Doc Holliday

This demystifying "Doc" (Frank Perry, 1971) packs a good cast with Harris Yulin , Faye Dunaway and Stacy Keach . Three nice actors in a huge exciting production . They form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral . At the beginning Doc Holliday , a famous poker gambler , one day he challenges a man to poker , betting his horse against his opponent's woman . There he meets Katie Fisher, also known as Katie Elder (Faye Dunaway) , will follow him wherever he goes . Their next destination is Tombstone , where the law is represented by Sheriff Wyatt Earp . They fought shoulder to shoulder in the wildest stand-up gunfight in the history of the West . They are the strangest alliance between the West's most famous sheriff , Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin) , trying to overcome outlaws and its deadliest gambling killer , Doc Holliday (Stacy Keach) . When he arrives in Tombstone , the election campaign is in full swing . Earp runs for candidate but the Clantons , a family gang of outlaw cowboys, are not among his keenest supporters . Conflict erupts following the failure of some shadowy bargaining and Doc decides to join Wyatt and his brothers , Virgil (John Bottoms), Morgan and James . There they would see them in a feud with the Clantons led by Ike (Mike Witney) , a local clan of ruthless thugs and cattle thieves . When the showdown becomes inevitable , the help will come from Doc Holliday , a terminally-ill gambler who happens to be another Wild West legend . The four of them gather at the O.K. Corral where the seven Clanton brothers along with The Kid (Denver Collins) are waiting for them . The film correctly builds up its suspense until a tense battle in streets of Tombstone . One day of 1881, it takes place the famed shoot'em up among Wyatt , Doc , Billy , Ike Clanton , McLowery and Ringo .

This trigger-taut Western drama deals with a lawman and a badman , the strangest friendship this side of heaven and hell . It's incomparably performed by the greatest team who ever went into action , Harris Yulin portrays the large-than-life lawman , living by the old rules , driven by revenge , dueling to the death and Stacy Keach is most impressive as a gunslinger , the hellfire gambler , his only friends were his guns and his only refuge was a woman's heart . ¨Doc¨ has an evocative cinematography , well made by Gerald Hirschfeld , being filmed on location in Manzanares Del Real , La Pedriza , Colmenar Viejo and Almeria , Spain , where in the 60s and 70s had been shot lots of Spaghetti/Paella Westerns . Furthermore , atmospheric and thrilling musical score by Jimmy Webb . The motion picture was professionally directed by Frank Perry . He was an expert on dramas that enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with his wife , the playwright and screenwriter Eleanor Perry . As he directed ¨David and Lisa¨ , ¨Man on a Swing¨, ¨Play It As It Lays¨, ¨Diary of a mad housewife¨ and his two greatest successes were ¨The swimmer¨ and ¨ Mommie dearest¨ also with Faye Dunaway .

The film is set in Tombstone where Earp finds Holliday and helps him against Ike , Billy Clanton , Johnny Ringo and McCloury . The final part focuses Tombstone , 1881 , with stimulating scenes about OK Corral gunfight between Morgan , Virgil , Wyatt Earp , Doc against the nefarious Ike , Billy Clanton , Johnny Ringo, and Tom McLowery . The main character is a historical figure , in this case the sheriff Wyatt Earp who participated the most famous 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 , 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 . And , of course, the best version resulted to be ¨Gunfight at O.K. Corral¨ by John Sturges with Burt Lancaster , Kirk Douglas , Jo Van Fleet , Rhonda Fleming , Ted De Corsia , among others . John Sturges would resume the same story in the inferior "The Hour of the Gun" (1967) with Jason Robards , James Garner and John Voight

Ignoring the major historical inaccuracies (Virgil was the Marshal of Tombstone and not Wyatt; Doc and Katie Elder were together long before they both came to Tombstone; etc.), the film attempts to make Doc and Wyatt out as the mob bosses of the Tombstone. "Tombstone" (the Costner film) was much more historically accurate.

