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19 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
"I'm gonna count one, two, three. You can draw on two - I'll wait to three.", 6 July 2007
7/10
Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

For Sturges, the West was a man's world, and his cool, hard, detached style, emphasizing action, excitement and the rugged environment of the frontier, endorsed the point…

Sturges believed there were three essentials to every Western: 1. Isolation – a man standing alone with no hope of help from outside (e.g. Spencer Tracy's predicament in "Bad Day at Black Rock when the telegraph lines are cut). 2. A man, or group of men compulsively take law and justice, rightly or wrongly, into their own hands (e.g. "The Magnificent Seven"). 3. The issues are resolved by violence in the form of gunplay (e.g. "Gunfight at the OK Corral," "Hour of the Gun"). He followed this up by saying: 'A Western is a controlled, disciplined, formal kind of entertainment. There's good and bad; clearly defined issues; there's chase; there's a gunfight.'

"Hour of the Gun" covers the period just after the famous gun battle… The film is well done but there are some downfalls: It shows only one face of Wyatt— his "official" law abiding side, with no women in his life… And also no Johnny Ringo—the main bad guy and rival of Doc Holliday…

There are solid performances all around, beginning with James Garner who plays a hero with a badge, and is powerful in his intensity… Wyatt's vengeance for the murder of his brother show the primal potency of violence…

Robards plays John Holliday—an ordinary man dying of tuberculosis who becomes one of Wyatt's most loyal allies with an insatiable greed for drinking, gambling and fighting… Robards is quite good in his character, and does deliver a couple of colorful lines to Earp… The relationship and chemistry between the two men is unique… It's difficult to outline, but it's like these two were old souls who would go through hell with/for each other and never need to wonder or to argue it…

Ryan, as a Westerner, has played straight as well as crooked – his hunted killer in "The Naked Spur" and his ageing lawman (losing his vision at crucial moments) in "The Proud Ones" being equally memorable… In more recent roles he has been basically sympathetic – as the horse-handler in "The Professionals," as William Holden's weary, reluctant pursuer in "The Wild Bunch," as the pacifist sheriff in "Lawman" – the exception being "Hour of the Gun," in which once again he was the outlaw on the run, this time with a relentless Wyatt Earp in pursuit… Ryan has perhaps achieved more as an actor in other genres, but the Western would have been the poorer without him…

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25 out of 38 people found the following comment useful :-
Great film, bad timing., 10 July 2004
8/10
Author: lloyd7202003 from Texas

Hour of the Gun is a superb western with a top-notch cast and a most memorable musical score. So why was it a box-office flop? Unfortunately it came along at a time when westerns were on their way out, no longer fashionable. The hour of the "ridiculous gun" had arrived. Westerns were soon replaced with parodies of westerns such as Support Your Local Sheriff, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, etc. Fun movies to be sure, but the cynicism which had begun to take hold in America in 1967 and made them hits was a death knell for serious films about the old west. For me, Hour of the Gun has stood the test of time. It's as absorbing now as when I first saw it. If it were re-released today, would it succeed at the box office? Probably not. Although the cynicism of 1967 is gone, it has been replaced by male-bashing. This film is strictly for guys. There's no female lead character or even a minor one. No wonder Hour of the Gun is still consigned to the rotten tomatoes bin. Although it's a darn good movie, its "hour" may never come, at least not in our lifetime.

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19 out of 28 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best tellings of the Earp-Clanton feud, 15 May 2005
9/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

The story of the showdown between the brothers Earp and the Clanton gang is certainly as much a part of American mythology as the Puritans on the first Thanksgiving or Lincoln at Gettysburg. Hollywood certainly loves to tell the tale over and over again. In fact this is director John Sturges's second telling.

The Gunfight at the OK Corral done in 1956 by this director had as the climax the famous gunfight. Here in Hour of the Gun, Sturges starts his story with the gunfight and the results afterward.

Ike Clanton played by Robert Ryan in his usual grim fashion is not about to let Wyatt Earp triumph after killing some of his gang and his kin. He sets in motion a series of events that bring tragedy on the Earp family and a sinister turn in the character of Wyatt Earp.

The usual lackadaisical and quizzical James Garner is also pretty grim in this picture. He's throwing away the law he's sworn to uphold and the set of moral rules he lives by. And it's tearing away his character which is something Doc Holiday is deeply concerned with.

James Garner ranks right up there with all the fine actors like Henry Fonda, Burt Lancaster, Randolph Scott, Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell who have played Earp. James Garner never turned a bad performance in on the screen and he even got to play Wyatt Earp again in Sunset for Blake Edwards.

And Jason Robards, Jr. goes every step of the way with Garner as Doc Holiday. Holiday is the usual cynical alcoholic who's a jaded idealist and recognizes Earp as the real deal hero. His concern for Earp's character disintegration registers well in his performance.

Watch for a young Jon Voight, pre-Midnight Cowboy, as Curly Bill Brocius, a Clanton gang member.

This is a real western classic. And accept for Hugh O'Brian's television series, the most accurate portrayal of the OK Corral events.

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17 out of 25 people found the following comment useful :-
A Lesser-Known 'Earp' Movie, 15 June 2006
7/10
Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

Here is yet another Wyatt Earp story. I wasn't aware of this version until early in the summer of 2005. I thought I had seen them all. Judging by the amount of reviews in here, I wasn't alone in not knowing about this film. I am glad I got it, but It was just okay; nothing special.

None of the three top characters: James Garner as Earp, Jason Robards as "Doc Holliday" or Robert Ryan as "Ike Clanton" can match up to their best of their counterparts in other Earp films.....but they were still pretty good and certainly three famous actors. The only one who might have been a little out of place was Robards, who played a little too subdued "Doc."

