Gunfight at the OK Corral JL

In Gunfight at the OK Corral, Doc and Wyatt have an interesting relationship. I don’t think I would call either of them the alpha male cowboy. Doc is essentially a villain in the beginning of the movie but eventually turns good and Wyatt is the marshal, who enforces the law, which eliminates his from holding this title. I see them as being each other’s sidekicks. The two become friends when Wyatt releases Doc when he is being held for a lynching. Throughout the rest of the movie they stay together, go their separate ways and then join up again. One very important time that Wyatt wouldn’t have survived without Doc was when they went to follow a trail. Both decided to sleep and while they were sleeping some men snuck up on them but Doc was quick enough with his gun to get the first shot off killing a man and letting Wyatt know to shot as well. The actual gunfight at OK Corral is the most evident example of the role of sidekicks in this movie. There is no way that Wyatt would have survived without Doc. Doc has a very sharp shot and was killing men with just one shot. At the very end of the movie Wyatt tells Doc that he wouldn’t have made it out there without him. Wyatt was not the only one that benefitted from having Doc around. Wyatt was able to change the man that Doc was. He was able to tone down Doc’s quick use of the gun. When Doc went to go see Kate, he found her in the room with another man. The man challenged Doc to a duel, but Doc refused, so the man continued to egg Doc on by talking to him and finally threw his drink in Doc’s face. Doc, being the changed man he is, walked away from the fight. Another aspect to consider is that they are not constantly by each other’s side which is different from sidekick’s we have seen in other movies.

In The Searchers, Martin was Ethan’s sidekick. They both were set on getting Debbie back; however, Ethan did not think that he needed Matt. Ethan was the main focus here while we focused on both Doc and Wyatt. In Red River, Matt begins the movie being Dunson’s sidekick but ultimately moves out of the sidekick role and becomes alpha male like. In The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Pompy is Doniphon’s sidekick. He remains in this position the whole movie. He doesn’t much in the movie but whenever we see Doniphon, Pompy is very close by. The sidekicks in these Westerns are not as needed by their leader as Doc was by Wyatt.