In great fun, the cast of “Anchorman” performed a hilarious dramatization of the O.K. Corral gunfight. Ready to battle ferocious foes, Steve Carell, David Koechner, Paul Rudd, and Will Ferrell come strutting into town for a fierce throwdown.
They encounter more foes than they bargained for with actual news anchors playing parts in the movie. Their face-off includes reporters from NBC, Spanish language news, and PBS scrapping away in the epic brawl.
Where Did the O.K. Corral Gunfight Really Go Down?
In the movie, the dramatic scene takes place in the O.K. Corral. In actuality, it took place in a nearby area. The first shots were fired six doors down in a narrow back alleyway. It measured 1,520-feet wide and it was located just west of 312 Fremont Street near a 12-room boarding house. After several shots were fired, the fight spilled out into the street.
In the movie, cowboy Clanton runs inside the gallery and shoots at the Earps from a window. Actually, Ike Clanton ran inside and escaped out a back door. And Billy Claiborne took off before shooting commenced. The flare-up was diffused by town marshals.
Tombstone Is a Real Place
Go visit it! Tombstone is a historic city founded in 1879 by a silver prospector in Pima County, Arizona Territory. Today, Tombstone is located in Cochise County in the furthest southeast corner of Arizona. It’s only 30 miles from the Mexico border. The town itself is set upon a mesa over the Goodenough Mine. Silver mining made Tombstone a Boomtown, setting the scene for the famous site of the epic O.K. Corral gunfight. The shootout took place at about 3 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, and lasted just 30 seconds.
The historic gravesite that includes the storied tombstone epitaphs for Tom McLaury, Billy Clanton, and Frank McLaury are there to see. Within two years of Tombstone’s founding, the town was booming with four churches, two banks, three newspapers, an icehouse, a bowling alley, an ice cream parlor, saloons, and more.
Box Office Buoyed by Record Second-Week Sales
For a classic Western released in the middle of the 1990s, Tombstone was an astonishing success. Positive reviews buoyed ticket sales. Released on December 25, 1993, you may recall, it racked up $56.5 million in domestic ticket sales.
Opening weekend at the box office, it brought in $6.5 million, landing it in 3rd place. That great feat was only outdone by the following week’s ticket sales. In a rare and exceptional feat, Tombstone’s second weekend at the box office increased by 35 percent! It brought in $8.7 million on its second weekend. It was the 20th best-grossing film of 1993.
The Horses of Tombstone
Horses provided the ‘90s classic film Tombstone a genuine Western presence. A veritable equestrian herd joined the actors on the set. In total, 123 horses were employed and were treated humanely. Though there are many scenes featuring horses rearing and falling, each fall and rear was performed by horses trained in those stunts. During gunfight scenes, quarter loads were used to reduce noise. Also, horses’ ears were protected by cotton.
In a particular scene, a horse jumps through a window. The horse was carefully trained. In the movie, it is seen leaping into a saloon through a glass window, but it wasn’t a real glass window. Instead, candy glass was used, which is a breakable material that shatters easily but contains no sharp edges and therefore, no threat of cutting the animal. For the scenes that involved galloping at fast paces, the grounds were previously inspected to be clear of dangerous objects.