Hour of the Gun (1967)

Director:

John Sturges

Writer:

Edward Anhalt (written by)

Release Date:

1968 (Austria)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Wyatt Earp - hero with a badge or cold-blooded killer?

Plot:

Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton-gang in a fight. In revenge Clanton's thugs kill the marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt Earp starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday. |

Plot Keywords:

Wyatt Earp | Revenge | Doc Holliday | Posse | Gambling

Cast

James Garner	...	Wyatt Earp
Jason Robards	...	Doc Holliday
Robert Ryan	...	Ike Clanton
Albert Salmi	...	Octavius Roy
Charles Aidman	...	Horace Sullivan
Steve Ihnat	...	Andy Warshaw
Michael Tolan	...	Pete Spence
William Windom	...	Texas Jack Vermillion
Lonny Chapman	...	Turkey Creek Johnson
Larry Gates	...	John P. Clum
William Schallert	...	Judge Herman Spicer
Bill Fletcher	...	County Sheriff Jimmy Bryan
Karl Swenson	...	Dr. Charles Goodfellow
Austin Willis	...	Anson Safford
Monte Markham	...	Tucson Sheriff Sherman McMasters
Richard Bull	...	Thomas Fitch
Sam Melville	...	Morgan Earp
Frank Converse	...	Marshal Virgil Earp
Jon Voight	...	Curly Bill Brocius
Robert Phillips	...	Frank Stilwell
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Edward Anhalt	...	Denver doctor (uncredited)
Walter Gregg	...	Billy Clanton (uncredited)
David Perna	...	Frank McLowery (uncredited)
Jorge Russek	...	Deputy Latigo (uncredited)
Jim Sheppard	...	Tom McLowery (uncredited)

Directed by
John Sturges

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Edward Anhalt		written by

Produced by
John Sturges	....	producer

Original Music by
Jerry Goldsmith

Cinematography by
Lucien Ballard

Film Editing by
Ferris Webster

Casting by
Lynn Stalmaster

Art Direction by
Alfred Ybarra		(as Alfred C. Ybarra)

Set Decoration by
Rafael Suárez		(as Rafael Suarez)

Makeup Department
Charles Blackman	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Nate H. Edwards	....	production manager
Jack Lacey	....	unit production manager
Allen K. Wood	....	production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Thomas J. Schmidt	....	assistant director

Art Department
Joe LaBella	....	property
William Maldonado	....	construction coordinator

Sound Department
Jesús González Gancy	....	sound (as Jesus Gonzalez Gancy)
Frank E. Warner	....	sound effects editor

Special Effects by
Sass Bedig	....	special effects

Stunts
Roydon Clark	....	stunts (uncredited)
Gary Combs	....	stunts (uncredited)
David Perna	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jim Sheppard	....	stunts (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Gordon T. Dawson	....	wardrobe (as Gordon Dawson)

Editorial Department
Jorge Azcárate	....	assistant editor (as Jorge Azcarate)

Music Department
Richard Carruth	....	music editor
David Tamkin	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
John Franco	....	script supervisor
'Chema' Hernandez	....	head wrangler: Mexico (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Mirisch Corporation, The (presents)
• Mirisch-Kappa Production

Distributors

• United Artists (1967) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1968) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1971) (USA) (TV)
• United Artists Films (1968) (Finland) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1968) (France) (theatrical)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (1998) (USA) (VHS)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2003) (Netherlands) (DVD) (VHS) (rental)
• Paradiso Home Entertainment (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD) (retail)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (2008) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.  facilities
• Union of Motion Picture Production Workers of the Republic of Mexico  appreciation for their co-operation

Also Known As:

The Law and Tombstone (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:M | Norway:16 | Netherlands:AL (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Prior to production, United Artists had made it quite clear to director John Sturges that none of the primary roles were to be filled by the actors who played the same characters in Sturges' previous Wyatt Earp film, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957). Wanting to distinguish this film from the previous one, they demanded different actors be cast in the roles. However, Sturges believed that the roles of Virgil and Morgan Earp from the previous film were small enough that the same actors who played them could do it again without harming the film's uniqueness. The studio agreed and allowed Sturges to cast John Hudson (Virgil Earp) and DeForest Kelley (Morgan Earp). Unfortunately, Hudson had retired from acting in the early '60s and was unwilling to do the role. Kelley, on the other hand, was currently working on the TV series "Star Trek" (1966) and was unable to break away to play Morgan Earp. Thus, both Earp brothers were recast.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Virgil Earp is ambushed while doing his rounds he is shot by Frank Stilwell using a double barrel shotgun. In spite of the distance between him and Stillwell in the Barber Shop (the width of a street) there are no pellet strikes in the building he is standing in front of.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[The Earps and Doc Holliday approach the O.K. Corral]
Wyatt Earp (Tombstone city marshal: Ike Clanton, Andy Warshaw, Latigo, Curly Joe Brocious... Who's in the corral, Virg?
Marshal Virgil Earp: Billy Clanton and the McLowerys.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Star Trek: Spectre of the Gun (#3.6)" (1968)

Beyond The O.K. Corral Gunfight

Although often criticized for its considerable historical inaccuracies, director John Sturges' 1957 film GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL has gone down in history as one of the western film genre's finest efforts. But stung by those criticisms, Sturges chose to revisit the story and go beyond the gunfight itself ten years later in 1967's HOUR OF THE GUN.

Whereas GUNFIGHT made the gunfight the climax of the film, and the later 1993 film TOBSTONE placed it in the center, HOUR OF THE GUN actually begins with Wyatt Earp (James Garner) and his brothers and the TB-ridden Doc Holliday (Jason Robards) confronting the Clantons and McLowerys at the corral. It also goes into the trial that got the Earps and Holliday off of murder charges. And it also goes into how the thirst for revenge that salivates in Ike Clanton (Robert Ryan) turned Garner's Wyatt Earp from a stoic lawman to almost a mirror image of Clanton, just with a badge. Robards' Holliday can't stand to see his friend disintegrate, but he doesn't want to leave his side, despite his penchant for booze which is exacerbating his tuberculosis.

As has often been pointed out in films based on historical events, including Wyatt Earp's Arizona period, HOUR OF THE GUN does not totally stick with the facts. Ike Clanton's role in the Cowboys gang has been embellished in this film (in truth, Ike wasn't all that swift upstairs); also, Wyatt and Doc didn't track Clanton down to Mexico and kill him (Ike would be killed in a robbery some years later, and not at Wyatt's hand). It must also be said, too, that, instead of having filmed HOUR in the same southern Arizona locations as GUNFIGHT, Sturges filmed it on locations in northern Mexico; and even the most discerning film-goer who has been to either place will spot the differences.

Still, despite these flaws, and the fact that Robards was already too old to be playing the 36 year-old Holliday, HOUR OF THE GUN is a fairly substantial western, more hard-edged and cynical than its illustrious predecessor. Garner, perhaps serving as the bridge between Burt Lancaster's portrayal in GUNFIGHT and Kurt Russell's in TOMBSTONE, is at his very best as the increasingly disillusioned Wyatt; and Robards does a good enough turn as the good Doctor. Ryan's portrayal of Ike Clanton is one of very low-key, business-like villainy, perfectly suited to this constantly underrated actor's talents. Jon Voight is also on hand in his debut film, portraying Curly Bill Brocious.

Helped out by Lucien Ballard's first-rate cinematography and a flavorful Jerry Goldsmith score, HOUR OF THE GUN is an underrated sagebrush saga that deserves to be seen, especially as it came in the years between the wide-eyed optimism of the John Ford films and the more cynical westerns that were to follow in the wake of Leone and Peckinpah.