Gunfight at the OK Corral (1957)

"Burt Lancaster as the famous Wyatt Earp...Kirk Douglas as the notorious Doc Holliday....Two men as different as day and night...Now you'll see them as they really were...hot blooded men in a raw and relentless era...Drawn by destiny to this scarlet dawn...October 6, 1888...When the gunfight at the OK Corral left its bloody imprint on the annals of the West.
- trailer

I did not love this movie.  It's really long, and seems longer than it needs to be, and is set in three different towns. The most interesting part is toward the end when the action place in Tombstone and we meet Wyatt Earp's family and a conflicted young gunfighter played by Dennis Hopper. I thought the movie would have been more interesting if it were set in just that town and we got to know more about those characters. Rhonda Fleming and Jo Van Fleet are the only female leads and they play the love interests of Burt (who's just okay) and gambler Kirk, who brings some personality to his character and was more interesting to me. He had to feign a bad cough throughout, and definitely convinced me he was really sick by the end.

It's so ironic that that immediately before I started watching this yesterday, the TV was turned to My Fair Lady playing on Turner Classic Movies, and the scene was Rex Harrison singing "Why Can't Women Be More Like A Man?" including the lyrics "Cause men are so friendly, good-natured and kind. A better companion you never will find."

Not at the OK Corral.

The movie is pretty violent, with lots of dudes guys getting shot or stabbed, and Jo Van Fleet almost dies twice. The opening song does not fit the mood of the film well; it's a ridiculous Frankie Lane tune that almost seems like a comedic parody --   "Okaaaay....Koraaaaaalllll.....Okaaaay....Koraaaaaalllll". I'm not the only one who thinks so -  back in 1957, Bosley Crowther, the critic for the New York Times even thought so (read that review here); he said that it seemed to be an imitation of High Noon's opening song. Not only is the song repeated several times throughout (and annoying after awhile), but the lyrics also change to fit "Boot Hill" as well. "Boot Hill...Boot Hill...". I can't think of another song every dedicated to a cemetery.

Reading more about this actual historical event, the inaccuracies and liberties that writer (Leon Uris) and the filmmakers took become more evident. For example, the trailer mentions the wrong day and year of the event. Also, the real gunfight never took place at OK Corral (the setting looks good in the movie, though).

These inaccuracies make me think more about the historical twists that Tarantino has been inserting in his latest few movies; most recently Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. In 50 years, viewers of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood may watch it without any historical context, and then may think that Sharon Tate lived beyond 1969 or may think she was just a fictional character. Likewise, I was scratching my head after "OK Corral" and wondering which characters were real and which weren't myself. Maybe this is the idea that Tarantino is trying to get across in his movies - that often in Hollywood films they're nothing more than make believe, and often just good old fashioned shoot-em-up  entertainment that is told the way the filmmakers want.

Another blog post from Just Hit Play

While the City Sleeps (1953)

A good film noir directed by Fritz Lang about three newspaper reporters (Dana Andrews, Ida Lupino, and James Craig) who all work for a news media corporation lead by Vincent Price. The all star cast also features George Sanders, Thomas Michell and Howard Duff. Rhonda Fleming is also in this (wow) but she is not in the film enough - it's a very small role where she plays Vincent Price's wife who is having an affair with Craig.

On the loose in the city is a violent serial killer, dubbed the "lipstick killer"; all of his victims are female.

The killer, a deranged mamma's boy, is played by John Drew Barrymore (Drew Barrymore's father and son of the famed theater and silent film star).

Dana Andrews' reporter character hosts a nightly news TV program.

During one broadcast, in the most memorable scene in the film, he looks directly into the camera and speaks to the suspect on live TV, assuring his capture based on the all the evidence gathered. We then see a shot of the killer in his bedroom sweating nervously. He's then coddled by his overbearing momma.

The killer's next target: Andrews' ladyfriend (Sally Forrest - this was her last film)

John Drew Barrymore is quite convincing in this role, and very creepy; in real life I understand he was quite a disturbed man, and was a recluse for many years. I read a report where at one point he was homeless and broke, but his daughter helped him financially to pay medical bills before he died. On the bright side of things, he does have a bright shiny star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

PS This film is hard to find (it's not on DVD) but it can be seen on Turner Classic Movies from time to time.