101 of 101 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Greatest of Us All, August 7, 2003
By A Customer
This movie depicts the final days of my distant relative, Bill Tilghman. Tilghman enforced the law from the 1880's, as Marshal of Dodge City through the Indian Territory days in Oklahoma to statehood and Roaring '20s gangsters.
At 70, he was about the only man left alive who had tamed a wild cowtown. The Governor called on him to bring law and order to Cromwell, the oiltown known as "the meanest town in Oklahoma." He did it, though did not live to see his work totally completed.
Sam Elliott does a wonderful job of portraying this lawman who was better known in his day than the Wyatt Earps and such we are familiar with today. While a few cinematic prerogatives were taken, William Kent Harrison stayed pretty close to history and clearly did a lot of research. He beautifully depicts the wonderment of an old West lawman coping with gangsters in T-model Fords and ignoring the ethics that characterized even such desperadoes as Bill Doolin in the 1890's.
Particularly interesting were the vignettes of Tilghman's 1915 movie, "The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws," which he and many of the people who were really there starred in.
In the early 1900's, famed lawman Bat Masterson was asked about the old lawmen of the West. Without hesitation, he said "Tilghman was the greatest of us all."
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35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Effort with a Great Western Actor, June 13, 2005
Just who are our Old West heroes? Should they be vicious thugs like Jesse James? Lazy (albeit likeable) bums like Butch and Sundance? The outlaws get all the press but it was the folks like Tilghman who deserve our admiration. In recent years, some of the lawmen have gotten some credit; Wyatt Earp may or may not deserve admiration, but Tilghman certainly does. This film treats the last days of the last of the old west lawmen, a man whom Masterson called "the best of us all". Sam Elliott does a marvelous job of making Tilghman real; the movie, though, needs some work. I would love to see Hollywood apply some real muscle to the story of the Old West lawman, because Tilghman would be the best and only choice for a subject. Bring in Sam Elliott to reprise the role and let him really stretch his legs in this role. This movie though will serve until that happens. Watch this one and remember...this man was REAL and actually died with his boots on.
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34 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
you know my name, August 27, 2000
Most of the reviews of this movie say it has a lousy plot, what few critics probably realize,however, is that it is a true story (some liberties were taken of course.). I am Bill Tilghman's great-great granddaughter, and I had some problems with the story, too, mostly in what they chose to portray. I think that the early days of Bill Tilghman's life were much more interesting than the last few months. It's too bad they didn't focus more on the material in the "Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws" movie that Bill made with his partner, Benny Kent. Unless the audience knows a lot about Bill Tilghman, they wouldn't understand the "flashback" sequences. I also think Sam Elliott was mis-cast ! I have spoken to many living old-timers that knew Bill - they say he was a very unassuming and quiet man. He wasn't a tough guy at all. Still, I was glad the movie was made - many people never read history unless they've seen the movie first !
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