Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Wuchak Released in 1957 and directed by John Sturges, "Gunfight at the OK Corral" stars Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday in a loose adaption of the events that led up to the famous shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, on October 26, 1881. Rhonda Fleming and Jo Van Fleet are on hand as the protagonists' respective babes. Earl Holliman is noteworthy as Earp's deputy in Dodge City while John Ireland plays Johnny Ringo. DeForest Kelley (Bones from Star Trek) has a small role as one of the Earp brothers while a young Dennis Hopper plays Billy Clanton. This is a dialogue-driven production that reflects the era in which it was made, hokey opening cowboy song and all. If you can acclimate to its 'world' there are a lot of rewarding elements, particularly the growing friendship of Wyatt and Doc, which starts out shaky, to say the least. It's their relationship that anchors the story, which has trouble working up suspense since it takes place in three distant locations—Fort Griffen, Texas; Dodge City, Kansas; and Tombstone, Arizona. By the time the Earp brothers & Holliday relocate to Tombstone there are a mere 50 minutes left in the movie, which means there's only a small measure of time to establish the villainy of Ike Clanton (Lyle Bettger) & his 'Cowboys' outlaw gang and subsequently build-up to the climatic shootout. Speaking of which, the real Tombstone gunfight only lasted about 30 seconds; here's it's 16-times longer at 8 minutes. Most other versions are more accurate on this count, e.g. "Hour of the Gun" (1967) (which, by the way, is Sturges' sequel to this one, albeit with a different cast and a more accurate gunfight at the OK Corral), "Doc" (1971), "Tombstone" (1993) and "Wyatt Earp" (1994). Speaking of "Tombstone," one of the reasons it was a hit is because it had well over an hour to build up to the main shootout and did so expertly; "Wyatt Earp" less so, but then "Wyatt" excels in areas that "Tombstone" doesn't, like mundane realism and exposition on the title character. Besides the anchor of Wyatt and Doc's relationship "Gunfight at the OK Corral" does try to work-up suspense through a fictitious growing rivalry between Doc and Johnny Ringo. While this is a talky Western it's interspersed with nigh shocking violence, like a knife-to-the-chest in the opening act. Nevertheless, it IS dialogue-oriented so to get the most out of it you'll have to (1.) listen closely or (2.) use the subtitles, like I did, which helps you keep track of names and various important (mumbled) statements. I shouldn't close without mentioning Rhonda Fleming and her whoa-man beauty in a fictitious peripheral role. The film runs 122 minutes and was shot in Old Tucson and other Arizona locations, as well as Paramount Ranch and Paramount Studios, California. GRADE: B-

revtg1-3 Before this movie was released My Darling Clementine (1946)was the most unabashedly absurd movie ever made about the famous gunfight. Both movies were laughable and appalling and a waste of talent. This The Gunfight at the OK Corral had as much to do in reality with the actual gunfight as the re-enactment on Star Trek did. There are no saguaro cacti as far south as Tombstone. Both movies use them as props. When you enter Tombstone from the north the cemetery is on your left, not right as in both movies. The fight lasted less than 30 seconds. It was not a running gun battle. If America cared about history our defense forces would call in an air strike on Hollywood.

