7.2 | / 10 |
Users | 3.8 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 3.8 |
Lawman Wyatt Earp and outlaw Doc Holliday form an unlikely alliance which culminates in their participation in the legendary Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Starring: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Rhonda Fleming, Jo Van Fleet, John Ireland (I)Western | 100% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
English SDH, French, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
The unlikely friendship between lawman Wyatt Earp and tubercular gunslinger Doc Holliday is tailor-made for storytelling. In 1993, it spawned two major films, Tombstone with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, which was successful, and Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid, which crashed at the box office but has grown in reputation on home video. Thirty-six years earlier, however, Wyatt and Doc were immortalized by two icons of the old studio system in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, a far less historically accurate account of their friendship that expanded a thirty-second shootout into a defining event. Novelist Leon Uris (Exodus) reimagined Earp's biography to focus on his quality as a loner rather than a man bound by family blood ties. This made him a naturally kindred spirit to the bitter, doomed Holliday, whose greatest fear was dying in bed rather than upright with a gun in his hand. Under the direction of John Sturges (The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape), Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas filled the boots of these legends so convincingly that they have cast a long shadow over every portrayal that has followed them.
After the disappointment of Hatari!, I am happy to report that the news on Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray (from a Paramount transfer) of Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is much better. The Vistavision photography by Charles Lang (one of the four cinematographers responsible for How the West Was Won) has been transferred with care to preserve the original's detail, colors and natural film grain, without obvious filtering, artificial sharpening or other inappropriate digital maniuplation. The colors are beautiful: blue skies, green poker tables, Laura Denbow's fine evening wardrobe, the browns and greens of the Arizona and California locations. The blacks of Wyatt's and Doc's clothing are dark enough to show the dust of travel (or fights), and the contrast levels are correctly set to create a sense of depth without losing shadow detail (though some of the day-for-night scenes are slightly washed out, which was unavoidable with that process). The average bitrate of 20.84 Mbps is somewhat low by Warner's standard, and one wishes that this 123-minute film had been placed on a BD-50 for maximum bandwidth and less tight compression. In fact, though, O.K. Corral has less action to it than it seems. The climactic battle is such a satisfying payoff that it echoes back through everything that preceded it, much of which is quiet and still enough to give a compressionist plenty to conserve. Artifacts were not a problem.
O.K. Corral's original mono track has been remixed for 5.1 and presented in lossless DTS-HD MA. Like most such remixes, it's been conservatively done with the front soundstage still dominant. O.K. Corral's sound mix was nominated for an Oscar, no doubt primarily for its effects-laden finale, and tampering too heavily with that precision work would be a crime. The various gunshots may not have the dynamic range or impact of a contemporary soundtrack, but the rifles, pistols and shotguns all have distinctive sounds and register forcefully. Thankfully, no attempt has been made to spread them around the room. The dialogue is clear, and the only element of the track that has been "opened up" in the remix is the energetic score by Dmitri Tiomkin (Giant, It's a Wonderful Life and many others). The track's fidelity is demonstrated by its faithful reproduction of the title song composed by Tiomkin and Ned Washington and sung by Frankie Laine, whose voice is associated with the theme songs of many Westerns. Verses are heard throughout the film, and nearly all of them reflect on the men buried in the cemetery at "Boot Hill".
No extras are included. Paramount's 2003 DVD was similarly bare.
Gunfight at the O.K. Corral may not have the mythic resonance of Shane or The Magnificent Seven or The Searchers, but it belongs in that select canon of Westerns that have endured over the years because of that special blend of craftsmanship, star power and subject matter that the studio system, at its best, knew how to spin into gold. Warner's Blu-ray of this Paramount classic may lack extras, but it has excellent audio and video and comes highly recommended.
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