Hour of the Gun
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Movie Reviews of Hour of the Gun
Movie Review: "I'm gonna count one, two, three. You can draw on two - I'll wait to three."
Summary: 3 Stars
For Sturges, the West was a man's world, and his cool, hard, detached style, emphasizing action, excitement and the rugged environment of the frontier, endorsed the point...
Sturges believed there were three essentials to every Western: 1. Isolation - a man standing alone with no hope of help from outside (e.g. Spencer Tracy's predicament in "Bad Day at Black Rock when the telegraph lines are cut). 2. A man, or group of men compulsively take law and justice, rightly or wrongly, into their own hands (e.g. "The Magnificent Seven"). 3. The issues are resolved by violence in the form of gunplay (e.g. "Gunfight at the OK Corral," "Hour of the Gun"). He followed this up by saying: 'A Western is a controlled, disciplined, formal kind of entertainment. There's good and bad; clearly defined issues; there's chase; there's a gunfight.'
"Hour of the Gun" covers the period just after the famous gun battle... The film is well done but there are some downfalls: It shows only one face of Wyatt-- his "official" law abiding side, with no women in his life... And also no Johnny Ringo--the main bad guy and rival of Doc Holliday...
There are solid performances all around, beginning with James Garner who plays a hero with a badge, and is powerful in his intensity... Wyatt's vengeance for the murder of his brother show the primal potency of violence...
Robards plays John Holliday--an ordinary man dying of tuberculosis who becomes one of Wyatt's most loyal allies with an insatiable greed for drinking, gambling and fighting... Robards is quite good in his character, and does deliver a couple of colorful lines to Earp... The relationship and chemistry between the two men is unique... It's difficult to outline, but it's like these two were old souls who would go through hell with/for each other and never need to wonder or to argue it...
Ryan, as a Westerner, has played straight as well as crooked - his hunted killer in "The Naked Spur" and his ageing lawman (losing his vision at crucial moments) in "The Proud Ones" being equally memorable... In more recent roles he has been basically sympathetic - as the horse-handler in "The Professionals," as William Holden's weary, reluctant pursuer in "The Wild Bunch," as the pacifist sheriff in "Lawman" - the exception being "Hour of the Gun," in which once again he was the outlaw on the run, this time with a relentless Wyatt Earp in pursuit... Ryan has perhaps achieved more as an actor in other genres, but the Western would have been the poorer without him...
Movie Review: Hour of the Gun
Summary: 3 Stars
The film did not really take off or grip my attention. However it is interesting history, and ends like a classic western, with good performances- especially Robards, and a great atmospheric score by Jerry Goldsmith.Movie Review: Not As Good as I Hoped
Summary: 2 Stars
I had never seen this film and was interested in it because of the director (John Sturges), my favorite actor (James Garner) and the topic (post OK Corral life of Wyatt Earp). I was disappointed.
First the story plodded along and seemed disconnected. It lacked a flow and did not build up to the final showdown. In Gunfight at the OK Corral, the story built to the big battle with minor incidents that feed the build up. Here everything seemed like separate events.
James Garner (who I really like) did portray a much different Wyatt Earp but I think he was much too stoic. I think he over did the emotionless aspect of the character.
Jason Robards was not very good a Doc Holiday. I think he did not bring out any real character attributes for us to understand Holiday's motivation.
The story said it followed the real life events, but it deviated in signficant ways. Earp never shot Ike in Mexico.
Lastly, the movie was just plain dull.
Movie Review: It could have been good IF----
Summary: 2 Stars
Doc Holliday was played by a younger man. Directors shouldn't take that much leeway. Doc was only 36 at his death. Having an old man play a young man spoiled it for me. Try Tombstone---there's Doc Holliday.