Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday were never better portrayed on screen than here, played by movie giants Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas respectively. Both actors achieve a dignity that was rather lacking in the two outings with Kevin Costner (Wyatt Earp) and Kurt Russell (Tombstone) and only fitfully touched upon by Henry Fonda and Victor Mature in John Ford's 1946 film My Darling Clementine. The Leon Uris screenplay may veer towards the turgid in setting up the action, but once the gunplay starts the screen positively ignites - director John Sturges's shoot-out finale is a mesmerisingly fine piece of cinema, brilliantly photographed and edited. There's also a soaring, nostalgic title ballad by Frankie Laine, and a marvellously etched supporting performance from Jo Van Fleet as Holliday's woman. For once, the whole cast, notably Rhonda Fleming, John Ireland and Lee Van Cleef, look as though they were born to be in westerns.

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.