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| Spanish Poster. |
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| Wyatt Earp. |
The actual
gunfight at the OK Corral, which took place in Tombstone Arizona Territory on
the 26th October 1881, was a very messy affair that was all over in
30 seconds. Wyatt Earp, his two brothers Morgan and Virgil and the infamous
John Henry “Doc” Holiday were accused of murdering Tom and Frank McLaury and
Billy Clanton, but all four were acquitted with Judge Spencer and the court
ruling that they had acted ‘wisely,
discreetly and prudentially to secure their own preservation’ and ‘were fully justified in committing these
homicides and it was a necessary act done in the discharge of official duty’.
It was alleged that it was the Earp’s and Holliday’s political and business
interests which included prostitution, gambling and protection and the Earp’s
investments in the local silver mines which produced six million dollars worth
of silver that led to a forced confrontation with the ‘cowboys’ a confederation
of outlaws, rustlers and small ranchers.
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| Doc Holliday. |
Frank
Perry’s 1971 version of events in Doc or as my copy is called Duelo
a Muerle En O.K. Corral is nearer the truth than either the John Ford
collaboration with Wyatt Earp My Darling
Clementine (1946) or the latter John Sturges version Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). Perry’s account of this famous
gunfight is seen through the eyes of Doc Holliday a graduate of the Baltimore
College of Dentistry but far better known for gambling at the card tables and
the many killings attributed to him. The film begins with Holliday walking into
a bar and inviting himself into an existing card game that included Ike
Clanton, he wagers his horse against Clanton’s ‘women’ a certain Ms Kate Elder.
Much to the obvious irritation of Clanton Holiday wins his game and transports
his prize to Tombstone where the good Dentist is to meet up with his old friend
Marshal Wyatt Earp.
Perry
is an American stage and film director best known for The Swimmer (1968) starring Burt Lancaster and the 1981 Joan
Crawford biopic Mommie Dearest with
Faye Dunaway in the title role. A gritty and realistic movie which I enjoyed
immensely, Doc stars Stacy Keach as
Holliday, Harris Yulin as Wyatt Earp and Faye Dunaway is Kate Elder, a women
that was also known as Kate Fisher and unkindly as Big Nosed Kate. Although USA
financed it was shot in the Almeria
district of Southern Spain, this and the fact they used local extras made
the film closely resembles a Spaghetti Western. Indecently I purchased my DVD
from a market stall for 4 euro’s in the Spanish town of Carboneras, which is no
great distance from where this film was actually made!
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| Tombstone in the 1880's |
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