Before the duelling biopics of "Tombstone" and "Wyatt Earp" in the

1990's, this 1971 effort had already decided to set the record

straight about John "Doc" Holliday, Earp's best friend and

participant in the gunfight at the OK Corral.

Just over an hour and a half, this film skips a lot of the epic

western cliches and goes right into its meaty story. Doc Holliday

buys prostitute Katie Elder (Faye Dunaway) from local bad boy Ike

Clanton, and takes her to Tombstone, Arizona. He meets up with

his best friend Wyatt Earp, played by Harris Yulin. Earp has

political aspirations in the territory, and wants to control the law

while Holliday would control the gambling. Elder and Holliday

break up briefly, but then shack up on the edge of town, much to

the chagrin of Earp's upstanding wife.

A young Clanton hand, known as the Kid, decides to be just like

Holliday, gun fighting and all. Soon, a stage is held up and the

Clantons are accused. Earp makes a deal with Clanton to

exchange the reward money for the Kid, but Holliday bails him out

instead. Earp and Holliday begin drifting apart, both over Elder and

law enforcement, but become friends again in time for the

climactic shootout in the infamous corral, resulting in the deaths of

some major characters.

A few scenes are played a little too quietly, and move a little too

slowly. The real success here is with the lead actors,

professionals all. Stacy Keach is excellent as a Doc Holliday we

have never seen before. His physical moves are smooth and

suave, like a professional gambler should be, and Keach takes us

along on an acting job that looks effortless on his part.

Faye Dunaway is Katie Elder, the lifelong prostitute who finds it

hard to change herself just to please everyone else's idea of what

a couple should be. Dunaway is unglamorous, and never trips into

the "hooker with a heart of gold" stereotype. Harris Yulin, who is

better known as a character actor today, is great as Wyatt Earp. He

is mean, delivering threatening lines with menace, and also not a

clearcut hero. His speech to the crowd after the gunfight, as he

stands near his brother's body and renews his promise to clean

up Tombstone, is great.

Aside from a couple of slow spots and spotty editing, "Doc" is a

terrific and underrated western that deserves a cult audience. I

highly recommend it.

This is rated (PG) for physical violence, gun violence, mild gore,

some profanity, and sexual references.