7 secondes en enfer

After the shoot out at the OK Corral, Ike Clanton brides officials to start legal proceedings against Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday for the murder of his brother. The judge weighs up the evidence and spots some contradictions in key parts of the prosecution case and thus acquits Earp and Holliday and rules the shoot out was part of them fulfilling their duties as lawmen. Unsatisfied with this ruling, Clanton gets a couple of his men to kill Wyatt's brothers setting the law man on a quest to bring Clanton in – but is he seeking justice or revenge? I had never heard of this film until recently but I decided to give it a try when I read it was a sequel to OK Corral. In essence it is a rather old-fashioned western but it has a nice mean air to it that I found complimented the material. The plot is simple though and it never gets to grips with the darker side of the legends of Wyatt and Doc; perhaps because it was Sturges that directed but I would lie to see the film as it would have been made when The Wild Bunch turned the western genre on its head. Because here the focus is the story where really it needed to be on Wyatt the man as he loses touch with the lawman and starts to resemble much more of a driven revenge figure. It is a shame that the film doesn't go deeper into this but as it is it is still an enjoyable western that does what it does well enough for genre fans.

The cast are good despite not having anyone carried over from the first film. Garner does make for a mean Wyatt and even if the material doesn't go deep, Garner's eyes show that he understands what he is doing. Robards is enjoyable as Holliday and has one of the film's best dialogue scenes when he confronts the man he once looked up to. Ryan isn't as key as I had hoped and the narrative keeps him to the side for the majority of the film. The support cast are mainly good enough for the genre but it is Garner and Robards who dominate the whole thing.

Overall this is a solid and enjoyable period western. The dark revenge and hatred within Wyatt is hinted at but it is only really Garner who seems to want to really bring it out of his character as the film only toys with it while staying in firmly old-fashioned territory. Could have been a lot more interesting then but still manages to be an enjoyable western for fans of the genre as it was before changing in the late sixties.

Although inaccurate it far outweighs "Doc" made 4 years later. Garner does his best in portraying Earp as grim and unemotional, yet cool and unflinching. This was Earp's persona. Robards, although older than the real Holliday was at the time, also does well. I'm not so sure if the real Holliday was concerned with Earp losing his character. He was a loyal friend who was in it for a pound.

Robert Ryan is a superior actor, but Clanton wasn't a land baron. Clanton was a rustler/rancher, loud-mouth/coward that provoked the gunfight at the O.K.corral and lost the case for the prosecution by being a not-too-bright liar. I don't know if Ryan could be cast correctly to portray the real Ike Clanton.But he does well regardless. Earp also didn't really kill Ike.

This movie does explore the vigilante ride of Wyatt and Doc after the wounding of Virgil and the killing of Morgan Earp. Pete Spence was never a sheriff, and Sherm McMasters was a cowboy that informed for Wyatt. The movie is a superior western and as close to accurate as Hollywood came until "Tombstone" and "Wyatt Earp".

The mood is somewhat interesting but it wasn't a moral struggle for Wyatt and Doc in real life. They were doing what they felt was right, vengeance. Earp thought in very black and white terms, killing his brothers killers was the right thing to do in his mind. It didn't matter if it was against the law he often swore to protect as a peace officer in those western boom towns. He was always upright and correct in his profession as a lawman, but in matters of family he was not on the job and no longer wearing a badge. his duty to law enforcement no longer applied.

The film takes place from October 26, 1881 to April 15, 1882 . Tombstone , Arizona , at the OK Corral , hoodlums from evil Ike Clanton (Robert Ryan , he was 57 at the time that the film was made , though his role Ike was only 34 years old) confront gunplay against Wyatt Earp (James Garner) , his brothers Virgil (Frank Converse played Earp's elder brother, in spite of the fact that he was ten years James Garner's junior) , Morgan (Melville) and joining forces with an ill-fated Doc Holliday (Jason Robards) . Members from Clanton gang result dead and as revenge Ike orders kill to Earp's brother . A furious Wyatt Earp swears vengeance and with help his friend Doc will do pay one for one the killers his brother.

This traditional western deals what happens later the gun-play at Tombstone . It's a sequel from superior version and more famous actors (Douglas and Lancaster) by the same director ¨Gunfight at the OK Corral¨(1957) . 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 . Wanting to distinguish this film from the previous one , they demanded different actors be cast in the roles . The main character is a historical figure , in this case the sheriff Wyatt Earp who participated the most known 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 , the famous "Gunfight at O.K. Corral" (1957) by specialist John Sturges who would resume the same story in this "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. Cosmatos, 1993) with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer and ¨Wyatt Earp¨ (Lawrence Kasdan, 1994) with Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid . ¨Hour of guns¨ packs an enjoyable and glimmer cinematography by Lucien Ballard . This thrilling film contains a spectacular and atmospheric musical score by the great Jerry Goldsmith . The motion picture was professionally directed by John Sturges.

The picture was based correctly on real events , thus : In 1879 Wyatt and his brothers and Doc Holliday arrived in Tombstone . Virgil became the town marshal . Trouble brewed up among the Earp gang and Clanton-McLaury faction which resulted the explosive showdown that lasted thirty seconds and Virgil and Morgan were badly wounded . Less than a year after the incident , Morgan was killed in an ambush . In response Wyatt and Holliday tracked down and shot the two man they considered to be Morgan's killers, and were forced to elude a pursuing posse in Colorado . Far from fitting the popular description of a stand-off among good guys and bad guys some historians consider the incident OK corral to be nothing but cold blooded murder of the Clanton and McLaurys some of whom were unarmed,by the Earps and Doc . The Earps always maintained the show down was fought in self-defense . Wyatt Earp lived on until 1929 but will always be remembered as the hero of OK Corral , however Doc , an alcoholic dentist turned gambler and gunman, will die soonest .

This is the quasi-sequel to Sturges' "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" and it improves on that film in every way. The Panavision widescreen gives it a more epic scope than "O.K.", and in the ten years between the two films Sturges has also much improved his mise-en-scene. Whereas "O.K." was often unassuming at best and plain dull at worst in its framing (additionally hindered by some obvious studio shots presenting the outdoors), Sturges gets the most out of his shots here. The sequence in which Virgil Earp is gunned down in a dark street is one example. Thankfully enough the dreadful "singing cowboy" songs of "O.K." are nowhere to be heard, instead we have one of Jerry Goldsmith's best scores...and that says something. Acting is also a touch better than in the predecessor. While the Lancaster-Douglas team of "O.K." was indeed that - o.k. - it was bogged down by the repetitious dialogue they were given. Garner and Robards, both somewhat underestimated actors, give fine performances here. And while Robert Ryan as the villainous Ike Clanton is not given much to work with, he makes a reasonable impact as the scheming cattle baron and thief. Finally, and most importantly, the timing of the film is much better than "O.K." which was simply a chore to go through and a bore when one got there. "Hour of the Gun" alternates politics (both sides of the conflict getting the law on their sides, in itself a truthful and interesting account of law and order in the Wild West) and action scenes with Wyatt and comrades pursuing the attackers of his brothers. The depiction of Earp's vigilantism is relatively realistic though the claim of the film to "tell it as it happened" is of course somewhat over-exaggerated, especially concerning the fate of Ike Clanton.

As far as westerns from the end of the golden age of that genre go, "Hour of the Gun" does not rank among the very best, but is a minor treasure nonetheless, a very worthwhile film that tells the events after the famous showdown at the O.K. Corral, and does a very good job of doing so.

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 except for Hugh O'Brian's television series, the most accurate portrayal of the OK Corral events.