Tonight on ARTE: 10 years later, the showdown at the OK Corral continues, and it’s even better!

It’s an understatement to say that the famous score settler at the OK Corral is a totemic figure in the history of the American West. The story of Sheriff Wyatt Earp, which began in his merciless war against the Clanton clan, which will end in the famous duel, logically inspired many westerns, moreover, of unequal quality.

On top of the basket, of course, is John Sturges’ masterpiece from 1957, led by two fabulous actors. Burt Lancaster as the sheriff; And Kirk Douglas, who plays Doc Holliday, an alcoholic ex-dentist and poker player, but above all, very happy. Bursting with an unforgettable soundtrack composed by Dimitri Tiomkin, the film is largely one of the highlights of Douglas’ career.

A better sequel than the first movie?

Except for informed moviegoers, of course, very few people know that this Western classic has a direct sequel that came out ten years later, called Seven Seconds in Hell. directed by the same John Sturgess, Seven seconds in hell Bringing together a brilliant cast, it’s all the more disturbing for the audience as the film picks up exactly where the 1957 film ends, with a final duel!

Enter Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp, making way for the equally excellent James Garner. Drunk on revenge after the massacre, Marshall rushes out on a punitive expedition to “finish” the job, always supported by Doc Holliday, who is more disillusioned than ever. The character is played by the great Jason Robards, a great western. In the Clanton patriarch’s place, pursued by Earp, is Robert Ryan, who two years later will be in Peckinpah tracking down the Wild Horde.

“I really like Seven Seconds to Hell, it’s probably one of John Sturges’ best films, if not his least known.” confided in Bertrand Tavernier’s long interview about the film, he was always inexhaustible when discussing his love for cinema. “I think that this film is higher than the first one.

When Sturges returns to the same subject ten years later, I think he knows that the description of the events of the first film was not accurate enough. The film is also absolutely outstanding with its signature cinematography Lucien BallardAnd for his very good music is signed Jerry Goldsmith“.

With less Manichean characters and more ambiguous motives than before, armed with strong staging and a very solid plot, Seven seconds in hell It is a real gem. Interested in discovering it? It is available on DVD and Blu-ray.