good back-story, and good acting

A Masterpiece!

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Probably the most famous lawmaker from the old west is Wyatt Earp (1848 – 1929), possibly because he survived the craziness and actually went to work for Hollywood in his old age during the silent era, hob- knobbing with directors John Ford and Raoul Walsh, and actors William Hart, Tom Mix, and Harry Carey. Some say he even had an influence on a young John Wayne.Earp is most famous for the "Gunfight at the OK Corral", made famous in novels and films. Earp was first featured in the 1923 "Wild Bill Hickok" where he was played by Bert Lindley. Earp himself worked behind the scenes with his buddy William Hart (who played Hickok). He appeared again in "Frontier Marshall" (1934) based on the novel of the same name. George O'Brien played Earp. John Ford produced the first notable film about Earp, called "My Darling Clementine" (1946) which many people consider a great film. Henry Fonda played Earp and Victor Mature played a wonderful coughing Doc Holiday. Old Man Clanton was played savagely by Walter Brennan and John Ireland played Billy Clanton. Ward Bond and Tim Holt played Earp's brothers.The "Wyatt Earp" TV series (1955 – 61) had Hugh O'Brian as Earp and Douglas Fowley as Doc. Ned Buntline was played by Lloyd Corrigan and Old Man Clanton by Trevor Bardette. The series gave birth to the 1957 film "Gunfight at OK Corral" with Burt Lancaster (Earp), Kirk Douglas (Doc), Lyle Bettger (Ike Clanton), Dennis Hopper as a cowardly Billy Clanton, and John Ireland as Johnny Ringo. John Sturges directed this film and re-visited the era with "Hour of the Gun" (1967) with James Garner (Earp), Jason Robards (Doc) and Robert Ryan (Ike Clanton).In more recent years, "Tombstone" (1993) and "Wyatt Earp" (1994) gave us more intense portraits. In Tombstone, we have Kurt Russell (Earp), Val Kilmer (doc) and Stephen Lang (Ike Clanton) with Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as the Earp brothers, Powers Boothe as an irredeemable Curly Bill Brocius and Michael Biehn as the deadly Johnny Ringo. "Wyatt Earp" had Kevin Costner (Earp), Dennis Quaid (Doc), and Jeff Fahey (Ike Clanton) along with a host of women who played the Earp extended family. We even had Gene Hackman in a cameo as the father.So how does this film stack up with the others. For my tastes, the best Earp was Hugh O'Brien on the TV series, followed by Kurt Russell ("Tombstone") whom I think was the more realistic Earp. Val Kilmer is my favorite Doc Holiday, though I am partial to TV's Douglas Fawley. For villains, no one was as despicable as Walter Brennan ("My Darling Clementine") although Powers Boothe ("Tombstone") came close and I was also fond of Michael Biehn ("Tombstone"). The best coward was surely Dennis Hopper ("Gunfight at OK Corrall").In my mind, "Hour of the Gun" is the weakest of the telling of the Earp tale.

