Gunfight at the OK Corral AP

Gunfight at the OK Corral is a perfect example of a movie that doesn’t have one alpha male cowboy who saves the day. To the contrary, this movie has two sidekicks who help each other save the day. Each one of them possesses different alpha male characteristics, but Doc Holliday goes from the enemy in the beginning, to a potential alpha male cowboy who is quick with his gun. However, he is not seen as the alpha male cowboy because Wyatt Earp also has alpha male qualities. Earp is the good guy from the beginning and he is also on a mission; he wants justice, which is what alpha male cowboys usually fight for in the Westerns. Nevertheless, having some alpha male characteristics but not all, just make these two men more like friends and sidekicks than anything else. Throughout the movie, we see how both men essentially need each other. Wyatt doesn’t get killed in the middle of the night, because Doc is there to save him. And Doc doesn’t get lynched in the beginning of the movie, because Wyatt is there to save him. They are also there for each other at the actual gunfight at the OK Corral. Doc covers Earp, by shooting at the bad guys while Earp runs. This shows how he is there for him once again.

Although I don’t see a distinct alpha male cowboy and sidekick in The Gunfight at the OK Corral, I do see two men who build a friendship and become each other’s sidekick. This movie is different than others we have seen because we can usually tell who is the sidekick, but not in this Western. The alpha male cowboy in the John Wayne Westerns had a sidekick that would be by his side the whole movie, like Pompy was there for Tom Doniphon until his death in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. We also saw that in The Searchers, where Martin was by Ethan’s side until the end of the movie. We see that different Westerns have different kinds of sidekicks. This Western is the only one so far that seems to have two sidekicks.