One of the earliest cinematic tales of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the Gunfight at the OK Corral. It starts with a very vivid, remarkable overview of Tombstone life.
The beginning of the film, when Wyatt calms down a drunk cowboy singlehandedly and gets the job is not bad ( this time it takes a beating to get him to work for the law again).
“Frontier Marshal” – opening sequence
But the further into the film – the more boring and tiresome it gets. Wyatt has a tendancy to stick his nose into other people business and runs around trying to sort out Doc’s love affairs.
As he also does in Wyatt Earp (1994), here he considers it to be OK to buffaloe Doc for “bad behavior” ( I really don’t believe that would help their friendship).
Doc Holliday
As for Doc – he totally lacks his trademark charisma here. Again, they really didn’t bother with any historical accuracy – Doc is a surgeon, and is caught between a saloon girl and a nurse in a love triangle, with the moral views of the authors of this film firmly supporting the nurse. When she calls him by name, she calls him “John”, never “John Henry”.
He is killed even before the Gunfight. Basically, he is a “good” guy, who made some “bad” things due to being scared of his illness. Pathetically “Good Guy” towards the end. And, yes, seeing Doc drinking milk instead of whiskey made me crumble.
Doc Holliday on “Frontier Marshal”
The film is generally weak, far too righteous and naive in a “bad writing” sort of way. We get all the cheap plot devices as shot-down kids (that need to be saved by Doc Holliday, the surgeon) and flat dialogues.
Sarah: John…
Doc: Yes, Sarah?
Sarah: Isn’t it more thrilling to give life than to take it away?
Doc: Yes.
Weak. Moralistic and preaching so much your teeth hurt.
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