Still, the similarities are there in all the Earp movie versions including this one: the gunfight at the OK Corral, the courtroom trials, the train scene near the end, Holliday's illness, etc. One thing missing from this is any love interest, which actually was nice to have left out for once.

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10 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Great Western...... Underrated., 27 February 2005
10/10
Author: mike-1730 from United Kingdom

I am surprised that there are so few comments posted on this gem of a western. The movie has a slightly documentary style and some reviewers have accused it of having cold and unsympathetic characterisation. I think that the Wild Bunch apart, this is the finest western of the sixties. Garner, acting against type, is a superb Wyatt Earp. Jason Robards depiction of the doomed consumptive dentist Doc Holliday, loyal, witty, infinitely deadly, is a triumph. This movie is purely about revenge, one man's determination to kill his brothers assassins. No frills, no boring love interest, just an intense pursuit until the final brilliantly executed showdown in Mexico. The score is superb, the cinematography to die for. Sturges finest movie. Not available on Video or DVD in England, which is a scandal.

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13 out of 21 people found the following comment useful :-
"OK" thereafter and for some the "hereafter"., 27 February 2004
10/10
Author: Henry Erlenwein (herlenwein@msn.com) from USA

10 years after "Gunfight at the OK Corral" John Sturges decided to direct this sequel. He did not lost his touch. If anyone was capable of teaching an actor how to draw and shoot a gun and capture that precision on screen it was Sturges. He knew how to dress them too. It may not have been realistic but it worked. James Garner is good as Earp. Stoic but not unfeeling. Good casting with Jason Robards as Doc Holliday. Even better that he was not scripted to cough himself to death in every scene. Whatever happened to "big nose" Kate? In fact, what happened to the women? Not one cast or credited. Robert Ryan plays Ike Clanton as a greedy land baron trying not to have modern times catch up to him. He dies well. With good photography and music I can strongly recommend this film especially if you want a different perspective of Earp and the times.

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Beyond The O.K. Corral Gunfight, 21 August 2005
7/10
Author: virek213 from San Gabriel, Ca., USA

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.

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8 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Flawed Western, but worth a look., 10 December 2000
10/10
Author: haristas from USA

"Hour of the Gun," director John Sturges' sequel to his 1957 "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," is an austere study of the events following the famous gun battle, and a somewhat muddled psychological picture of what motivated Wyatt Earp. Was he, as the posters and ads for this picture asked, a 'hero with a badge or cold-blooded killer?' In the hands of a director like Sam Peckinpah this idea probably would have been more interestingly handled, but Sturges was a largely workman-like director, and so this film starts well but soon seems tiresome. Still there's much to admire here. James Garner is very good as Earp, and Jason Robards has fun as Doc Holliday, though he's hardly consumptive and too old for the part. The Panavision widescreen photography is beautiful to look at (making a letterboxed presentation of this film a video necessity), but this film's real saving grace is a magnificent, masterful score by Jerry Goldsmith. Fans of film music have remembered it better than the movie it so well supports.

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5 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
Could have been much darker and better but was still a solid enough western, 11 December 2005
Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK

After the shoot out at the OK Corral, Ike Clanton brides officials to start legal proceedings against Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday for the murder of his brother. The judge weighs up the evidence and spots some contradictions in key parts of the prosecution case and thus acquits Earp and Holliday and rules the shoot out was part of them fulfilling their duties as lawmen. Unsatisfied with this ruling, Clanton gets a couple of his men to kill Wyatt's brothers setting the law man on a quest to bring Clanton in – but is he seeking justice or revenge? I had never heard of this film until recently but I decided to give it a try when I read it was a sequel to OK Corral. In essence it is a rather old-fashioned western but it has a nice mean air to it that I found complimented the material. The plot is simple though and it never gets to grips with the darker side of the legends of Wyatt and Doc; perhaps because it was Sturges that directed but I would lie to see the film as it would have been made when The Wild Bunch turned the western genre on its head. Because here the focus is the story where really it needed to be on Wyatt the man as he loses touch with the lawman and starts to resemble much more of a driven revenge figure. It is a shame that the film doesn't go deeper into this but as it is it is still an enjoyable western that does what it does well enough for genre fans.

The cast are good despite not having anyone carried over from the first film. Garner does make for a mean Wyatt and even if the material doesn't go deep, Garner's eyes show that he understands what he is doing. Robards is enjoyable as Holliday and has one of the film's best dialogue scenes when he confronts the man he once looked up to. Ryan isn't as key as I had hoped and the narrative keeps him to the side for the majority of the film. The support cast are mainly good enough for the genre but it is Garner and Robards who dominate the whole thing.

Overall this is a solid and enjoyable period western. The dark revenge and hatred within Wyatt is hinted at but it is only really Garner who seems to want to really bring it out of his character as the film only toys with it while staying in firmly old-fashioned territory. Could have been a lot more interesting then but still manages to be an enjoyable western for fans of the genre as it was before changing in the late sixties.

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8 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
I can't understand why this isn't more popular., 25 April 2000
8/10
Author: Robert Cornell (rc223@msm.cam.ac.uk) from Cambridge, UK

Sturges' sequel to Gunfight at the OK Coral is in some ways a better film with a less predictable (obviously) storyline transformed into a bitter tale of vengeance. James Garner isn't his usually laid back self as an increasingly disillusioned Wyatt Earp while Jason Robards catches the acting honours as a Jimmy Cricket-style Doc Holiday. Clever, moody, well made. (8/10)

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