impressing and brilliant as the troubled sick Doc Holliday and Lancaster is confident, solid and likable as Wyatt Earp...
The mirror scene, in the beginning of the film, is great: Douglas, cool and steady, is ready for action observing carefully in the mirror the sharp feature and narrow steely eyes of Lee Van Cleef who is so anxious to kill him with a small gun hidden in his left boot...Fine performances by a first-class cast heighten the interest: Rhonda Fleming is ravishing as the redhead lady gambler; Jo Van Fleet is very effective as the jealous lady, torn between Ringo and Holliday; Earl Holliman is good as the naive deputy who 'picks up the hardware as soon as the cowboys hit town;' John Ireland is unforgettable with his slight stoop and menacing walk; Lyle Bettger is strong as Ike Clanton, the organizer of the toughest bunch of gunslingers; Dennis Hopper is difficult and rebellious as the young Clanton who can't take the advice of the marshal; and Jack Elam is threatening as the tall and lean man with an evil leer...Dimitri Tiomkin's great score back up the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," a pure Western, magnificently photographed by Charles Lang in VistaVision and Technicolor...
Burt Lancaster is capable enough and did it, but Wyatt Earp maybe one of the least complex roles he ever essayed.Kirk Douglas though is the best Doc Holiday I've ever seen portrayed.
Lancaster as Wyatt Earp moves through this film like a ballet dancer and Douglas as Doc Holliday squares that famous chin and gets tough while hacking up his lungs to tuberculosis.
'Gunfight at O.K. Corral' is one of the many films that have told the tale of the famous showdown between the Earps and the Clantons, but setting this version apart is the ideal casting of Burt Lancaster as the straight-shooting Marshal Wyatt Earp, and Kirk Douglas as the sardonic, dying gambler, Doc Holliday.
His portrayal is far closer in spirit to the interpretations of Holliday by Val Kilmer, in 'Tombstone', and Dennis Quaid, in 'Wyatt Earp', than Victor Mature, in John Ford's 'My Darling Clementine'.The film, co-written by Leon Uris, author of 'Exodus', is a historically fanciful but very entertaining exploration of the friendship between Earp and Holliday, as the lawman moves from Dodge City to Tombstone, followed by the gambler, covering a 'blood debt', after Earp saves his life.
While purists will quickly note that the shoot-'em-up presented is totally fabricated (watch 'Wyatt Earp' or 'Tombstone' if you want accuracy), it certainly is rousing!Other aspects of the film to enjoy...Dimitri Tiompkin's magnificent musical score, highlighted by Frankie Laine's unforgettable performance of the title tune, throughout the film...Excellent supporting players, including Jo Van Fleet as Holliday's mistress, John Ireland as evil Johnny Ringo, a young Dennis Hopper as Billy Clanton, and Rhonda Fleming as the gambler girlfriend of Wyatt (based on Earp's actual wife, Josie)...Cameos by Kenneth Tobey as Bat Masterson, DeForest Kelley as Morgan Earp, Martin Milner as James Earp, and Frank Faylen as the corrupt sheriff.The director, John Sturges, revisited the Earp saga some years later in 'Hour of the Gun', with James Garner as Earp, and Jason Robards as Holliday, but while the later film may be more correct, historically, 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' is a far more enjoyable film.
They are the strangest alliance between the West's most famous sheriff Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) , trying to overcome outlaws and its deadliest gambling killer , Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas).
The third part focuses Tombstone , 1881 , with stimulating scenes about OK Corral gunfight between Morgan (DeForest Kelley) , Virgil (John Howard), Wyatt Earp , Doc against the nefarious Ike (Lyle Bettgler), Billy Clanton (Dennis Hooper) , Johnny Ringo, and Tom McLowery(Jack Elam).
The main character is a historical figure , in this case the sheriff Wyatt Earp who participated the most famous duel occurred in the western town of Tombstone in 1881 that has been brought to the big screen many times as in the classic "My Darling Clementine" in 1946 directed by John Ford with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature , in this "Gunfight at O.K. Corral" (1957) by specialist John Sturges who would resume the same story in "The Hour of the Gun" (1967) ; the demystifying "Doc" (Frank Perry, 1971) with Harris Yulin and Stacy Keach or the more modern "Tombstone: The Legend of Wyatt Earp" (George P.
Douglas made a career out of playing generous-spirited bad guys, and one of the best things in this film is Doc Holliday's heroic effort of will, rising from his sickbed to stand beside his friend in the face of mortal danger.
This is a great and underrated genre movie that is a take on the story of the Earp brothers and 'Doc' Holliday and their fight with the Clanton gang, in Tombstone.The movie features some classic western characters, that almost everybody knows already.
Burt Lancaster is fairly good in the role of Wyatt Earp but the one that steals the show is Kirk Douglas as John 'Doc' Holliday.
