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
