Hour of the Gun (1967)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

John Sturges

Writer:

Edward Anhalt (written by)

Release Date:

1968 (Austria)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Wyatt Earp - hero with a badge or cold-blooded killer?

Plot:

Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton-gang in a fight. In revenge Clanton's thugs kill the marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt Earp starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday. |

Plot Keywords:

Wyatt Earp | Doc Holliday | Revenge | Sanitorium | Posse

Cast

James Garner	...	Wyatt Earp
Jason Robards	...	Doc Holliday
Robert Ryan	...	Ike Clanton
Albert Salmi	...	Octavius Roy
Charles Aidman	...	Horace Sullivan
Steve Ihnat	...	Andy Warshaw
Michael Tolan	...	Pete Spence
William Windom	...	Texas Jack Vermillion
Lonny Chapman	...	Turkey Creek Johnson
Larry Gates	...	John P. Clum
William Schallert	...	Judge Herman Spicer
Bill Fletcher	...	County Sheriff Jimmy Bryan
Karl Swenson	...	Dr. Charles Goodfellow
Austin Willis	...	Anson Safford
Monte Markham	...	Tucson Sheriff Sherman McMasters

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Norway:16 | Netherlands:AL (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Prior to production, United Artists had made it quite clear to director John Sturges that none of the primary roles were to be filled by the actors who played the same characters in Sturges' previous Wyatt Earp film, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). Wanting to distinguish this film from the previous one, they demanded different actors be cast in the roles. However, Sturges believed that the roles of Virgil and Morgan Earp from the previous film were small enough that the same actors who played them could do it again without harming the film's uniqueness. The studio agreed and allowed Sturges to cast John Hudson (Virgil Earp) and DeForest Kelley (Morgan Earp). Unfortunately, Hudson had retired from acting in the early '60s and was unwilling to do the role. Kelley, on the other hand, was currently working on the TV series "Star Trek" (1966) and was unable to break away to play Morgan Earp. Thus, both Earp brothers were recast.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Curly Bill Brocius is shot by Wyatt Earp, only a tiny entrance wound is shown in his forehead as he falls over, even though Earp fired a shotgun. A shotgun blast would have blown Brocius's head apart.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[The Earps and Doc Holliday approach the O.K. Corral]
Wyatt Earp (Tombstone city marshal: Ike Clanton, Andy Warshaw, Latigo, Curly Joe Brocious... Who's in the corral, Virg?
Marshal Virgil Earp: Billy Clanton and the McLowerys.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Star Trek: Spectre of the Gun (#3.6)" (1968)

One of the best tellings of the Earp-Clanton feud

The story of the showdown between the brothers Earp and the Clanton gang is certainly as much a part of American mythology as the Puritans on the first Thanksgiving or Lincoln at Gettysburg. Hollywood certainly loves to tell the tale over and over again. In fact this is director John Sturges's second telling.

The Gunfight at the OK Corral done in 1956 by this director had as the climax the famous gunfight. Here in Hour of the Gun, Sturges starts his story with the gunfight and the results afterward.

Ike Clanton played by Robert Ryan in his usual grim fashion is not about to let Wyatt Earp triumph after killing some of his gang and his kin. He sets in motion a series of events that bring tragedy on the Earp family and a sinister turn in the character of Wyatt Earp.

The usual lackadaisical and quizzical James Garner is also pretty grim in this picture. He's throwing away the law he's sworn to uphold and the set of moral rules he lives by. And it's tearing away his character which is something Doc Holiday is deeply concerned with.

James Garner ranks right up there with all the fine actors like Henry Fonda, Burt Lancaster, Randolph Scott, Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell who have played Earp. James Garner never turned a bad performance in on the screen and he even got to play Wyatt Earp again in Sunset for Blake Edwards.

And Jason Robards, Jr. goes every step of the way with Garner as Doc Holiday. Holiday is the usual cynical alcoholic who's a jaded idealist and recognizes Earp as the real deal hero. His concern for Earp's character disintegration registers well in his performance.

Watch for a young Jon Voight, pre-Midnight Cowboy, as Curly Bill Brocius, a Clanton gang member.

This is a real western classic. And accept for Hugh O'Brian's television series, the most accurate portrayal of the OK Corral events.