The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

Cowhands on a hoo-rah

weren't the only troublemakers in Dodge City

when Wyatt Earp was Marshall.

There were tough buffalo hunters...

who went on sprees in Dodge.

And there were the railroad construction gangs of the Santa Fe,

who tried to make good their boast that Dodge was hell on wheels.

In 1876, these two groups of hoodlums fought each other

for possession of the dance hall run by Dora Hand,

the queen of Dodge City's night life.

Dora Hand, a beautiful and mysterious young woman

who was a legend in her own lifetime.

Men shot or maimed one another in fights over Dora and the girls of her dance hall.

Come on!

Cut him up!

You got him!

You got him, Rogan!

Why'd you do that? That was Rogan.

The fight's over!

Take it easy.

Now what's all this about?

It was just an argument, Marshall.

There's no need to arrest them. They'll behave.

Take them both to jail, Hal.

Come on.

Now look, Miss Dora, this is the third fight

you've had in here since noon.

Sam, drinks on the house.

Marshall.

I'll take one of those drinks...

I would have broken it up. The men listen to me.

That buffalo hunter would have cut him to ribbons.

Well, the railroad man started it.

Look, you've got a rough mixture here...

Buffalo hunters and railroad men.

You're gonna have to make up your mind to bar one crowd or the other.

That's not easy, Marshall.

What about the cowhands and the soldiers?

No, what I need are bigger and braver barkeeps.

They'll stop all the rough stuff.

Miss Dora, that isn't gonna work either.

There have always been fights on this side of the line.

When men drink and argue about women,

there are bound to be fights.

Not with knives and guns, they're not gonna fight.

What's this leading to, Marshall?

Are you planning to close me?

I sure don't want to, Miss Dora, but...

Keep out of this.

I only want to make a suggestion to Marshall Earp.

Just say in your report the hoo-rah was at my place.

That way she won't get mentioned in the papers.

No! Keep out of it!

Mr. Kelly is in one of his gallant moods this evening.

I handle my own beefs, Kelly.

You hit one of them on the head with a whiskey bottle.

Is that ladylike?

I told you you could never make a lady out of me!

What did you do to Jim? Are you a hypnotist or something?

No, ma'am.

Earp ain't any friend of mine.

Don't try to string me!

Earp's got you acting respectable.

Councilman Kelly, they call him. The law and order man.

This is between us.

You can say I'm a public nuisance and close me, I guess.

- Oh, no, now! - Oh, shut up!

What's the verdict, Marshall?

Well, Miss Dora,

I could assign an extra deputy here for a few days.

Yeah. Good idea.

Oh, it's not a good idea at all!

The buffalo men will say you're siding with the Santa Fe crowd

and the Santa Fe crowd will tell Major Paxton

that you're favoring the buffalo men.

Well, what do you suggest?

I suggest...

Why don't you let me talk to all the men?

If they know that you're threatening to close me,

they'll stop all the rough stuff.

All right, ma'am, you're entitled to that chance.

- Good evening. - Thank you, Marshall.

Now Dora...

Oh, shut up, Kelly.

Earp, wait for me! I want to talk to you.

I thought you wanted to talk to me.

I do. But not as a friend, mind you.

All right.

And don't get any wrong ideas about Miss Dora and me.

She considers herself too good to marry a saloon keeper.

By George, she's right.

Yes, sir.

You don't know Miss Dora!

All you see is a dance hall owner and jump to conclusions.

I've jumped a lot of times, Mr. Kelly,

but never to a conclusion.

You might as well know the truth, fair and square.

I'm on Miss Dora's side.

You in love with her?

That's none of your business!

We hired you to keep law and order in this town,

not to go sticking your nose into personal matters.

All right, Mr. Kelly.

I'll have to tell you the truth,

fair and square.

What truth?

I can't keep Sunday-school order in this part of town

and I'd be a fool to even try,

but I do draw the line at knifin' and shootin'.

If Miss Dora can't control her customers,

she's just gonna have to close.

Close her? Over my dead body!

She'll still have to close.

Earp, I had you right in the first place.

You're nothing but a stupid, sanctimonious John law!

Now let me tell you...

Hold it, Kelly.

Don't get tough with the Marshall.

Let Major Paxton handle him.

Who's Major Paxton?

He's boss of construction for the Santa Fe, that's who.

A fine man, Paxton.

I'll stand you all a round of drinks on it.

Will you drink to the railroad, Mr. Earp?

I'm sorry. I don't drink.

You can also tell Major Paxton

I don't handle easy either.

Double round of drinks. Free.

All right.

- All right, we'll have a nice peaceable shindig. - - Yeah.

Here's to Miss Dora, the Daisy bell of Kansas.

To Miss Dora!

Miss Dora!

And we don't want any more dirty buffalo hunters causing trouble.

We're going over to her place and we're gonna throw them out!

It'll be for railroad men only.

Now, whoa, now, old friend.

Do you see that, Kelly?

It's a lantern.

We're gonna hang it on the door.

And that will mean that Dora's place is for railroad men only!

Are you drinking to that, Kelly?

Well, sure.

We'll all drink to that!

And on the house!

And on the house! On the house!

Yes, sir, this is Santa Fe night in Jim Kelly's.

Any more railroad men in the house?

Step right up here. I'm buying you a drink. Belly up!

You better get over to the alhambra right away.

There's been a crime committed.

Kelly's? What is it? A barroom brawl?

Worse than that.

All right. Put this one in the back room too.

Easy. Nice and gentle now.

I don't want a bruise or a Mark on 'em. Okay...

What happened, Mr. Kelly?

Uh, bad liquor.

They got it at chalk beeson's place across the street.

What he uses in his whiskey I'll never know.

Put him down, Mr. Kelly.

- It's just some bad liquor... - Never mind.

Holy smoke!

Chloral hydrate.

Anybody else besides these three men get Mickey Finns?

Marshall, I swear...

I thought you were smarter than this.

- I had to do it! - Why?

They were going over to Miss Dora's

to pick a fight with the buffalo hunters.

Don't you know that knockout drops can kill a man, that it's poisonous?

Nah! They're railroad men.

You couldn't kill a railroad man with a Mickey Finn.

Chloral hydrate is a deadly poison.

I oughta charge you with attempted murder.

Charge me!

Here I thought the old Jim Kelly was dead,

that you'd put an end to all this hoodlum stuff.

Come on, lock me up!

Don't you even stop to think?

Rogan and humpy put on a dance hall fight.

Now you spread that route to all the buffalo hunters and all the railroad men.

Well, I done it for her.

A dance hall girl and a pretty face.

Now you stop right there!

She's a ministering angel, that's what she is.

She's what?

You go over to reverend hawkut's church in the morning and...

No. Never mind.

Come on, lock me up!

Never mind. I'll do that later.

I'm gonna send doc mccarty over here to take care of these men.

You pay the doc, and you just better hope they all wake up by tomorrow morning.

And I'm no prude, Marshall.

I expect my men to get drunk and chase dance hall girls.

But I can't let it interfere with their work for the railroad.

We're pushing iron...

Two to four miles of track a day.

Yes, sir.

This is a pretty kettle of fish!