There are various figures available. But experts reckon confrontations with Native American ‘redskins’ cost 300 odd lives over a 25-year period. In Hollywood films, statisticians calculate the figure to have been more than 10,000.
You were more likely to be killed by stampeding cattle or an STD than an arrow in the back but gunfights between feuding gangs did happen.
The best known was the Gunfight at the OK Corral. And Tony explodes this myth and explains why Wyatt Earp got arrested for it when he was supposed to be the marshall.
John Sturges’ western was originally over three hours long – the actual gun fight took less than 90 seconds and involved half the combatants running away like little girls.
Billy the Kid exaggerated his claims by a factor of five and Jesse James was so vain he left press releases at crime scenes. Tony tells all these stories and more in this rootin’ tootin’ talk.
Buffalo Bill was really showman William Cody who knew a freak or a storyteller when he saw one. Wild Bill Hickok was a gunslinger and gambler who got his name because of his nose! Don’t know what the ‘deadman’s hand’ is? Tony reveals all.