What makes the story worth seeing are two big stars playing main roles: Burt Lancaster as "Wyatt Earp" and Kirk Douglas as "Doc Holliday." What's different about the story is that, unlike all other versions, Earp and Holliday are not good friends throughout this movie, although they wind up as allies in the final shootout.
Burt Lancaster plays real-life western lawman Wyatt Earp, who travels to Tombstone, Arizona to join his brothers in their business, only to be called upon to serve after learning about a rival family, the Clantons, who are portrayed as thugs and cattle thieves.
He enlists the help of old friend(but outlaw gunfighter) Doc Holliday(Kirk Douglas) to do battle with the Clantons after personal tragedy leads to that famous gunfight.Surprisingly dull western has a good cast but a slow pace, with an awkward and mawkish love story that drags it down even more.
Rhonda Fleming provides a bit of window dressing in a wonderful but brief  role as Wyatt's love interest.More of a classic western than `My Darling Clementine', an earlier movie about Wyatt and Doc at the OK Corral, but this version is more episodic in nature, though equally fictional.
Released in 1957 and directed by John Sturges, "Gunfight at the OK Corral" stars Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday in a loose adaption of the events that led up to the famous shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, on October 26, 1881.
By the time the Earp brothers & Holliday relocate to Tombstone there are a mere 50 minutes left in the movie, which means there's only a small measure of time to establish the villainy of Ike Clanton (Lyle Bettger) & his 'Cowboys' outlaw gang and subsequently build-up to the climatic shootout.
"Hour of the Gun" (1967) (which, by the way, is Sturges' sequel to this one, albeit with a different cast and a more accurate gunfight at the OK Corral), "Doc" (1971), "Tombstone" (1993) and "Wyatt Earp" (1994).
Wyatt Earp (burt lancaster) and Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas) take on the Clanton gang in Tombstone..
Although "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" takes many liberties with the historical facts of the incident, it is nevertheless a classic western thanks mainly to the chemistry of its two stars, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas and its director, the legendary John Sturges.Lancaster plays Wyatt Earp and Douglas Doc Holiday.
For what unfolds in that two hour running time is what director (Sturges would be bemused by its success and ten years later took another stab at the legend and made Hour of the Gun) and leading actors agreed was a very talky movie, the emphasis is on a friendship, a love really, between John Henry "Doc" Holliday and Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp.
The Frankie Laine Song, with its Laughable Lyrics is not Only in the Opening and Closing Credits, it is Hit-Paraded Out a Number of Times just in Case the Audience got So Bored and Tired of the Triteness that the Plot Needed to be Tuned with some Clippity-Clop Embarrassment.The Titled Climax, so Long in Coming, is the Highlight in this Film that has So Many Lowlights and it is Hardly Worth the Wait.Note...Writer Leon Uris needs a shout out Razzie in this mess, because He actually wrote a line that has one of the Earps saying "By golly"...oh Brother how's that for some true grit..
One of the best westerns ever.....Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, two of the top Hollywood actors of the day in the lead roles.....a rootin and tooting shoot em up western...very good story line about the very strenuous relationship between Earp and Holiday and how they hated and liked each other in equal amounts.
Burt Lancaster as legendary lawman Wyatt Earp; Kirk Douglas as gunfighting & hard-drinking dentist Doc Holliday.
I hate to be the only person to point this out but Gunfight At The O.K. corral spends way too much time dwelling on the love interests of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and not enough time telling of the events that lead up to the title shootout.
The Clantons and the other Earp brothers are reduced to cardboard scenery in the final shootout with the possible exception of Dennis Hopper as Billy, the youngest Clanton.Kirk Douglas is great (like always) as Doc Holliday but Burt Lancaster is a bland Wyatt Earp.
For Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Dennis Hopper, and/or western fans, generally, this movie is O.K. Others may want to make a full pot of coffee before viewing "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral".
Mr. Lancaster and Mr. Douglas are both good, and the film is mostly enjoyable if you like the epic western style represented; although, in my opinion, this isn't really the best version of the story.The singing of Frankie Laine was okay, but I confess to wondering, each time he sang, can this be near the end?.
****** Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) John Sturges ~ Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Dennis Hopper.
To whit: the killing of Billy the Kid by Sheriff Pat Garrett, and the show-down between Wyatt Earp, his brother Morgan, and his friend Doc Holliday against Ike Clanton and his brothers, and Johnny Ringo at the O.K. Corral, and the shooting of Jesse James by Bob and Charlie Ford.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is a 1957 movie starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday about the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.
Burt Lancaster plays Wyatt Earp, the renowned lawman, while Kirk Douglas is consumptive gambler (and gunfighter) Doc Holliday -- the two meet in difficult circumstances, as Earp discovers that Holiday, for whom he initially feels little but loathing, is being held on a trumped up murder charge and being set up for a lynching, and intercedes on his behalf.
