The Gunfight at the OK Corral was one of the most infamous shootouts in Wild West history, so it’s no surprise that there have been plenty of depicting this notorious confrontation. Taking place on October 26, 1881, even though this shootout lasted under one minute, it has still become the stuff of legend and been dramatized time and again in some all-time great Western movies. With major Wild West figures like Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday involved in the conflict, audiences have never lost interest in this showdown between cowboys, outlaws, and lawmen.

While many will be well aware of the cult classic Tombstone, which saw , this was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to this hugely impactful showdown. Other legendary directors, like John Ford, have also made their own interpretations of the events in Tombstone, Arizona, meaning there’s no shortage of excellent movies to watch about the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

As the very first movie to ever depict the Gunfight at the OK Corral, Law and Order deserves a special place in Western film history. With Walter Huston as the lawman Frame Johnson, this pre-Code Western was based on the novel Saint Johnson by W. R. Burnett. While , it was also a fictionalized account, and Johnson was the film’s version of Wyatt Earp.

Law and Order didn’t include any of the real historical figures from the infamous gunfight, such as Doc Holliday, but it did follow the basic premise of a lawman attempting to tame the violence inherent in Tombstone. While many viewers might come to this film as a historical document in the long-standing story of the Gunfight at the OK Corral on the big screen, it was actually a genuinely entertaining Western in its own right and a hidden gem for those who feel like they’ve seen everything.

Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die was a 1940s Western depiction of the Gunfight at the OK Corral that does very little to differentiate itself from the litany of other movies dealing with the same topic. Despite starting off strong with a terrific shootout involving some local hell raisers, much of the rest of the runtime felt like it was just meandering with one uneven scene after another. A romance is also shoehorned into the plot, and this really just doesn’t add anything to this historical story.

Unfortunately, a strong cast including was wasted on a subpar Western. While Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die is far from unwatchable, it’s hard to recommend it when there are just so many other better movies dealing with this infamous shootout that, in actuality, lasted less than one minute.

As a big-budget Western coming just a few short years after its star Kevin Costner’s Best Picture-winning success with Dances with Wolves, Wyatt Earp had a lot going for it. However, this Western biopic was vastly overshadowed by the much more impressive Tombstone, released the previous year. As two films both dealing with Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, and the Gunfight at the OK Corral, .

With a daunting more than three-hour runtime, Wyatt Earp tested viewers' patience and came at a time when Western lovers had already recently enjoyed an even better depiction of the fight. The results were massively disappointing, as the same story being told with worse characterization, less energy, and in far more time was not an exciting proposition. Rather than endure as a cult classic for years on end like Tombstone, Wyatt Earp’s legacy was instead being placed on a variety of year-end worst-of lists.

Alex Cox’s unique Western Tombstone Rashomon combines aspects of the real Gunfight at the OK Corral with the multiple perspectives seen in Akira Kurosawa’s all-time great samurai movie Rashomon. This concept involved a film crew traveling back in time to film the 1881 gunfight, but when they arrived, they could only interview those involved. This sees the gunfight retold from the perspectives of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday, Kate Elder, Ike Clanton, Colonel Roderick Hafford, and Johnny Behan.

As a clever take on a well-worn concept, . While the film crew did manage to make it back to the Wild West, the twist was that they arrived one day late and were forced to piece together the event through historical figures, each of whom had a different perspective on what had occurred. As a clever nod to the fact that history is written by the winners, Tombstone Rashomon was a fun new take on a very old story.

As its title suggests, Doc retold the story of the Gunfight at the OK Corral from the perspective of Doc Holliday. As one of the most notable figures in the Wild West, Holliday was a dentist, gambler, and gunfighter who was best known for his friendship and association with the lawman Wyatt Earp. In Doc, , and Faye Dunaway plays his romantic partner, Kate Elder.

Doc explores the lead-up to the infamous gunfight as Holliday and Earp decide to team up to take down the ruthless Clanton gang. With plenty of action and some great performances, what Doc lacked in historical authenticity it more than made up for with fast-paced energy. Although Doc doesn’t quite live up to the greatest depictions of this gunfight on screen, it was still a worthy addition to the long-standing cinematic legacy of the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

Director John Sturges returned to direct yet another movie about this infamous historical event, following his film Gunfight at the O.K. Corral from ten years before. While that previous movie starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas was a heavily fictionalized account of the gunfight, Hour of the Gun strove for more historical accuracy than any other Western before it based on the same topic.

With James Garner as Wyatt Earp and Jason Robards as Doc Holliday, Hour of the Gun achieved its mission and was . Aspects like Clanton surviving the shoot-out were included, while most previous versions had him as a fatality. With a strong cast and a great score, Hour of the Gun was an interesting take on this historical event that offered a lot more information about the aftermath of the fight than most other movies.

The 1939 Western Frontier Marshal was one of the most enjoyable early films dealing with the Gunfight at the OK Corral. By focusing on Wyatt Earp’s position as a lawman attempting to restore order in the town of Tombstone, director Allan Dwan offered a nuanced take on the historical event with a strong adaptation of Stuart N. Lake’s novel Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal.

, which was actually a remake of this movie, and Ford even reshot entire scenes verbatim. With some impressive performances, Randolph Scott starred as Earp and was joined by Cesar Romero as “Doc Halliday,” whose name had been changed due to fears that the Holliday family might sue.

The star-studded Western simply titled , Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, and even Lee Van Cleef in a minor role. As the most famous gunfight in the Wild West, it was appropriate that such acclaimed performers came together to provide a new take on the event for audiences in the 1950s. While this version took many liberties with the truth, it still captured the essence of what made the fight so iconic.

Lancaster and Douglas made an undeniably great team as Earp and Holliday, and the film took many cues from previous depictions, such as Frontier Marshal and My Darling Clementine. As a powerful story of friendship and revenge, everything built toward its inevitable epic shootout. As a violent and gritty version of this historical event, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral showcased the shootout with a level of bloodthirsty carnage never previously seen up to that point.

Director John Ford has been behind some of the most iconic Western movies ever made, with releases like Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance being in the running for the greatest movies of all time. Among this impressive filmography was My Darling Clementine, Ford’s take on the lead-up to the Gunfight at the OK Corral. As a black-and-white Western that explores the story of Wyatt Earp, Henry Fonda gave a great performance as the legendary lawman.

My Darling Clementine gains an extra layer of authenticity due to the fact that (via Life in the 1800s.) With Earp being a major Wild West figure who was never recorded on video or audio, the fact that Ford had firsthand information on what Earp was like makes My Darling Clementine a fascinating historical document as well as a thoroughly entertaining film.

Despite having a troubled production history that saw its original director and writer, Kevin Jarre, replaced with George P. Cosmatos after filming had already started, Tombstone still stands as the greatest depiction of the Gunfight at the OK Corral ever seen on the big screen. With , these two exceptional performances have become the stuff of Western movie legend.

As a stylish cult classic that just got everything right, the legacy of Tombstone has only grown in the years since its release, and it’s now considered one of the best Westerns of modern times. Kilmer gave a career-best performance as Holliday and was sadly snubbed at the Academy Awards for what was genuinely an Oscar-worthy performance. While there have been plenty of great movies about the , if you’re only going to watch one, make sure it’s Tombstone.

Source: Life in the 1800s