Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Revisionist at Tombstone, October 6, 2000
By A Customer
This 1971 re-telling of the Earp-Holliday relationship clearly paints the darkest picture of the Earp family yet on film, and even suggests that Wyatt may have homosexual interests in Doc Holliday. Whatever the nature of the relationship, Doc appears to want little more of it and feels trapped into his part in the famous shoot-out. At best the relationship serves the Earp family business interests with little or no reciprocal value for Holliday. Harris Yulin and Stacy Keach play Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, respectively and well - both men being actors of considerable ability. Faye Dunaway plays Doc's common-law "wife" (Big-Nose Kate) in more of a cameo than a fully developed part. Frank Perry directed the film as a darkly psychological study of the relationship between these two gunmen. The dark rust-red of the Arizona desert provides the dominant color for the film. Film grain and texture reflects the men and the times: rough, gritty, and dark. While certainly a well performed and directed film, this is a film for NEITHER the John Wayne-shoot'em-in-the-street-at-high-noon-and-never-lose-your-hat crowd NOR the Hugh O'Brian devotee. "Doc" will please only the fans of the off-centered, slightly twisted quasi-film noire crowd. Indeed, one could easily describe this as a film noire western. "Doc" takes the "darker" side of Earp a good deal farther than the Sturges 1967 film "The Hour of the Gun" with James Garner and Jason Robards as Earp and Holliday. In "Hour of the Gun" Sturges greatly humanizes Earp from the earlier "Mr. Pure-Goodguy" in his film "The Gunfight at OK Corral." Still, Perry's "DOC" goes far beyond "Hour of the Gun" in his depiction of Wyatt as a sociopath with a badge, a gun, and a grudge.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
It's all very somber, May 21, 2009
Was the west really this gloomy? Probably. But do we wish to see it in a Western? "Doc," an interesting version of the famous Gunfight at the OK Corral, chooses to demystify the combatants with the exception of Doc Holliday (Stacy Keach) and Big Nose Kate (Faye Dunaway). It's a squalid land complete with dishonorable alley brawls and buzzing horse flies.
Director Frank Perry has several interesting films on his resume [The Swimmer (1968), Rancho Deluxe (1975)] and "Doc," a 1971 product of the anti-Vietnam War times, was his attempt to unmask the statuesque heroes churned out by the John Wayne factory [Chisum (1970), Big Jake (1971)]. It's a revisionist Western, though completely lacking in historical authenticity.
Harris Yulin, an excellent character actor who portrays the villain more often than not, is an unusual (though intentional) choice for Wyatt Earp. He mopes and broods while staring with unblinking eyes at Doc Holliday's body, Big Nose Kate, Ike Clanton, his horse - anything within his line of vision. Yulin's Earp is a bleak assassin on the verge of firing his gun at the drop of a spittoon. He hides behind his weapon and when forced to fight Clanton man-to-man with fists, is soundly pummeled. Holliday is the even-tempered partner walking the streets alone in dark suits. Everyone fears and respects Doc, a gunfighter with the proverbial heart of gold. He protects Earp, making sure he and his disinterested brothers stay out of trouble, going against the grain of general historical belief.
Keach, as usual, is excellent in the title role. This was an interesting performance during the peak of his career, and he portrays Doc as a tortured soul wishing to escape the life of a notorious gunfighter. His only happiness comes from his relationship with Kate, who he kidnaps from a life of prostitution. They buy a humble home and decide to forge a life of domesticity. The scenes are not particularly believable and Dunaway seems out of her element. For a film attempting to reveal the dark underbelly of the Western myth, casting the strikingly beautiful Dunaway seems peculiar at best. She chews the scenery in her typical style, answering the door whenever the unblinking Wyatt pays an awkward visit - "Where's Doc? I need him," a statement having more than one meaning.
The rest of the cast is unknown, owing much to the fact the movie was filmed in Spain. With the exception of Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Once Upon a Time in the West, I have never been a fan of European-filmed Westerns, lacking the appropriate topography and supporting color. One could argue this gives "Doc" a dream-like quality, a familiar drama playing on an alien landscape. Perry wants to sweep away the ghosts of Ford, Fonda, Sturges and Lancaster, and perhaps this is a film only Sam Peckinpah could love. But "Doc" lacks the intense detail and artistic vision of The Wild Bunch - The Original Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1969) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Two-Disc Special Edition) (1973), far superior Westerns in tone, idea and - let's face it - budget.
With inexplicable slowness, the movie stumbles towards the OK Corral battle. While the confrontation is no more realistic than in previous films, perhaps a drama attempting to cut to the bone should pay more attention to history. The Clantons outnumber the Earps more than 2-to-1, Earp and his men carry shotguns, one of the Earp brothers is killed and Doc even guns down a youthful Clanton with whom he forged a father/son relationship. None of this is true, though I like the idea that Doc's action, as he pauses briefly in thought before shooting the boy through the heart, is his way of delivering the coup de grace to his legacy. The old ways have come to an end, and now the Earps can take root.
Disillusioned, having lost Kate because of his opium addiction and dying of the now-famous coughing disease, Doc rides out of Tombstone alone. It's all very somber, played to the tune of mournful guitar. "Doc" would have been better served to have not been based on the legendary shootout, but then it would not have been bankrolled. How's that for existential dilemma?
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1.0 out of 5 stars
Paints Wyatt Erp as a Wimp, October 2, 2009
I love Stacy Keach especially when he appeared in the Mike Hammer series on TV. I thought that this could have similar banter with big nose Kate Elder similarly to his sidekick Velda from the TV series. It seems to be that there is a conflict in the story that shows that Wyatt Erp was in fact a crooked, low life, scoundrel that lied, cheated and bought his way to fame rather than being the tough hard nosed lawman portrayed in other stories. This movie doesn't even document the shootout at the OK coral as other stories do involving ERP, Holiday, the Clanton's McClowery's and other riff raff that was out to get the Erps in Tombstone. What is more puzzling about this version of the story is that Doc Holliday's relationship with Wyatt Erp was more akin that of Erp just hanging around Holiday like a fifth wheel rather than it being a true friendship. As westerns go this one doesn't' really have enough shootouts and fights in it to consider it a classic. The star power of Keach and Dunaway seems like it would have the potential for interesting banter. However, I don't believe that they delivered anything that would be considered a lasting impression. After seeing the version with Kevin Costner in it several times, I was hoping to see something of similar quality from a different point of view. However, this was not the case. I just can't believe that they omitted the shootout at the OK corral and the events that followed. That gunfight became the standard by which all other westerns are judged. I'm surprised that Rich Little didn't have to intervene by doing voice overs in this picture like he did for the Hammer series, that's the only other occasion when I can think of Keach faltering at attempting to portray a character completely as he did with this movie. Even if this movie were on Encore or some other premium movie channel, I would not recommend wasting your time watching it.
RJL
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