'Gunfight At The OK Corral' & 'My Darling Clementine'

Got to give Americans credit. They know how to mythologize.

One-hundred and thirty years ago the police force of Tombstone, Ariz. got into a 30-second gunfight against a group of local ne'er-do-well cowboys.

The fight was relatively insignificant. Not until a biography of Wyatt Earp was released in 1931 did the gunfight gain noteriaty and then John Ford directed My Darling Clementine about 15 years later, 11 years before John Sturges directed Gunfight at the OK Corral, the film that gave the incident it's well-known name.

I highly suggest going into the history and background of the actual fight. Both films are not very factual. My Darling Clementine is probably the least factual of either one. Frankly, unless you wanted the films to be six hours long, you couldn't completely go into what was going on at the time and what led up to the gunfight.

Most notably, Doc Holliday was a pretty disreputable character and he and the Earp brothers were charged with the murder of Ike Clanton. They were exonerated, but in the Arizona territory in the 1880s, that didn't matter much. The gunfight happened. Then, in retaliation, Morgan Earp was murdered. Virgil Earp was seriously hurt. This led to the Earp Vendetta Ride, a 26-day manhunt by Wyatt and Co. a year after the gunfight.

There's a ton of information about all sorts of different aspects and cultural perspectives of the time. It's hard to imagine the United States being so lawless until until the 1900s, even after. Justice is like a fine wine. It takes time to perfect.