John Ford again chooses his locations and characters well, huge skies and scenery (if you are willing to ignore the fiction of Earp driving cattle across Arizona's desolate "Monument Valley" scenery). Walter Brennan is great with a full...
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John Ford again chooses his locations and characters well, huge skies and scenery (if you are willing to ignore the fiction of Earp driving cattle across Arizona's desolate "Monument Valley" scenery). Walter Brennan is great with a full beard and a nasty disposition and Fonda does well.

Earp is portrayed with all the trappings of his poorly-documented career - if anything was heroic (Marshal of Dodge City, etc.), its included here - not accurate, but as it should be in a grand western. My favorite scene is probably when Wyatt meets Holiday - the bartender as easily slides a six shooter down the bar as a shot of barrel whiskey.

As the movie rushes towards its inevitable climax, two things seem evident - Ford is a master at showing the tension and violence between strong men and he's pretty hopeless at using women characters at all, they are almost always as two-dimensional as cardboard cutouts. He would finally portray women in more depth in "The Searchers".

If you are interested in Hollywood westerns, I wouldn't miss this one.