A classic

To be honest, I’m not a huge fan of vintage Westerns but, since this one seemed to have a solid reputation, I thought I might as well check it out. I actually didn’t know what it was about so I was quite surprised to discover that it was actually dealing with Wyatt Earp, Tombstone and the famous gun fight at O.K. Corral. It is probably the most famous tale of the Wild West and it was pretty cool to see a legendary director like John Ford tackle it. On top of it, the cast with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature playing respectively Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday was top-notch as well. Concerning the story, they really stripped it to its bare bones (it was less than 100 mins) and, in this version, Wyatt Earp was only passing by Tombstone and he decided to stick around only to solve the murder of his young brother James (in fact, he also left right away after). This approach didn’t bother me but it was definitely not the most epic way to handle this famous story. Furthermore, after Earp and his brothers became Marshalls in Tombstone, they didn’t do much law enforcement after all and they eventually got a clue to solve their brother’s murder completely randomly at the end. In fact, the movie turned out to be mostly about the relationship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday and I especially enjoyed the gay undertones between the two men. Sure, Clementine did show up later on but even though Earp did seem to be heads-over-heels with her, the conflicted relationship between the two legends was actually much more interesting. Anyway, to conclude, it is considered by many as one of the best movies delivered by John Ford and, even though I don’t really like the genre, I have to admit that this Western was pretty good and it is definitely worth a look. 

7/10