zardoz-13 Before director John Sturges made "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," he'd only made a few westerns, "The Walking Hills" with Randolph Scott, "Bad Day at Black Rock," with Spencer Tracy, and "Backlash" with Richard Widmark. I'd say that "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" was the first of his big-budgeted westerns at Paramount Pictures with Hal Wallis producing this polished looking horse opera. Things are pretty straightforward with Burt Lancaster cast as a stern but charismatic Wyatt Earp sans a mustache, while Kirk Douglas looks a mite too robust as the consumptive Doc Holiday. This was the second time that Lancaster and Douglas had co-starred in a movie, but it was certainly the first of their best. One of the best known western villains from the era clashed with this pair of titans; Lyle Bettger played Ike Clanton. He is thoroughly rotten to the core and holds his own against Lancaster. Composer Dimitri Tiomkin's orchestral score and the lyrics that Ned Washington and he co-wrote for the title ballad about the O.K. Corral are not only atmospheric but accentuate the action. The Ballad doesn't end with the opening titles but recurs throughout the action at dramatic points. Sturges stages a much bigger and more ambitious finale at the O.K. Corral with the Clantons shooting it out with Earp, Holiday, and company. This is a first-class horse opera that should be not be missed. If you're a western fan, you must saddle up for this sagebrusher!"Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" opens with the heroic Frankie Lane song. Those lyrics punctuate the action and serve as the equivalent of a Greek chorus. The first scene details a showdown between Kirk Douglas and character actor Lee Van Cleef in a saloon. Wyatt Earp (Burt Lancaster of "Brute Force") is riding through town when Holiday sets foot in a saloon to challenge Ed Bailey (Lee Van Cleef of "High Noon") for shooting his brother. The catch is the neither man is allowed to tote firearms in the saloon. Doc conceals a switchblade in his cuff, while Bailey hides a derringer in his boot. No sooner has Doc hurled a knife into Ed Bailey's chest than Fort Griffin Sheriff Cotton Ryan (Frank Faylen of "The Lost Weekend") arrests him and sticks him in jail. Later, as a lynch mob assembles, a desperate Kate Fisher (Jo Van Fleet of "East of Eden") entreats Wyatt to help Doc escape the lynch mob. Wyatt helps Doc get out of town. Afterward, Wyatt runs into Doc in Dodge City. Dead broke, Doc plans to gamble up some money, and he makes a deal with Wyatt to loan him money. The 'square deal' friendship between Wyatt and Doc gets off to a start after they gun down Richie Bell and his bank robbing buddies who try to sneak into their camp and dry gulch them. Meanwhile, Wyatt takes up with a headstrong lady gambler Laura Denbow (Rhonda Fleming of "Pony Express") who gives him a hard time when he arrests her. The romance between Wyatt and Laura is short-lived because she refuses to follow him when he rides to Tombstone to brother Morgan and Virgil Earp. About an hour into the action, gunslinger Johnny Ringo (John Ireland of "Red River") shows up to steal Kate from Doc. They develop an intense rivalry and Doc wings him during a saloon shoot-out. Doc and Wyatt solidify their relationship when they have a showdown with Shanghai Pierce (Ted De Corsia of "Vengeance Valley") in Dodge City. When Wyatt's three brothers summon him to Tombstone, he finds Doc Holiday riding along to him. Laura refuses to accompany Wyatt so he leaves her. Initially, Morgan and Virgil hate the idea of Doc hanging around with Wyatt. No sooner has Doc arrived in Tombstone than his old nemesis Ringo and Kate blow into town. Doc and Ringo clash but Morgan convinces Doc not to kill him. Ike Clanton (Lyle Bettger of "The Lone Ranger") rustles Mexican cattle and tries to ship it through Tombstone, but Wyatt and his brothers refuse to let him do it. Eventually, Ike and his brothers have it out at the O.K. Corral in a beautifully staged shoot-out with the Earps. In an evocative scene, Wyatt, his brothers and Doc assemble for the big finale. John Sturges has "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" lenser Charles Lang shoot set-ups from low angles to make everything look larger than life. Terrific stuff! Sturges would stick to the facts more closely with his unofficial sequel "Hour of the Gun" with James Garner cast as Wyatt Earp.

jc-osms I must it I watched this movie with some apprehension as I love John Ford's take on the Earp/Clanton feud so much as portrayed in "My Darling Clementine". At least John Sturges gets the title right and from there gives old Papa a real run for his money in relating this classic tale of the West.In actual fact, it takes till almost half-way before Wyatt Earp gets the fateful telegram from brother Virgil in Tombstone to face down the Clanton gang, augmented by bad penny gunslinger Johnny Ringo who has issues with Doc Holliday as they compete for the attention of Doc's old paramour. What that means is a lot of character-building as Sturges builds up the bond between Earp and Holliday as well as introducing Earp's love interest, lady gambler Laura Denbow. Not that the first hour is without incident as Earp and Holliday save each other in separate showdowns with the usual mob of unruly miscreants which seem to frequent every Western.By the time the showdown at OK comes around, tensions and expectations have been sufficiently aroused and Sturges doesn't disappoint with an exciting, fast moving conclusion, leaving the last Clanton death, that of reluctant inductee, young Billy to stand as a moral against youngsters taking up arms under so-called "peer-pressure".The two leads, Lancaster and Douglas are superb, the former stoic and reasoning, the latter ionate and devil-may-care. One might have wished for a similarly big-name star or two in the Clanton ranks to stand up more to Burt and Kirk, but even Duke Wayne and Randolph Scott couldn't have saved Ike and his boys. Sturges plays down the quirky folksiness of Ford, so that we don't get Holliday operating on, the sight of Wyatt and Laura hot-stepping at the country dance or even Earp balancing on his chair.There's a stirring theme song sung by Frankie Laine too, which acts as commentary as the film progresses and Star Trek fans will note the coincidence of DeForest Kelley appearing as an Earp brother when 10 years in later in the classic ST episode "Shadow Of The Gun", he found himself with Kirk, Spock and others as a Clanton.In the final analysis, I'll still award the OK laurels to Ford, but this excellent, fast-moving movie gets mighty, mighty close