The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

Hi, Ruthie.

Ruthie!

Git!

Come on!

Whoa!

You get out of my buckboard, Wyatt Earp.

Hey, Ruthie, what's gotten into you?

I go out of town for a week and I come home to a greeting like this?

It's all you deserve.

Ruthie, you're supposed to be my future sister-in-law.

Oh, no, I'm not. You Earps are all alike.

What do you mean? What's happened?

Ask your brother

or any other of the gamblers down at the Alhambra.

They could tell you.

Morgan's a gambler?

Maybe I'm not good enough for the Earps anymore.

Well, let him keep his big diamond ring.

Now will you get out of my buckboard?

Wait a minute. Morgan's got a diamond ring?

Yes, now get down.

Anything to oblige a lady.

I'm sorry I don't understand any of this, Ruthie.

I don't know what you're talking about.

Oh... go arrest somebody, you...

you... marshal! Git!

Git!

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp starring Hugh O'Brian.

Tombstone in the 1880s

was a city where gambling flourished

and fortunes were won and lost on the turn of a card.

While all this was legal,

there were times when a gambler became a problem for Marshal Wyatt Earp.

Hi, Virgil.

I didn't expect to find you down here.

Well, I'm here. What...what's this thing?

Well, I, uh...I'm collecting money for the schools.

We put a percentage of our fines in it.

You're doing very well.

Strikes me you're attending to everything but your job.

I was in Nogales on business.

Say, what's gotten into everybody?

Well, if you'd paid a decent wage, he'd never have gotten into this.

Who? What are you talking about?

Our brother Morgan.

He's turned to gambling.

Come on, Virgil,

everybody in Tombstone gambles a little once in a while.

He's not gambling a little. He's gambling a lot.

He's broken that yellow-haired Ruthie’s heart. The poor thing.

How much has he lost?

That's the worst of it. He hasn't lost. He's won.

How much?

$10,000.

and a diamond ring.

Ten...$10,000?

Yeah.

Now his head's even bigger than his bankroll.

Wait'll you see him.

He's impossible.

What started all this?

I don't know. I just got in yesterday.

I heard a tinhorn in Prescott say the biggest gambler in the west

was a fella in Tombstone named Morgan Earp.

So I got on the next stage and came down here.

And you were gallivanting down around the border.

I was not gallivanting around...

Come on, forget it.

Let's go talk to Doc Holliday.

He'll know about this if anybody would.

Doc, what's this about Morgan gambling? What started it?

I'm afraid I did.

I thought so.

Let him tell it, will you?

Well, last Monday, the day you went jingling off to the border,

I tossed a coin with Morgan for a drink and he won it.

Then we tossed for a dollar and he won.

Then we tossed for $5 and he won.

Then he took the $10, he threw it on a faro layout and he won.

Then he set down to the poker game.

And he won.

That's right and he quit with $1,000.

Since then, he's played poker every night and every night, he's won.

He's about run out of competition.

Where is he now?

Probably over at his tailor's. He buys a new suit every day.

Good afternoon, gentlemen.

Well, Virgil, I see you're still in town.

Uh-huh.

How are things on the border, Wyatt?

Fine, fine.

Say, what's that smell?

Nice, isn't it?

That's Cologne water.

Imported from Europe by way of St. Louis. I saw the bottle.

Sort of kills the smell of horses.

What's the matter with horses?

Nothing, I suppose, for cattlemen and marshals.

I'll buy you some, Wyatt.

Thanks a lot.

Oh, that reminds me.

I'm afraid that I can't afford to be your deputy any longer.

Why not?

My time's too valuable.

You see, eventually I'm going to build a casino of my own here,

with a big sign out in front...

"Earp's Monte Carlo."

Seems logical.

Or maybe, uhhh... "The Monte Carlo...

Morgan Earp, proprietor."

But I figure I'll need a $50,000 stake for that.

So right now I'm going up the street to the Oriental and do a little gambling.

Sorry to leave you shorthanded, Wyatt.

But you can get somebody else.

Oh.

Forgive my rudeness.

Can I buy any of you a drink?

A drink? Why, yes, sure.

Bartender, the best for everybody.

Ice water for the marshal.

What are you gonna do about Ruthie?

- Nothing. - Why not?

Why not?

Well, we sort of broke it off.

She's too nice a girl to be tied up with a gambler.

Why don't you go call on her, Wyatt?

She's a mighty pretty girl when she's dressed up.

It's a funny thing what a little luck will do to a man, isn't it?

Morgan, you act as if you can't lose.

Those gamblers over the Oriental are gonna

pluck you like a Thanksgiving Turkey.

I appreciate that, Wyatt. I even thank you.

For what?

For trying to big brother me.

You used to make me mad, remember?

Wait a minute, Morg.

How much money are you taking to the oriental?

$10,000.

I'll put it up. I'll save you the trip.

Virgil, you haven't got $10,000.

I got 1,000 head of cattle.

You want him to learn a lesson, don't you?

Yeah, but...

All right, then.

Give me a pencil and a piece of paper.

You mean you wanna gamble with me?

That's what I mean.

You're being a fool, Virg.

Virg, I wouldn't wanna take your cattle. I wouldn't feel right.

Doc, I need a deck of cards.

Give the gentleman a deck of cards.

I think a great tragedy is about to occur here.

$10,000 cash.

1,000 cows.

Virgil, don't.

Stay out of this, Wyatt.

Sudden death?

High card? One cut? Winner take all?

One cut, winner takes all.

Shuffle.

Go ahead. Cut.

Virgil,

it's my opinion that these winning streaks have something to do with the moon.

Just what, I don't know.

Never mind the moon, this is a family affair.

All right, little brother. Top that.

King of spades.

That's a pretty fair country card, Virg.

Only four higher.

Well, go on, Morgan, cut.

I moved into the governor's suite at the hotel in case you want me, Wyatt.

Just round up those cows, Virg.

I'll send for 'em.

The ace of spades.

Advice unheeded is wisdom rejected.

In other words, never tangle with a winning streak.

Well, I'll tangle with it.

Hold it, Morg.

You're not going anywhere until I talk to you.

There's nothing to talk about.

Let go of my new sleeve, Wyatt.

How do you think Virgil's wife is gonna feel when she hears about this?

And Ruth? You go on out there and present that ring to her.

But first you go inside and give Virgil back his I.O.U.

I said get inside.

All right, Wyatt,

you asked for it.

Hold it, Morgan. We're not gonna fight in public.

I'll show you who's a Thanksgiving Turkey.

Now that's enough. Get on that horse and get out of here.

Come on over to my office.

Ah, you should never have called him a Thanksgiving Turkey.

Let him gamble, Wyatt.

History can't last forever.

I don't care about his gambling.

I just care about that fat head he's got.

There's no living with him anymore.

Not much you can do when he keeps on winning.

He's gotta start losing.

Well, how?