There’s a lot that can be said for this movie, but I doubt that any of it can be good. Released right at the peak of the Revisionist Era, Doc goes so far as to be a deconstructionist film, and by that I mean a trend of self-righteously deconstructing all of the western tropes and standards; not necessarily the philosophical theory of Jacques Derrida.
Although it’s titled Doc, it’s really a story about the Vietnam War and the hippies versus the authoritarian capitalists. If that doesn’t make a person want to watch a western I’m not sure what would, right? In all seriousness, that approach might be fine if a writer wanted to create some characters and then an allegorical story, but in using Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp, it’s not only insulting to them but to the audience member.
Very little true history is left by the time the final product hits your senses for reception; it isn’t as bad as Dirty Little Billy, but it’s still one of the least impressive movies I’ve seen. The problems start with the want-to-be spaghetti western caricatures that everyone must have been directed to portray. Doc and Wyatt are the worst, speaking almost every line through barely moving teeth, with a monotone cadence that just slightly exceeds a whisper. It’s like every line was meant to be delivered as though they just thought of a malevolent plan and needed to keep cool while explaining it.
The absurdities abound, such as Doc winning Kate in a card game with Ike Clanton, or Wyatt telling Doc, seriously not cynically, that “We are bad men”. But on the plus side, I think they did a good job casting Stacey Keach. He has an actual hairlip which was a feature of Doc Holliday’s, even if it was covered up by a mustache. And I really think that Keach did a good job of playing sickly, but not too sickly. As much as I love Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday, he was so darn cool that I almost forget sometimes that he was sick. And in Wyatt Earp Dennis Quaid was so sick that I expected him to shave his hair and tell everyone he was dying of cancer. Both were great performances, and way better movies than Doc, but his coughing fits seemed very well timed and presented, and probably the best done element of this film.
Even with a few notable turns by Stacey Keach this movie is still not worth the time. I finally made myself sit down and watch it just to see if there were any nuggets to take away, and the answer was a resounding no.
Handy With A Gun...! 