Frontier Marshal (1939)

By CinemaSerf

Randolph Scott and Cesar Romero make a decent fist of this early depiction of the Wyatt Earp & Doc Holliday story. The former arrives in the aptly named town of Tombstone just as a local saloon is being shot up, and the population are cowering outside. At their behest, he borrows a gun and in he goes - shortly to emerge dragging the gunman by his heels across the street. Next thing he is the new town marshal and aided by his medical pal, law and order start to arrive in the town. Doc has a bit of a love affair with the bottle, and when one night he starts shooting randomly, his friend must intervene - and that tests their friendship, and forces both men to look at themselves with fresh eyes. The dialogue is a bit stilted, but there is a strong supporting cast - John Carradine, Binnie Barnes and Ward Bond to help it along nicely. It's short, sweet and though produced to a pretty basic level, it still manages to hold the interest until the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral at the end. It's been remade once or twice since, but this version is still a watchable interpretation of a solid story about good v evil, friendship, loyalty and revenge!