Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

William C. McGann

Writers:

Albert S. Le Vino (screenplay)
Edward E. Paramore Jr. (screenplay)

Release Date:

13 June 1942 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

TOO TOUGH FOR DODGE CITY...He Brings His Guns To The Devil's Own Stamping Grounds

Plot:

Wyatt Earp cleans up Tombstone and faces the Clanton gang at the O.K. Corral. |

Plot Keywords:

Doc Holliday | Based On Book

Cast

Richard Dix	...	Wyatt Earp
Edgar Buchanan	...	Curly Bill Brocious
Frances Gifford	...	Ruth Grant
Don Castle	...	Johnny Duanne
Rex Bell	...	Virgil Earp
Kent Taylor	...	Doc Holiday
Clem Bevans	...	Tadpole Foster
Victor Jory	...	Ike Clanton
Chris-Pin Martin	...	Chris
Jack Rockwell	...	Bob Paul
Charles Stevens	...	Indian Charley
Hal Taliaferro	...	Dick Mason

Runtime:

79 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Slam-bang western

This is an unheralded little gem of a western. Full of rock-solid actors, but no big stars (Richard Dix, the biggest name in the cast, was beginning to settle into character parts after a long career as a leading man), this tight little western moves like lightning. Director William McGann made his name as an action specialist and second-unit director at Warner Bros. (it definitely has the Warner Bros. "look" to it, even though it's from Paramount), and he proved here that he was more than capable of handling a bigger-budget western. Tightly paced, full of rousing action and good performances, it deserves to be better known than it is.