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Hour of the Gun
Hour of the Gun is a 1967 American Western film depicting Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona. It stars James Garner as Earp, Jason Robards as Holliday, and Robert Ryan as Clanton. The film was directed by John Sturges.
Sturges had previously directed a highly fictionalized version of the same events in the film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, but in Hour of the Gun, he strove for more historical accuracy than in most previous screen depictions of Earp's adventures. The film is based on the nonfiction book Tombstone's Epitaph by Douglas D. Martin, with a screenplay by Edward Anhalt.
During the film's opening title and credits sequence, an onscreen title appears last: "This picture is based on Fact. This is the way it happened." Hour of the Gun is, in fact, more accurate than its predecessors in many ways. For instance, it correctly shows Ike Clanton surviving the O.K. Corral shoot-out, whereas previous films had shown him being one of its fatalities.
Not everything in the film, though, adheres strictly to fact. It has Ike Clanton ultimately being killed by Wyatt Earp, whereas Clanton actually died in an 1887 duel with a constable named Jonas Brighton. In addition, Hour of the Gun portrays Doc Holliday as a graying Civil War veteran much older than the Earp brothers, though in fact he was younger than most of them and was too young to have served in that conflict. The death of Curly Bill Brocious is inaccurately portrayed as a street shootout between Brocius and two others vs. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Furthermore, the opening depicts the gunfight as happening at the O.K. Corral, whereas it actually happened in the alley near the corral between Fremont and Allen streets near Fly photography studio.
Outnumbered but determined, the deputy marshal of Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, his older brother Virgil, who is the current city marshal, his younger brother Morgan, a Tombstone special police officer, and ally Doc Holliday, who was made an officer and given a badge for the occasion, confront and get the best of the Ike Clanton gang in a violent shootout at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona town of Tombstone.
Clanton, a rustler, conspires to have the Earps charged with murder and tried in a court of law. When they are cleared, Virgil runs for re-election as Tombstone city marshal, but is ambushed and maimed by some of Clanton's hired guns. Morgan elects to run for the office in his brother's place, but he is assassinated on election day after winning.
While seeing Virgil and his family off to California for their safety, Earp kills Frank Stillwell, foiling an attempted ambush orchestrated by Clanton. An appointment as a federal marshal then gives him the authority to pursue the others involved in the attacks on his brothers. Doc Holliday, a gambler who has been on the wrong side of the law himself more than once, assembles a posse to support the pursuit. The men locate Pete Spence, "Curly" Bill Brocius, and Andy Warshaw. In each case, Earp manipulates the circumstances to get his target to draw a weapon rather than simply surrendering, thus enabling Earp to kill them legally rather than make an arrest. Holliday calls Earp out on his tactics, but his strength gives out due to his tuberculosis, and Earp transports him to a sanitarium in Colorado.
With Clanton weakened, wealthy interests in Tombstone step forward to end the dispute, buying off the men supporting Clanton, which leads him to hide out in Mexico. To entice Earp to remain in Tombstone, the city's leading citizens tell him they are seeking an appointment for him as chief U.S. marshal that could one day make him the adjutant general for the territory. Earp declines to give his answer to the offer immediately, but tells Holliday that he is going back to Tombstone to accept the job. Holliday does not believe him, and knows Earp is really going to Mexico to track down Clanton with the cooperation of the Mexican federal authorities. Holliday again joins Earp on the mission, which ends with a final showdown in which Earp shoots Clanton dead in a fast-draw duel between the two.
Hour of the Gun
Hour of the Gun is a 1967 American Western film depicting Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona. It stars James Garner as Earp, Jason Robards as Holliday, and Robert Ryan as Clanton. The film was directed by John Sturges.
Sturges had previously directed a highly fictionalized version of the same events in the film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, but in Hour of the Gun, he strove for more historical accuracy than in most previous screen depictions of Earp's adventures. The film is based on the nonfiction book Tombstone's Epitaph by Douglas D. Martin, with a screenplay by Edward Anhalt.
During the film's opening title and credits sequence, an onscreen title appears last: "This picture is based on Fact. This is the way it happened." Hour of the Gun is, in fact, more accurate than its predecessors in many ways. For instance, it correctly shows Ike Clanton surviving the O.K. Corral shoot-out, whereas previous films had shown him being one of its fatalities.
Not everything in the film, though, adheres strictly to fact. It has Ike Clanton ultimately being killed by Wyatt Earp, whereas Clanton actually died in an 1887 duel with a constable named Jonas Brighton. In addition, Hour of the Gun portrays Doc Holliday as a graying Civil War veteran much older than the Earp brothers, though in fact he was younger than most of them and was too young to have served in that conflict. The death of Curly Bill Brocious is inaccurately portrayed as a street shootout between Brocius and two others vs. Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. Furthermore, the opening depicts the gunfight as happening at the O.K. Corral, whereas it actually happened in the alley near the corral between Fremont and Allen streets near Fly photography studio.
Outnumbered but determined, the deputy marshal of Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, his older brother Virgil, who is the current city marshal, his younger brother Morgan, a Tombstone special police officer, and ally Doc Holliday, who was made an officer and given a badge for the occasion, confront and get the best of the Ike Clanton gang in a violent shootout at the O.K. Corral in the Arizona town of Tombstone.
Clanton, a rustler, conspires to have the Earps charged with murder and tried in a court of law. When they are cleared, Virgil runs for re-election as Tombstone city marshal, but is ambushed and maimed by some of Clanton's hired guns. Morgan elects to run for the office in his brother's place, but he is assassinated on election day after winning.
While seeing Virgil and his family off to California for their safety, Earp kills Frank Stillwell, foiling an attempted ambush orchestrated by Clanton. An appointment as a federal marshal then gives him the authority to pursue the others involved in the attacks on his brothers. Doc Holliday, a gambler who has been on the wrong side of the law himself more than once, assembles a posse to support the pursuit. The men locate Pete Spence, "Curly" Bill Brocius, and Andy Warshaw. In each case, Earp manipulates the circumstances to get his target to draw a weapon rather than simply surrendering, thus enabling Earp to kill them legally rather than make an arrest. Holliday calls Earp out on his tactics, but his strength gives out due to his tuberculosis, and Earp transports him to a sanitarium in Colorado.
With Clanton weakened, wealthy interests in Tombstone step forward to end the dispute, buying off the men supporting Clanton, which leads him to hide out in Mexico. To entice Earp to remain in Tombstone, the city's leading citizens tell him they are seeking an appointment for him as chief U.S. marshal that could one day make him the adjutant general for the territory. Earp declines to give his answer to the offer immediately, but tells Holliday that he is going back to Tombstone to accept the job. Holliday does not believe him, and knows Earp is really going to Mexico to track down Clanton with the cooperation of the Mexican federal authorities. Holliday again joins Earp on the mission, which ends with a final showdown in which Earp shoots Clanton dead in a fast-draw duel between the two.