This cannot be said for Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.Gunfight is an early western starring Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster and it's interpretation of the infamous lawman and gunfighter Doc Holliday.
Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, gambler and a killer of many men yet a man of his word to Wyatt Earp is the best thing in this film.
John Sturges directs this story of lawman Wyatt Earp(Burt Lancaster) and Doc Holliday(Kirk Douglas) joining forces to run the criminal element out of Dodge City where Earp decides to retire from his long career that made him known throughout the land.
The movie starts with the meeting between Wyatt Earp (Lancaster) and the notorious Doc Holliday (Douglas)whom Earp rescues from a lynching.The movie follows the growing friendship between these two different men until it climaxes with the famous shootout between the Earps and the Clantons.A good western with a terrific performance by Lancaster and an even better one by Douglas.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is one of the best, so if you're like me and need good acting and an exciting story amidst the horses and rifles, add this one to your list!Burt Lancaster plays Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas plays Doc Holliday in this version of the famed shootout in Tombstone, Arizona.
Best performance = Kirk Douglas.The 1950's cranked out quite a few of these Western Oaters and this particular story has been done a number of times - HOUR OF THE GUN, DOC, TOMBSTONE, and WYATT EARP.
At least John Sturges gets the title right and from there gives old Papa a real run for his money in relating this classic tale of the West.In actual fact, it takes till almost half-way before Wyatt Earp gets the fateful telegram from brother Virgil in Tombstone to face down the Clanton gang, augmented by bad penny gunslinger Johnny Ringo who has issues with Doc Holliday as they compete for the attention of Doc's old paramour.
Sturges plays down the quirky folksiness of Ford, so that we don't get Holliday operating on, the sight of Wyatt and Laura hot-stepping at the country dance or even Earp balancing on his chair.There's a stirring theme song sung by Frankie Laine too, which acts as commentary as the film progresses and Star Trek fans will note the coincidence of DeForest Kelley appearing as an Earp brother when 10 years in later in the classic ST episode "Shadow Of The Gun", he found himself with Kirk, Spock and others as a Clanton.In the final analysis, I'll still award the OK laurels to Ford, but this excellent, fast-moving movie gets mighty, mighty close.
The famous shootout gets a lavish screen treatment, with Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Douglas as Doc Holliday providing the star power.
i thought this was a good movie.the actual gunfight referred to in the movie is a very small part and happens close to the end.most of the movie is a buildup to that point.we get to know the characters and their motivations.The character of Wyatt Earp is portrayed by Burt Lancaster,and it took me awhile to warm up to his characterization,but eventually he won me over.Kirk Douglas plays Doc Holliday and he is brilliant.his charisma just jumps off the screen.Deforest Kelley plays one of the Earp brothers and a very young Dennis Hopper plays one of the Clanton gang.i liked the fact that the story was developed.it moves at a good pace,and i never found it boring..
You could say this a Kirk Douglas film well supported by Burt Lancaster (Wyatt Earp) and the rest of the cast.
Produced by Hal Wallis for Paramount Pictures in 1957 it was masterfully directed by John Sturges and mightily cast with Burt Lancaster as the great frontier lawman Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday.
From his developing relationship with the dubious Doc Holliday to his many run ins with rancher Ike Clanton and his law breaking gang of cowboys which would inevitably lead to the event that would become known as the most famous and notorious shootout in American western history.........THE GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL.The incident itself has been well documented by Hollywood.
How about Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as the morally ambiguous but highly honorable Doc Holliday?
It's a shame to think what you'll remember most from this film is that song, but it's just so bizarre to hear anything like it in a theoretically grown up story and it serves as one of those surprising reminders of how much American culture has changed.Made during that era when Hollywood considered history an inconvenience to be dispensed with, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is the story of Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) and Doc Holiday (Kirk Douglas).
And the way the film strongly condemns the Earp's for taking the law into their own hands in their feud with the Clanton's is just not something you see in similar stories today.Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is an unexceptional Western beyond giving you a chance to see Lancaster and Douglas strut their stuff.
The 2 'buddies' in question are Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday (played by longtime acting collaborators Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas).
Perhaps it was best expressed by one of the closing lines of another Western film, 1962's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" - "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend".Probably more interesting for me than the actual gunfight itself was the way the movie focused on the relationship between Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster) and Doc Holliday (Kirk Douglas).
Still it is a very good old 'western' that holds up well almost 60 years alter.Burt Lancaster, in his early 40s, is Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas, just about 40, is Doc Holliday.
"Gunfight at the OK Corral" starts with the earlier history of Wyatt Earp, his brothers and Doc Holliday, and then moves on to events in Tombstone, with the Gunfight as the climax of the film.