James Garnerwas privileged enough to portray legendary Western lawmanWyatt Earpin two featureWestern films,Hour of the Gun(1967) and again inSunset(1988). Hour of the Gunis said to be a more factual film than those previous tales of Earp and the O.K. Corral. Ike Claton survived this battle, whereas the earlier incarnations of the tale show him being killed in the fight. Garner also felt that the previous portrayals of his character needed a certain kind of authenticity.Wyatt Earp is often portrayed as a measured, reasonable lawman, morally superior, and untarnished. In contrast, Garner decided to make him more of a badass who is quick with the gun rather than a peacemaker.
Hour of the Gun
Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton gang in a fight. In revenge, Clanton’s thugs kill the Marshal’s brother. Thus, Wyatt starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday.
James Garner Played a Grim and Gritty Wyatt Earp in ‘Hour of the Gun’
James Garner would tellHour of the GunDirectorJohn SturgisbiographerGlen Lovellin his bookEscape Artist: The Life and Films of John Sturgesthat he saw “Earp as a type of vigilante, out for revenge. He was a guy taken with his power, who nobody could defy. He had no qualms about shooting those boys … I think the movie’s as accurate as any that’s been done.” This is true of the film, taking its plot from the very much alive Ike Clanton (Robert Ryan), who is still causing all kinds of trouble inTombstone and quarreling with Wyatt, Virgil (Frank Converse), Morgan (Sam Melville), and Doc Holliday (Jason Robards). After Virgil and Morgan are gun-downed by the cowardly Clanton gang, Wyatt and Doc Holliday posse up with a group of deputized cutthroats and hunt down Ike and his flunkies one by one.The film is a grimshoot-em-upwith Wyatt and Holliday butting heads over the morality of killing, upholding the law, or satisfying the need for personal revenge.
Doc Holliday is a dentist-turned-gambler, a gunslinger who doesn’t hesitate to kill a man. In the first moments of the film, as he is questioned by the lawyer seeking reparations in court for the unlawful shooting of Ike Clanton’s men, Holliday admits that he has killed nearly 25 people as a civilian. He leans quickly in the chair, turning a contemptible eye toward the judge and the lawyer.He is not so much a man who respects the justice system as he deeply reveres Earp. He sums it up by telling the lawyer trying to railroad him that he would go to hell on Earp’s word alone. Contrast this to Earp, who sits coolly on the witness stand, assured that he shot those men down in perfect accordance with the law. He answers the lawyers' questions accurately and confidently. He says no more or less than he has to, and even when he is accused of shooting down Clanton’s men, as they turned out their coats to show they were not carrying weapons, he doesn’t get angry at the blatant lie. He is found innocent, his faith in the law assured.
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His morality, of course, is tested after the death of his brothers, and this comes to a head in a tense scene after Earp shoots down a Clanton man, toying with him in a shootout. Doc Holliday offers Wyatt Earp a drink, and Earp refuses. Holliday insists that if Eaarp is going to kill like Holliday, then he should drink like Holliday. Wyatt belts Doc across the chops, sending him sprawling onto the dirt. Until now, nobody had challenged Wyatt Eaarp or called him to account. It is Earps' belief in the justice system that led to his brothers' death because, as Holliday points out, Wyatt had only finished Ike Clanton off at the O.K. Corral; they could have avoided all this unnecessary death.Now, under the guise of the law, Wyatt and Doc are more or less following a hit list born out of a desire for revenge. This take on Earp is a far more gritty interpretation of the famous lawman and one that Garner and Sturgis believed was more historically accurate.
Why Did James Garner Hate the Movie ‘Sunset’?
James Garner would reprise the role of Wyatt Earp in writer/directorBlake Edwards' Western (comedy?) crime thrillerSunset, adopting amore comedic tone. The film is about the fictional Western actor Tom Mix(Bruce Willis), who teams up with the film’s technical advisor, thefamous Wyatt Earp, and ends up involved in their real-life case of murder and corruption involving the fearsome gangster Dutch Kieffer (Joe Dallesandro). The unlikely pairing of Willis and Garner has a more buddy cop quality feel to it than doesHour of the Gun, with plenty of one-liner jokes and slapstick moments, including one where Wyatt Earp kicks a man in the testicles, totally out of character for the man who shot down the Clanton gang.
Garner plays the role of Earp as a type of “old man on the porch” street-wise and aloof to Tom Mix’s flashy Hollywood bravado. Audiences get to know Tom Mix as he pulls up to the studio lot in his ornate white car, and when he meets the unassuming, darkly dressed Earp, Mix towers above him, dressed all in white on a white horse. The juxtaposition is a classic oil and vinegar trope and seems entirely out of place in the genre and just flat-out ridiculous. Earp, on the other hand, is more slick than hisHour of the Guncounterpart. He smokes his cigar and swears every word about him is true “except for a lie or two,” which serves as the movie’s unofficial tagline.It is almost as if Earp never saw his brothers murdered in front of him or lost his best friend to a terminal illness. Perhaps this is why Garner hated the film. The confusion of audiences about whether the film was a comedy or a crime thriller led to itsfailure at the box office, grossing $4,594,452 worldwide with a budget of 16 million.
James Garner would tell cowboysindians.comthat he “hated that movie” along with the whole project and ultimately feuded with his co-star Bruce Willis over the silly affair. Garner did not believe Bruce Willis could pull off a Western hero by any means. Speaking of his co-star toCowboys and Indians, he said,“Bruce Willis was not my idea of a western star by any means. He didn’t even know how to wear a hat. He’d pull it way down over his ears. I told him, ‘Bruce, no cowboy does that unless he’s riding a bronco.’Garner laments Willis' commitment to the craft and his instance of ad-libbing scenes instead of sticking to the script, which seems better suited toHudson Hawkthan a Western with a legend like Garner. The whole affair seemed very unprofessional to Garner, and he felt that, at the time, the budding young star, Willis, “did not take his work that seriously.”
It’s unique for an actor to play a role twice but in such drastically different contexts, and it is a perfect opportunity to see James Garner’s range as an actor. His portrayal of the iconic Western hero Wyatt Earp inHour of the Gundemonstrates Garners' ability to be commanding and intimidating on screen, a total badass killer with an iron will and resolve. His work onSunsetshows Garner’s ability to pivot around the same character, bringing out his wit, charm, and self-awareness and making him funny. The fact that he hated the role only further serves to demonstrate James Garner’s enduring professionalism and is one of many reasons why the man remains a Hollywood legend.
