Search - Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Mild Violence, Western Violence Movie Release: 1957 DVD Release: 04/22/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 2 mins Studio: Paramount Members Wishing: 2 Genres: Western, Traditional Western See Also: Gunfight at the O.K. Corral [Circuit City Exclusive] [Checkpoint]

Of the many filmed versions of the October 26, 1881, O.K. Corral shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was one of the most elaborate and star-studded. Burt Lancaster plays Wyatt Earp, the renowned lawman, while Kirk Douglas is consumptive gambler (and gunfighter) Doc Holliday -- the two meet in difficult circumstances, as Earp discovers that Holiday, for whom he initially feels little but loathing, is being held on a trumped up murder charge and being set up for a lynching, and intercedes on his behalf. The action shifts to Dodge City, Kansas, where Earp is marshal and Holiday, hardly grateful for the good turn, shows up right in the middle of all kinds of trouble, this time mostly on Earp's side of the ledger. And, finally, the two turn up in Tombstone, Arizona, where Wyatt's brother Virgil is city marshal, and where Wyatt finally gets to confront the Clanton/McLowery outlaw gang (led by Lyle Bettger as Ike Clanton). Since the time-span of the actual gunfight was at most 90 seconds, the bulk of the film concerns the tensions across many months leading up to the famous battle. As scripted by Leon Uris (from a magazine story by George Scullin), the story involves two unrelated but parallel plot-lines -- a long-standing vendetta against Holliday and the efforts of Earp to bring the Clanton/McLowery gang to justice -- that are eventually drawn together on the streets of Tombstone. Woven into these proceedings are Earp's and Holliday's romantic dalliances with lady gambler Laura Denbow (Rhonda Fleming) and Kate Fisher (Jo Van Fleet), whose switch in affections from Holiday to outlaw fast-gun Johnny Ringo (John Ireland) only rachets up gambler's rage and the reasons behind the bloody climax. There are plenty of bribery attempts, terse dialogue exchanges and "Mexican standoffs" before the inevitable gunfight takes place. Director John Sturges takes some dramatic license with this confrontation, as well, stretching things out to nearly six minutes, but this is after all an "A" production, and a minute-and-a-half of gunfire just wouldn't cut it. The huge cast of western veterans includes Earl Holliman as Charles Bassett, Dennis Hopper as Billy Clanton, Kenneth Tobey as Bat Masterson, Lee Van Cleef as Ed Bailey, Jack Elam as Tom McLowery, and John Hudson, DeForest Kelley and Martin Milner as Virgil, Morgan, and James Earp, respectively. And there's that Dimitri Tiomkin score, pushing the movie's momentum as relentlessly as the two driven heroes, complete with a song (sung by Frankie Laine) underscoring the major transitions of scenes that's impossible to forget, once heard. Sturges himself would produce and direct a more fact-based and realistic version of the story -- focusing mostly on its aftermath -- a decade later, entitled Hour of the Gun, starring James Garner, Jason Robards, Jr., and Robert Ryan, which wasn't nearly as attractive or successful. But after Gunfight At The OK Corral, there would not be so impressive a lineup of talent at the OK Corral again until the twin Earp biopics of 1994, Wyatt Earp and Tombstone.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Burt Lancaster - Wyatt Earp
Kirk Douglas - John H. "Doc" Holliday
Rhonda Fleming - Laura Denbow
Jo Van Fleet - Kate Fisher
John Ireland - Johnny Ringo

John Sturges' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) never got a major upgrade on laserdisc, so the Paramount DVD edition is an extra-special treat for Western fans, as well as admirers of Sturges or the movie's two stars, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas -- all of a sudden, a classic movie that never looked that good on home video or late '90s cablecasts (AMC ran it a lot) looks really, really special. From the montage of the vengeful trio riding across the plains over the opening credits, the disc is a visual stunner, with lots of detail, deep color, and a letterboxed picture (around 1.85:1, maybe closer to 2:1), framing the VistaVision image perfectly. Even the title song, by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, which should sound hokey, takes on a haunting quality when it's heard over Sturges' relentless, powerful sense of visual storytelling. The letterboxing is particularly important and, in tandem with the clean-up, polish, and luster given to the film, and the 16 x 9 enhancement, it only improves the results. The movie is driven as much by the psychology of the two lead characters, Wyatt Earp (Lancaster) and Doc Holiday (Douglas), as by the action, and the elimination of extraneous top and bottom picture information and the inclusion of the material at the sides of the screen gives the image a tight focus that just grabs viewers and doesn't let them go. Coupled with the beauty of the cinematography and the restored compositions, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral comes off as twice the movie here than it has seemed in full-screen presentations on cable. The restoration of the color and the widescreen image all come to a head in a shot of the sunrise and the Clantons on their way into Tombstone at 104 minutes into the movie, which is so beautiful that a still frame of it could be enlarged and framed as a picture for one's living room. Good as the transfer is, the disc is lacking in a few other areas -- the 19 chapters are just adequate for a character-driven movie with lots of plot to go with it, and one sorely wishes that there were a trailer to go with the movie, if only to see how a Western as psychologically oriented as this one was sold to the public. The only bonus feature is the availability of English captions for those who need them, accessible through a simple three-selection, two-layer menu that opens on startup. On the other hand, the movie is so good, standing just about in the company of Sturges' The Magnificent Seven by virtue of the acting alone, that it's a bargain just the same, especially with this fine a digital mastering job. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide