Hour of the Gun
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Movie Reviews of Hour of the Gun
Movie Review: Fairly True Movie
Summary: 5 Stars
I saw this movie when it was released back in 1967 and it has always stayed with me. Whenever TNT would show it on their 4pm western theatre I would catch it, too, having several VHS recordings of it. So when the DVD became available I had to have a copy. My wife and I watched it last evening, she for the first time, and it got a good thumbs up all 'round.
It is far from a perfect picture though, but it is probably the best single production on this subject we will ever get. While I have on DVD 'My Darling Clementine', 'Tombstone', and 'Gunfight At OK Corral' I believe this movie to be better than all of those. 'My Darling Clementine' is a great movie, with black & white adding to the dramatic effect, but it certainly is not anywhere historically correct; while 'Tombstone', a favorite of mine, is in certain scenes filled with too much non-historical baseless humor; and finally 'Gunfight At OK Corral', while excellent, is terribly marred at the end by its being historically incorrect. Johnny Ringo was not killed by Doc at OK Corral, he very well may have been later, but not at OK Corral.
One thing missing in the 'Hour of the Gun' is women; all the other movies of the Earp vs. Clanton/cowboy element involve women on both sides, yet women are totally excluded from 'Hour of the Gun'. To me again that points up the serious historical viewpoint of this movie. As another reviewer here correctly points out: though Wyatt did not shoot it out with Ike, Ike was killed a few years later while still stealing cattle. And Ike was never at the brain level of Old Man Clanton, and Ike was never in as much control of events as Robert Ryan portrays.
And Jason Robards is much too old as Doc, since Doc died at the early age of 36 or so. Also in 'The Hour of the Gun' John Ringo is neither mentioned nor does he make an appearance. A strange omission.
Too, the killing of Frank Stillwell in Tucson did not happen as shown here, for he was not killed by Wyatt's handgun, he was pretty much cut in two by shotgun blasts. As a journal entry of the time states "Frank Stilwell was shot all over, the worst shot-up man that I ever saw. He was found a few hundred yards from the hotel on the railroad tracks." (source: True West, May, 2005, page 61)
None of the above paragraphs are meant to detract from this movie, because as screen outings go, this is the best of the Earp movies. And I don't expect a better one during my lifetime.
If you study this episode of the 1880s Tombstone area, this movie helps bring to life what you have read. As far as we know this movie will pretty much substantiate John Sturges' opening claim, "this is the way it happened."
And if you would like a look at Wyatt teamed-up with Tom Mix, try watching the movie SUNSET starring James Garner as Wyatt and Bruce Willis as Tom Mix. This Blake Edwards movie is different but interesting.
I highly recommend HOUR OF THE GUN to one and all western fans.
Movie Review: Hour of the Gun
Summary: 5 Stars
With a stellar cast and John Sturges at the helm, you have a fine Western with great Jerry Goldsmith's music and the beautiful Mexico scenery with photography by Lucien Ballard. The well crafted script by Edward Anhalt is superb.
James Gardner brings a serious, sardonic and humorless portrayal of Wyatt Earp. His Wyatt Earp is a totally different person than in previous films. Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957-Burt Lancaster); Wichita (1955- Joel McCrea); My Darling Clementine (1946-Henry Fonda); Tombstone: The Town Too Tough To Die (1942-Richard Dix); and Frontier Marshall (1939-Randolph Scott) presented a true American hero without faults, except for a few moments of grief and anger.
Was this bad to present Wyatt Earp as a man struggling with grief and his conscience? Definitely no! It works wonderfully in the script because he had to be as he was in Tombstone and Wyatt Earp which used elements of this film.
Jason Robards does Doc Holiday justice. He stands with Wyatt Earp be it hell or high water. However, his Doc Holiday grows greatly concern as he sees the man that he admires becoming a merciless killer like himself.
Ike Clanton, ruthless killer and businessman, is brought to life by the great Robert Ryan. Ryan's Ike Clanton is a clean-cut, well dressed businessman with no conscience and a soul lost in the darkness of cattle rustling and greed.
There are a number of great scenes in this film. One which stands out is the conversation between Wyatt Earp and Andy Warshaw, played brilliantly by the Steve Ihnat, at the horse corral. The scene builds to the ultimate climax with a twist. What follows is pure artistry as Doc Holiday confronts Wyatt Earp over his behavior and reminds him of who he is and what he is becoming. This is pure brilliance in direction, writing and acting.
The story begins at the OK Corral and ends in Denver as Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp says their final good-byes. It is a poignant farewell as the dying Doc hands Wyatt his US Marshall badge which Wyatt had given to Doc in Mexico. They know this is the finale of a friendship which few people understood even to this day.
Doc Holiday and Wyatt Earp were like oil and water or night and day, but they stood beside each other in thick and thin. Perhaps, it was a friendship born out of necessity and the violent times of the West. We all could use such friends in our daily struggles on this planet.