I get the biggest kick out of the brief summary of this movie on it's IMDb title page - 'Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton-gang in a fight'. Really - a fight? Come on - it was the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral!!! Let's give it a little more credit.Well director John Sturges picked up somewhat where he left off with 1957's "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral". That picture did a pretty good job of defining the relationship between Wyatt Earp and his friend Doc Holliday, a case of a square deal as defined by the lawman. That relationship continues here though not without it's abrasive moments. I liked the idea of Jason Robards portraying Holliday even though he was almost a decade older than his real life counterpart at the time. He seemed to have the right amount of ego and attitude to mirror Holliday's temperament.The problem I get into with these films is that I tend to focus in on the historical inaccuracies and this one seemed to have it's fair share. Perhaps the biggest one that could have been easily rectified by simply checking was in the spelling of the name 'McLaury'. When the dead men from the Gunfight are put on display, the names of Frank and Tom are spelled 'McLowery'. Virtually any reference source one could look up uses the 'McLaury' spelling.There are others of course. Students of the Old West will know that Wyatt Earp didn't shoot Ike Clanton in a final showdown; he was killed resisting arrest for cattle rustling some six years following the infamous gunfight. As far as the historical Ike Clanton goes, I don't think you'd have ever caught him wearing a business suit. As a leader of the cowboy faction in the vicinity of Tombstone and along the border to Mexico, Clanton plied his trade of cattle rustling as a rough and tumble outlaw instead of a well spoken citizen.The main idea the story got right, and one that most film treatments never go into, is that the Earp dominance of Tombstone ended following the events of the O.K. Corral. Wyatt stood trial for murder and was exonerated, while brother Virgil was wounded a couple months later, followed by Morgan's murder in March of 1882. Thus came to be what historians call the 'Earp Vendetta Ride', a term curiously not referred to in the story.In general though, this movie is a pretty good Western and James Garner does an admirable job as Wyatt Earp, a characterization that's a lot more grim than that of Bret Maverick. I also refer the reader to one of Jon Voight's early screen appearances as Clanton associate Curly Bill Brocius, particularly to an opening scene when he's shown leaning against the wall of the train station. From a different angle it almost looks like the pose he used for the theatrical poster for "Midnight Cowboy".

Skip it – There have been many westerns made about Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the gunfight at the OK Corral. According to the opening credits, this is the "true" story. What sets this story apart, other than the fact that Wyatt Earp is played by James Garner instead of Kurt Russel or Burt Lancaster, is that the movie starts at the OK Corral and recounts the events that follow. Usually the OK Corral is at the end. The action in this one is about average for a western, and Robert Ryan is about average as the "bad guy." Nothing really stands out about this movie. It's not bad, but it ranks behind other Wyatt Earp movies such as "Tombstone," "The Gunfight at the OK Corral," and "My Darling Clementine." So I'd only watch it if you were interested in the events beyond the OK Corral.

Hour of the Gun is directed by John Sturges and adapted to screenplay by Edward Anhalt from Douglas D. Martin's novel Tombstone's Epitaph. It stars James Garner, Jason Robards and Robert Ryan. Music is by Jerry Goldsmith and cinematography is by Lucien Ballard. Story begins with the shootout at the O.K. Corral and tells of the aftermath involving the major players.Although John Sturges' Gunfight at the O.K. Corall ten years previously proved to be popular, the director was never happy with the finished project, due in no small part to the fact that Hal B. Wallis controlled the script. Here Sturges takes control and crafts what in essence is a sequel to the 57 movie. Leaning more towards a character study with a dark edge, Hour of the Gun is refreshing in giving the Wyatt Earp/Doc Holliday characters a different story than the one we normally see on the screen; one that actually attempts historical accuracy where possible.Viewing it now it's easy to see why the film was received coldly back on release. The Western movie was just about creaking along as a viable cinematic genre as it was, but with Sturges and Anhalt portraying one of America's folklore heroes in moral decline, it's unsurprising that it found itself out of sync with the times. However, time has been very kind to it, where over decades the re-evaluation of many a psychological Western has seen it viewed as one of the more bolder and cynical tinted oaters from the 60s.With a fine script from Anhalt to work from, who also features as a player in the film as Holliday's whiskey smuggling carer, the cast work well. Ryan files in for villain duties as Ike Clanton and Garner as Earp and Robards as Holliday make for a suitably sombre pairing. There's also some quality in the support ranks where Albert Salmi, John Voight, Jorge Russeck and Karl Swenson leave good impressions. With Goldsmith tonally aware for the scoring and master photographer Ballard utilising the Panavision on offer for the Durango locations, it's an all round well put together production. Some fat could have done with being trimmed off it to get it 10 minutes shorter; for the story starts to feel over long entering the last quarter. But Hour of the Gun is not only a better than your average 60s Western, it's also one of the better Wyatt Earp movies available to those interested in the subject. 7.5/10