Saw this for the 1st time today. Seeing "Tombstone" & now this...Doc shot "Ringo" at the OK Corral. In "Tombstone" Doc shot Ringo in some forest somewhere. Also in "Doc" Morgan is dead at OK Corral. In "Tombstone" Morgan is wounded at OK Corral. And my biggest question is this ... Big Nose Kates last name is "Elder". Any relation to that great Western..."The Sons Of Katie Elder" ??? What's going on in Western history ??? I had no clue Kate's last name was "Elder" in "Doc" until near the end. " " Sons of Katie Elder" with John Wayne, Dean Martin, Earl Holliman...etc was one of my favorite movies growing up. How many "Katie Elders" could there be back in the old West ???

This demystifying "Doc" (Frank Perry, 1971) packs a good cast with Harris Yulin , Faye Dunaway and Stacy Keach . Three nice actors in a huge exciting production . They form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral . At the beginning Doc Holliday , a famous poker gambler , one day he challenges a man to poker , betting his horse against his opponent's woman . There he meets Katie Fisher, also known as Katie Elder (Faye Dunaway) , will follow him wherever he goes . Their next destination is Tombstone , where the law is represented by Sheriff Wyatt Earp . They fought shoulder to shoulder in the wildest stand-up gunfight in the history of the West . They are the strangest alliance between the West's most famous sheriff , Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin) , trying to overcome outlaws and its deadliest gambling killer , Doc Holliday (Stacy Keach) . When he arrives in Tombstone , the election campaign is in full swing . Earp runs for candidate but the Clantons , a family gang of outlaw cowboys, are not among his keenest supporters . Conflict erupts following the failure of some shadowy bargaining and Doc decides to join Wyatt and his brothers , Virgil (John Bottoms), Morgan and James . There they would see them in a feud with the Clantons led by Ike (Mike Witney) , a local clan of ruthless thugs and cattle thieves . When the showdown becomes inevitable , the help will come from Doc Holliday , a terminally-ill gambler who happens to be another Wild West legend . The four of them gather at the O.K. Corral where the seven Clanton brothers along with The Kid (Denver Collins) are waiting for them . The film correctly builds up its suspense until a tense battle in streets of Tombstone . One day of 1881, it takes place the famed shoot'em up among Wyatt , Doc , Billy , Ike Clanton , McLowery and Ringo . This trigger-taut Western drama deals with a lawman and a badman , the strangest friendship this side of heaven and hell . It's incomparably performed by the greatest team who ever went into action , Harris Yulin portrays the large-than-life lawman , living by the old rules , driven by revenge , dueling to the death and Stacy Keach is most impressive as a gunslinger , the hellfire gambler , his only friends were his guns and his only refuge was a woman's heart . ¨Doc¨ has an evocative cinematography , well made by Gerald Hirschfeld , being filmed on location in Manzanares Del Real , La Pedriza , Colmenar Viejo and Almeria , Spain , where in the 60s and 70s had been shot lots of Spaghetti/Paella Westerns . Furthermore , atmospheric and thrilling musical score by Jimmy Webb . The motion picture was professionally directed by Frank Perry . He was an expert on dramas that enjoyed a fruitful collaboration with his wife , the playwright and screenwriter Eleanor Perry . As he directed ¨David and Lisa¨ , ¨Man on a Swing¨, ¨Play It As It Lays¨, ¨Diary of a mad housewife¨ and his two greatest successes were ¨The swimmer¨ and ¨ Mommie dearest¨ also with Faye Dunaway . The film is set in Tombstone where Earp finds Holliday and helps him against Ike , Billy Clanton , Johnny Ringo and McCloury . The final part focuses Tombstone , 1881 , with stimulating scenes about OK Corral gunfight between Morgan , Virgil , Wyatt Earp , Doc against the nefarious Ike , Billy Clanton , Johnny Ringo, and Tom McLowery . The main character is a historical figure , in this case the sheriff Wyatt Earp who participated the most famous duel occurred in the western town of Tombstone in 1881 that has been brought to the big screen many times , as in the classic "My Darling Clementine" in 1946 directed by John Ford with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature , or the more modern "Tombstone : The Legend of Wyatt Earp" (George P. Cosmatos, 1993) with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer and ¨Wyatt Earp¨ (Lawrence Kasdan, 1994) with Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid . And , of course, the best version resulted to be ¨Gunfight at O.K. Corral¨ by John Sturges with Burt Lancaster , Kirk Douglas , Jo Van Fleet , Rhonda Fleming , Ted De Corsia , among others . John Sturges would resume the same story in the inferior "The Hour of the Gun" (1967) with Jason Robards , James Garner and John Voight

Stacy Keach, who plays Doc Holliday in this film, made some incredible films between 1968 and 1974 and this is a Western epic (where he's the lead for a change) and kicks some Western butt on an old legend about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, the west and Faye Dunaway plays Kate. Check out this early 70's GOOD FILM about America.Harris Yulin (who nobody knows) did plays and other films with Keach in the good old days - I'm not even into westerns since The Wild Bunch and The Man With No Name fllms, this script was Pretty Much on the mark about these cats! The old west, no guns allowed in Tombstone (SAYS WHO?) These guys, with worthy adversaries, and great dialogue in a movie nobody saw (unless, in 1971, you were a revisionist like Squint Eastwood did 20 years later in Unforgiven (a great film). Anyway, if you can find it (and Judy Collins' kid brother plays Billy in this) the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral will never be the same (no matter what your fantasies are concerning Western fact). Keach was the man for seven years. Trust me - I saw him on stage in New York and London. Well worth your time (Keach, Dunaway, and Harris Yulin fans), especially if you like Westerns cutting against the grade (even then); highly recommended (resembles The Hired Hand by Peter Fonda).

Ignoring the major historical inaccuracies (Virgil was the Marshal of Tombstone and not Wyatt; Doc and Katie Elder were together long before they both came to Tombstone; etc.), the film attempts to make Doc and Wyatt out as the mob bosses of the Tombstone. "Tombstone" (the Costner film) was much more historically accurate.