This is one of the great films about Wyatt Earp. Historically, it is closer to the actual events as they happened than the previous films, but certain liberties were taken as well.
Movie Review: Sturges second, darker, better take on the Earps and the Clantons
Summary: 5 Stars
Hour of the Gun is easily my favorite take on the Wyatt Earp legend, with John Sturges making amends for the strangely rather unsatisfying Gunfight at the O.K. Corral with this dark, revisionist take of the aftermath that seeps with post-Kennedy cynicism. People aren't killed, they're assassinated by riflemen hiding in shadows, trials fail to see justice done, the good townspeople buy off bad guys and the motives for the Clanton-Earp feud are more political and economic than personal (Robert Ryan's Clanton is more of a calculating businessman trying to fend off encroaching Eastern conglomerates and willing to sacrifice his family to do it than the usual crooked pater familias). Throughout, James Garner's Wyatt Earp moves further away from the law as an increasingly cold-blooded desire for vengeance takes over from his principles while Jason Robards bitter Doc Holliday can do little but watch and stand dying by his side.
With a terrific script by Edward Anhalt (who gives himself good cameo as Doc's doc) there's a neat symmetry running through the film - Clanton slinks away from the O.K Corral before the lead starts flying only to find his gang deserting him the same way at the end - enhanced by Sturges' strong visual sense, with locations always sparsely populated or streets often completely empty to emphasise the narrow focus of the conflict. Sturges' usually effortless mastery of Scope frame seems a bit forced in a couple of set-ups where you can see him lining up his actors as if blocking them onstage, but you can forgive him when he throws in an opening sequence that Sam Peckinpah borrowed for The Wild Bunch - the unscripted moment Peckinpah referred to as `the Walk thing' when the Bunch go to their final fate (Peckinpah was a great admirer of Sturges, and as even used Hour's cinematographer Lucien Ballard on Bunch). Throw in a terrific score from Jerry Goldsmith just as he entered his prime, and it's a winner.
The 2.35:1 transfer is mostly good with a little occasional edge-enhancement. The only extra - unless you count fulscreen version of the film - is the trailer.
Movie Review: A first rate action packed; an exciting and amusing picture!
Summary: 5 Stars
After watching carefully the other two most acclaimed versions about the legend of Wyatt Earp and his inseparable Doc Holiday (Gunfight in the Ok Corral and Tombstone), I am certain to state this is the closest approach about the truth about this incident.
Jason Robards Jr. steals the show all the way through as the cynical and unworried Doc Holiday (mirror's image) of his admired hero. Earp has always acted inside the boundaries of the law. But when his two brothers are murdered by Clanton's gang, his attitude before the law will experience a sudden twist of fate.
The initial sequences in the Court show how the justice favors him and then ignores (due lack of evidence). And so, when the honest Sheriff is legally elected is murdered immediately after the result is known and that fact determines in his behavior a point of no return.
Earp claims for vengeance, an embarrassing way to apply the law but into his mind and honor there`s no escape. He must become himself judge and executioner at the same time.
James Garner is absolutely convincing like Wyatt and Robert Ryan - a true veteran in these roles- (remember him in The naked spur or the implacable prosecutor in the Wild Bunch) is absolutely outstanding like the ruthless and straightforward gangster, who acts like a true Ambassador of the Italian Mafia (making an exercise of imagination for those times).
The script is agile with plenty of action all the way through. The dialogues are fresh and concise. You won't find any single scene. Everything fits piece over piece.
After you watch this film, I think you (like me) will have to include this Western among the top twenty westerns ever made.
A real treat all the way through.
Movie Review: Moral Ambiguity - Another Overlooked Classic
Summary: 5 Stars
An often overlooked film is 1967's HOUR OF THE GUN directed by John Sturges, which is a direct sequel to his 1957 film GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL. HOUR OF THE GUN begins with the gunfight, which was the protracted climax to the 1957 film. In the 1967 film the gunfight is short, concise and a thoroughly bitter affair. From that point on we see James Garner's Wyatt Earp begin a transition from a highly moral individual who upholds the law to a man who gradually turns into a dark and unattractive character who uses the law to seek revenge with growing ferocity as he falls deeper into an abyss of moral decline with each act of vengeance. In a total role reversal we also see Jason Robards' Doc Holliday questioning Earp's motives as he acts as his ever present conscience throughout. When Earp's vengeance is finally complete we see him return or attempt to return to the man he once was. However, the friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday is no longer what it was. Doc Holliday was a man who had fallen from grace long before he befriended Wyatt and to watch his friend go down that same path obsessed and devoid of conscience was too much for him to bear. Doc Holliday had befriended the upstanding Wyatt out of some sense of self-redemption. By the end of HOUR OF THE GUN that notion is destroyed. James Garner's performance as Wyatt Earp is one of his best. His moral decline and final realization of his vengeful acts come full circle as you visually examine his performance. Edward Anhalt's script and John Sturges' direction are a powerful combination. There is quite a bit of moral ambiguity at play in HOUR OF THE GUN.