At the very least, the Western drama 'Doc' manages to be somewhat interesting from start to finish, if not exactly factual. It tells the very familiar story of Marshal Wyatt Earp and John "Doc" Holiday in revisionist terms, and takes a very gritty, moody, psychological approach to the material, courtesy screenwriter Pete Hamill. It traces the journey of Doc (Stacy Keach) as he makes the acquaintance of prostitute Katie Elder (a de-glamorized Faye Dunaway) and rides into Tombstone to hook up with his old friend Wyatt (Harris Yulin), and to deal with the problem of such trouble making characters as Ike Clanton (Michael Witney).

Keach is the main reason to catch this film. Deliberately paced by cult filmmaker Frank Perry (best known for the 1981 camp classic "Mommie Dearest"), who produced and directed, it attempts to be as un-Hollywood as possible, and show darker aspects to these real life people, especially Earp, played as an opportunist. Perry's film begins on a very atmospheric note, as Doc arrives at an isolated inn / saloon during a windstorm. Ways in which the script humanizes Doc are how it charts his unusual courtship of Ms. Elder (appealingly portrayed by Dunaway) and his relationship with the well meaning "Kid" (Denver John Collins), who is the nephew of the Clanton brothers.

Keachs' engaging, melancholy performance is something to see. Veteran character actor Yulin is also quite good, in a rare above the title role for him. The supporting cast is comprised of less well known but still solid character players like John Scanlon, Richard McKenzie, Penelope Allen, Antonia Rey, Marshall Efron, and Bruce M. Fischer. That's writer Dan Greenburg as Clum the journalist, who in this fictionalization is decidedly anti-Earp.

It might be worth considering pairing this film with another gritty Western from the same time period, "Dirty Little Billy", which similarly took an offbeat approach to telling a familiar real life tale (in that case, that of Billy the Kid).

Seven out of 10.

The best thing about this film is the first half hour, the classic posturing in the first scene ("We ain't got no cold beer"), Doc and Kate Elder's damaged courtship, a stark, music-less ride across scorching desert. The first glimpse of Tombstone (the town, not the movie) is equally exhilarating, everything is dirty and chaotic, men are fighting in the streets. From that point on, much of the film is boring and slow, though there was enough to hold my attention throughout. Seeing how the story will unfold is the most riveting aspect. The ending is satisfying enough, as is the script's odd take on how and why Doc wound up in the fateful gunfight at the coral. The performances are good all around. It warrants mentioning here that this movie is no more historically accurate than other films on the subject. Two major inconsistencies were already mentioned, and most historians' and witnesses' accounts have Doc playing a much more active role in events leading up to the fight. The overall feel of the film, though, is much more believable than your average Hollywood western. That's probably the most satisfying thing here next to the cast: the physical details, the look and feel. Just pretend the characters are all made up. And don't watch it if you're already in a bad mood.

Stacy Keach and Faye Dunaway give Good Performances as "Doc" Holiday and Katie Elder, and is Central to, Yet Again, a Movie about those mostly Mythological Personalities, Wyatt Earp and "Doc", Climaxing, Yet Again, with The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

The Point in this one is to Demystify to a Degree about the Motivation and Moral Certitude of the often Predictable Personas of these "Shootist".

It's a Gloomy, Murky, Soft Spoken Style with most of the Acting done with the Eyes and a Whisper. Thought Provoking and it does Dusty Duty Covering things with a Haze of Grit. The Tense Atmosphere is Realistic and the Suspense Builds with much Philosophizing and Reflection.

The Film certainly has it Moments as well as its Detractors. It is more of an Intellectual Introspection of Famous/Infamous Men. Wild Men, who had to be to Survive, in the Wild West. Some of these Folks had Visions of Civilizing the Frontier. Witness Wyatt's (Henry Yulin) Speech after the Gunfight and "Doc's" Final Act of Violence.

Overall, Atypical Western in the Traditional Sense but Typical for its Time Period. Underrated and Worth a Watch.