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Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $11.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: I've never seen any Burt Lancaster movies, until I saw this one. And I was impressed by his portrayal of the famous gunslinging lawman, Wyatt Earp. He does a really good job and beats the bad guys. Kirk Douglass does a good Doc Holiday, who is sick with TB. Lots of action and a really neat gunfight at the end. It shows the realtionship between Earp and Holiday. Though Holiday would never admit it, he was good friends with Wyatt Earp. Pretty good movie with good actors and story. It may not be all accurate. Like some people say Johnny Ringo wasn't at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Ike Clanton didn't get shot. I want to say that just three of the Clanton gang got shot down, not everybody in the gang. I read somewhere that Billy Clanton and two others got shot. Not the entire gang. Ike Clanton died later. Not that bad though.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than OK
Review: Much like its predecessor "My Darling Clementine", this film uses the names of real people for its characters - the Earps, Clantons, Doc Holliday - but has virtually nothing to do with historial reality. It's a marvelous film nonetheless and entirely different in its feel and approach from "Clementine." "Gunfight" focuses on the friendship between occasional marshall Wyatt Earp and occasional gunman John Holliday (Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas), and if anything underplays the intense bond between the two men in real life. Screenwriter Leon Uris telescopes several years of events into a few months to fit the movie and director John Sturges was never better at the pacing and staging of his story. For my money this is Kirk Douglas' greatest performance; the combination of menace and degraded dignity he gives the TB-ridden Holliday is something to see. Just as great as the performances and production work is Dimitri Tiomkin's score. It's so powerful it seems almost like another character; the same effect he achieved in "Red River" for Howard Hawks.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than OK
Review: Much like its predecessor "My Darling Clementine", this film uses the names of real people for its characters - the Earps, Clantons, Doc Holliday - but has virtually nothing to do with historial reality. It's a marvelous film nonetheless and entirely different in its feel and approach from "Clementine." "Gunfight" focuses on the friendship between occasional marshall Wyatt Earp and occasional gunman John Holliday (Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas), and if anything underplays the intense bond between the two men in real life. Screenwriter Leon Uris telescopes several years of events into a few months to fit the movie and director John Sturges was never better at the pacing and staging of his story. For my money this is Kirk Douglas' greatest performance; the combination of menace and degraded dignity he gives the TB-ridden Holliday is something to see. Just as great as the performances and production work is Dimitri Tiomkin's score. It's so powerful it seems almost like another character; the same effect he achieved in "Red River" for Howard Hawks.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent portrayal of loyalty principle among humans.
Review: Noted for its ballad by Frankie Laine, cinematic view clips of our Old West's wide open spaces, and well-acted tortured emotional, loyal/disloyal relationships among men, women, law enforcers and scofflaws.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not very good!
Review: Oddly un-entertaining and over-directed try at the O.K.Corral.Amasing that fine director John Sturges, who made such good movies as "The great escape" and "Bad day at Black Rock", didn't make this one better! Even the final shoot-out is boring and disappointing as is the title-song by Frankie Laine. Grab "My Darling Clementine" or "Tombstone" instead!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "Boot Hill...Boot Hill...So cold...so still"
Review: One of the best retellings of the historical gunfight to ever make
it to the silver screen. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas are in top
form as the legendary gunmen Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday.Both on the
opposite sides of law by design the two men develop respectful but
cautious friendship in a time where a man's life depended on how he
was with a gun.

This is by no means the "Tombstone" version of the '90's with it's
with it's glorified hightech shooting angles nor the over sensitive
"My darling Clementine"(Both Classics in their own respect) This is
however a spirited techicolor wonder of a film best noted for its
splended pace, great cinematography and a grand cast of familiar
faces including the always lovely Rhonda Fleming and Jo Van Fleet
along with faithful bad guys Lee Van Cleef, Jack Elam and a young
Dennis Hopper. Also in the cast Forest De Kelly,Kenneth Tobey and
John Ireland. And the best sung theme song since "Do not for sake
me" from High Noon and "El Dorado" from El Dorado.

The DVD version is superior in sight with it's respected scope of
2.35:1 Enhanced and sound is what you expect for mono. I was way
disappointed with no trailer added. Shame on you Paramount!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: ENTERTAINING WESTERN THAT GETS BETTER EVERY MINUTE.
Review: The best thing in the Western "Gunfight At The O.K. Corral" is the quality of the performances of Kirk Douglas (as the self-destructive Doc Holliday) and Burt Lancaster (as the charismatic Wyatt Earp), both delivered one of the best performances of their careers. As the movie moves along, it gets more interesting, the story gets better, the situations are more exciting and the thrills grow.

"Gunfight At The O.K. Corral" is not one of the best Westerns in overall quality, but it is one of the best Westerns in the fun and entertainment categories. It's only weak point is the title song, which sounds old and silly compared with the music of other Westerns like "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" or "Once Upon A Time In The West". But putting that aside, is a very enjoyable movie. Recommendable for all the fans of the genre.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A WESTERN THAT GETS BETTER EVERY MINUTE.
Review: The best thing in the Western "Gunfight At The O.K. Corral" is the quality of the performances of Kirk Douglas (as the self-destructive Doc Holliday) and Burt Lancaster (as the charismatic Wyatt Earp), both delivered one of the best performances of their careers. As the movie moves along, it gets more interesting, the story gets better, the situations are more exciting and the thrills grow.

"Gunfight At The O.K. Corral" is not one of the best Westerns in overall quality, but it is one of the best Westerns in the fun and entertainment categories. It's only weak point is the title song, which sounds old and silly compared with the music of other Westerns like "The Good, The Bad And The Ugly" or "Once Upon A Time In The West". But putting that aside, is a very enjoyable movie. Recommendable for all the fans of the genre.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great Entertainment
Review: This movie is great entertainment. The first of the great buddy action movies.

Contrary to another review, the singer of the ballad in this movie is Frankie Lane, not Tex Ritter. Confusion is not unexpected since Ritter sang the title track to "High Noon," whose words and music were also written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington. Ritter was not interested in releasing a single, so Tiomkin had Lane record it. It was a big it and, since it was released several months before the movie, also provided great publicity for the movie. Ritter then released a version. Both re-recorded it in stereo several yaers later.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A showcase for Lancaster and Douglas
Review: Unforgetable to me for two reasons: First Kirk Douglas' performance as the consumptive Doc Halliday, a character at one and the same time both likeable and despicable. I disagree with some of the critics I have read in that I think Burt Lancaster ( though himself a great actor) was miscast as Wyatt Earp. I have seen this movie a number of times since I was a child, and I still don't buy it (sorry).

Compared to today's movies with their warp-speed style of direction, Gufinght at the Ok Corral does drag at times but it is esentially a character drama and therein lies its greatest strength. Dated only slightly and still a great movie.


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