Hour of the Gun

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Hour of the Gun
Directed by John Sturges
Produced by John Sturges
Mirisch-Kappa (Production company)
Written by Edward Anhalt
Douglas D. Martin's novel:
Tombstone's Epitaph
Starring James Garner
Jason Robards
Robert Ryan
Music by Jerry Goldsmith
Cinematography Lucien Ballard, ASC
Editing by Ferris Webster
Distributed by United Artists
Release date(s) Flag of the United States November 1, 1967
New York City
Running time 100 min
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Budget $1,800,000 (estimated)
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Hour of the Gun is 1967 Western film about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, and their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers, in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and its aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona.

Based on the book by Tombstone's Epitaph by Douglas D. Martin, with the screenplay by Edward Anhalt, and directed by John Sturges. This film attempts more historical accuracy than most motion picture accounts of the events, and explores what happened after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

The film stars, James Garner as Wyatt Earp, Jason Robards as Doc Holliday, and Robert Ryan as Ike Clanton.

Contents

[edit] Production

The movie is a sequel to John Sturges's own more fictionalized film from ten years earlier, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, which had featured Burt Lancaster as Earp and Kirk Douglas as Holliday. Where Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is more about the main gun battle, this film begins with the gunfight and moves forward from there. Because Hal B. Wallis had scripted everything in the earlier Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Sturges was disappointed with that film.[1] Hour of the Gun is more of a psychological "melancholy character study".[2]

Garner also played the lead as Wyatt Earp in a different movie filmed twenty-one years later, Blake Edwards's Sunset (1988), a comedy thriller based on the 1920s period during which Earp was a technical adviser for silent films. The film's music is composed by Jerry Goldsmith.[3]

Hour of the Gun was filmed in the state of Durango, Mexico; at Estudios Churubusco Azteca (studio) in Mexico City, México D.F., Mexico; San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico; and in Torreón, Coahuíla, Mexico.[4]

[edit] Cast

[edit] Reception

Bruce Elder, at Allmovie, calls Garner's portrayal of Earp as "taciturn, emotionally repressed, deeply troubled and torn", but criticizes Edward Anhalt's script as to strict to historical facts and confines the actors, especially Garner.[1] Eleanor Quin at Turner Classic Movies (TCM) call this: "Sturges' finest film"; and says that it is a: "conflict between moral righteousness and the temptation of personal revenge".[5] Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times, says: "Garner turns in one of his best performances."[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Elder, Bruce. - Review: Hour of the Gun. - Allmovie. - Retrieved: 2008-06-02
  2. ^ Brenner, Paul. - Plot Synopsis: Hour of the Gun. - Allmovie. - Retrieved: 2008-06-02
  3. ^ Full cast and crew: Hour of the Gun. - IMDb. - Retrieved: 2008-06-02
  4. ^ Filming Locations: Hour of the Gun. - IMDb. - Retrieved: 2008-06-02
  5. ^ Quin, Eleanor. Hour of the Gun. - Turner Classic Movies. - Retrieved: 2008-06-02
  6. ^ Hour of the Gun. - Chicago Sun Times. - October 24, 1967. - Retrieved: 2008-06-02

[edit] External links


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