Doc (1971)

At the time this came out in the early seventies, the Western was already beginning to lose its grip on the imagination of America. Having had their fill of Western TV (Bonanza, Gunsmoke et al) the general public seemed ready to accept a fresh, more realistic and brutal vision of the wild-west than the sugar-coated good versus evil served up nightly. Not only that, TV and movie westerns had completely appropriated real-life 'heroes' of the west and distorted reality to the point that historians were having a hell of a job trying to re-establish what actually happened. It is in this context that 'Doc' can be fully appreciated. But, problematically, despite being more brutal, more intense and much darker than many Westerns, 'Doc' walks rough-shod over the facts too - but this time to deliver a strangely tragic, psychological melodrama which turns Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp into strangely melancholic characters who's motivations are never very clear. In fact, there's even a faint hint of some 'Brokeback Mountain' type shenanigans afoot too though this turns out to be something of a red herring. I think.


The film opens with Doc (Stacy Keach) riding out of the dust of the desert to a bar in a (literally) one horse town. Inside the bar, Katie Elder (played by Faye Dunaway at the very height of her powers) is doing some trade with a couple of cowpokes. Though his motives are never clear, Doc coaxes the rutish thugs who are groping her into playing cards - his money against their woman. They lose - and when it turns out that they are sore losers, Doc has his gun out so fast that they have no choice but to leave the bar. Following a night of violent passion, Doc gets up to leave but Katie persuades him to take her with him to the next town - a couple of days of tough riding away. During the trip, the unlikely couple seem to bond and although they separate on arrival in the town, it's not long till Doc is wooing her in earnest.



Doc has come to town to catch up with his old friend Wyatt Earp (Harris Yulin ) who is the Marshall in the town who has a vested interest in how such a position can be manipulated for personal benefit. He asks for Doc's help and Doc agrees to give it. But Doc is nursing a consumptive illness which may mean his days are strictly numbered and which is certainly altering his world view. The word on the street is that he fights so hard because he feels that he has nothing to lose. Doc eventually carries Katie from the bed of a client to his own quarters to claim her as his own and she accepts - in the full knowledge that the Doc's days are numbered.But their domestic bliss is short-lived. Earp arrives at Doc's humble homestead to ask for his assistance in taking on a crowd of troublesome rustlers. Instead of discussing issues, Doc and Wyatt simply gun the group down - even a gun-slinging youngster who has been trying to befriend Doc in order to learn to be more like him. Though we never find out if Doc is just a cold-killer, or whether he felt it was a mercy killing to stop the young man treading the same painful path he had, we never know. Because Doc simply jumps on to his horse and rides off with the credits rolling over him. Hmmm.



Keach and Yulin are really first class here. A million miles from Gary Cooper or John Wayne, they somehow manage to convey a deep melancholy and sadness with a world that has constantly let them down.



But perhaps the main draw is Faye Dunaway, perfect as Katie Elder, turning in a performance that seems natural and unscripted. Add to that the beautifully shot 'Arizona' footage (shot in Spain actually) and a half decent transfer (shame it's a little grainy and letterboxed rather than anamorphic) and you'd have to acknowledge that this is a very decent package at a very decent price. Audio levels are appalingly low so be prepared to pump it up.

Overall, a surprisingly effective and fresh approach to a saturated genre. This is released by Optimum films this week along with ten other western titles (wildly varying with only genre bringing commonality). I'll be covering these over the next couple of weeks so stay tuned.