Two of the best Western films of all time were defined by a historical inaccuracy
Summary
- Although “Tombstone” and “Gunfight At The OK Corral” depict the legendary Earp gunfight, the real event did not take place at the OK Corral.
- The historical inaccuracy of both films arises from the depiction of a protracted stalemate rather than a quick, actual encounter.
- The Wild West was not as lawless as portrayed in Westerns. Many towns had ordinances prohibiting the carrying of firearms.
Gravestone and its predecessor from 1957, Shootout at OK Corral, are two of the most famous dramatizations of the life of the notorious lawman Wyatt Earp. Kirk Douglas’ film is a typical western classic, while Gravestonegrowing popularity called it a cult hit. Both revolve around the same event, taken from Earp’s posthumous biography: a gunfight in the town of Tombstone, Arizona. And despite this historical context, both films make a crucial mistake with their stories.
In Tombstone, on October 26, 1881, Earp and his brothers faced a group of cattle rustlers and thieves known as “The Cowboys”. The anecdote lends itself perfectly to an epic retelling, not least because the cowboys also had two sets of siblings in their ranks. This battle between brothers has become almost synonymous with the Western genre. Gravestone The depiction of the shootout lends Kurt Russell’s film a certain historical accuracy, but both films are based on an error. Although a fateful encounter took place that day, it wasn’t at the OK Corral.
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The OK Corral is frequently portrayed in “Gunfight At The OK Corral” and “Tombstone.”
The iconic location is key to staging the Earp shootout
Shooting in the OK Corral was John Sturges’ 1957 remake of the 1939 film. Border Marshallbased on the Wyatt Earp biography of the same name. Until the biography was published two years after Earp’s death, the famous standoff in Tombstone, Arizona, was not widely known. The anecdote captured the imagination of the film industry just as Hollywood was beginning to say goodbye to the Wild West. When renewed commercial success ushered in the Golden Age of the Western, The OK Corral became the centerpiece of cowboy mythologyso much so that Sturges made it the centerpiece of his film.
…the open space of the corral stages the essential tableau of the conflict between outlaws and law enforcers
The spectacular shootout sequence lasts a total of 11 minutes. Shootout at OK Corral further immortalized the event when it became a classic of the genre. It undoubtedly influenced the film by Kurt Russell over half a decade later. In both depictions, the open space of the corral stages the essential tableau of the confrontation between outlaws and lawmen. The physical distance amplifies the rising tension as each group waits for the first man to draw his weapon. The particular way these films stage the shootout defines its greatest inaccuracy.
The real OK Corral and what actually happened
The brief encounter actually did not take place at the OK Corral
The title Shootout at OK Corral is misleading, since the real confrontation did not even take place there. The main historical sources, testimony from the preliminary hearings held after the event, reported that the confrontation took place in an adjacent side street six houses down, next to CS Fly’s photography studio. The studio is in the Gravestone Scene. This place brings the Earps and the cowboys much closer together than the films portraytherefore, the actual fight lasted only about 30 seconds. It was far from the drawn-out stalemate portrayed in the drama.
Although Westerns want audiences to believe in an age without laws and gunslingers, in reality only a few people were allowed to carry a firearm.
Despite its ominous name, the real Tombstone was an ordinary mining boomtown, like so many others that sprang up along the frontier. Shootings were the order of the dayso much so that Tombstone passed an ordinance prohibiting citizens from carrying weapons into town. Although westerns lead audiences to believe in a lawless age of gunslingers, in reality few people were allowed to carry firearms. Similar ordinances existed in most towns, and it was this very law that led to the brawl in Tombstone when the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday disarmed the cowboys.
It should come as no surprise that these two great westerns are based on a historical error. It would be difficult to accurately recount the day in Tombstone, because historical reports were already contradictory. Newspapers were not bound by a concept of journalistic neutrality – every report favored one side or the other. But historical accuracy was never the goal. The Western genre is basically a romanticization: the myth of the new frontier. The shootout at the OK Corral And Gravestone may be marked by historical inaccuracies, but the truth would not have made such a good story.
Gravestone
Tombstone is a western film loosely based on true events. When a band of outlaws known as the Cowboys invade a town and kill several police officers to avenge the deaths of two of their gang members, news of their misdeeds reaches a retired lawman. The new vigilantes rally to defend the town and put an end to the Cowboys’ terror.
