Narrator: Previously on "The American West"...
In the years since the country
was ripped apart by Civil War,
America has blazed a trail west,
but it hasn't been easy.
As the railroads cut across the landscape,
they triggered bloody conflicts with Indian nations
and became targets for outlaws.
Stay in your seats. Do not move.
Narrator: But as men like Jesse James
and Billy the Kid terrorized the nation,
lawmen like Wyatt Earp emerged,
determined to bring order to the frontier.
But now the battle for the West
has reached a breaking point.
In Missouri, after returning to a life of crime,
Jesse James has a bounty on his head
and can no longer tell who to trust.
This is my brother, Robert, the one I told you about.
Narrator: While in Tombstone, Arizona...
- What do you want? - I want my $3,600.
Narrator: ...Wyatt Earp's feud
with notorious outlaw Ike Clanton
has led the lawman to a showdown
that will change his life
and the West forever.
(gunfire )
( theme song playing)
Narrator: On October 26, 1881,
Deputy Sheriff Wyatt Earp
leads his brothers Morgan and Virgil,
along with gunslinger Doc Holliday,
on a mission to confront a gang of ruthless outlaws
led by Ike Clanton,
who are waiting for a fight
near the place called the "O.K. Corral."
David Eisenbach: The Earp brothers and Doc Holliday
are hearing how Ike's out to kill them
and that Ike and his friends have guns.
So when they start marching
towards the cowboys to disarm them,
the cowboys who are half-drunk,
all right, you got a recipe for disaster.
And that's really what happens.
Give us your guns.
( clicks )
Throw up your hands!
You boys wanna fight, we'll give you a fight.
I'm not gonna ask again.
Kiefer Sutherland: Things happen so fast.
And if something is allowed to escalate
to the point where people are actually reaching for weapons,
itjust takes one person to panic,
and all of a sudden, people are dead.
Narrator: In a matter of 30 seconds,
30 rounds are fired,
three cowboys lay dead,
including Ike Clanton's brother Billy.
Wyatt's brothers and Doc Holliday are wounded...
while Ike Clanton gets away.
Anne Collier: In the end only one man was left standing
and only one man was unhurt, and that was Wyatt Earp.
Narrator: Wyatt's uncanny ability
to escape harm at the O.K. Corral
will become a part of his legend.
News of the gunfight makes headlines around the world.
But rather than becoming a story
of the lost triumph over outlaws,
Wyatt and his men are portrayed as criminals.
Ann Kirschner: It was covered as far away as Australia.
It's a tale of unbelievable lawlessness.
As time went on, there was more and more concern
about Tombstone as the symbol of violence
at the American frontier,
and that had the business people very worried.
Narrator: In the rapidly developing West,
it's becoming clear
that Wyatt Earp's brand of frontierjustice
is beginning to wear thin.
Ike Clanton, the man who brought on the gunfight,
sees an opportunity
to finally get his revenge on the Earp brothers.
Andrew Isenberg: Ike Clanton and his friends
try to prosecute the Earps in court.
They bring charges of murder
against the three Earp brothers and Doc Holliday.
Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday spend two weeks in jail,
but the judge decides that there's not enough evidence
to go forward to a trial.
Narrator: The charges against Wyatt and his brothers are dropped,
but their image as noble lawmen
has been irreversibly damaged.
I don't believe Wyatt Earp ever woke up in the morning
and said, "I'm gonna go kill someone today."
He's trying to marshal a town.
And he's, unfortunately, the guy
who's gotta keep it somehow civil.
And eventually people are gonna wanna go after him.
They don't want us here, they don't want us.
What do you recommend that we do?
A lot of folks are moving to California.
Maybe we should, too.
No. It'll look like they're running us right out of town.
That's right.
We're not going anywhere.
If we leave Tombstone, it's on our own terms.
This is where we belong.
Here's to the unflappable Wyatt Earp.
- To Tombstone. - Together: To Tombstone.
( glasses clink )
Narrator: What Wyatt doesn't realize
is that by staying in Tombstone,
he's making himself an easy target
for Ike Clanton and his gang.
Twelve hundred miles away in Missouri,
Jesse James is settling back into life as an outlaw.
Despite having a $5,000 bounty on his head,
Jesse's planning his next big heist
with the two remaining gang members
he thinks he can trust...
Robert and Charley Ford.
Mark Lee Gardner: Jesse James had big, big plans.
He was focused on this bank robbery
that he was planning with the Ford brothers.
He was gonna rob the Platte City Bank.
And, you know, it was typical of Jesse,
because he alluded to them that this is something
that's... it's gonna be big in the papers.
You know, it's something that's publicized.
So I think that was exciting for Jesse.
We gotta be careful.
We have to look after each other.
All right?
Narrator: Jesse James' latest string of robberies
has turned him into America's most wanted criminal.
But what he doesn't realize
is that it's not the law he should be afraid of.
It's one of his own.
Morgan: I don't remember you being this good.
You don't remember a lot of things, Morgan.
Narrator: Months after the gunfight at the O.K. Corral,
Wyatt Earp and his brothers Morgan and Virgil
are still in Tombstone
trying to carve out a new life for themselves.
Eisenbach: Wyatt sticks around 'cause he's got
financial investments in town.
And those financial investments
have just started to make some money.
So, you know, as far as the Earps go, right,
that was just some unfortunate incident.
It's time to move on.
But the Cowboys weren't letting it go.
Ten dollars. You still owe me ten dollars.
( thunder rumbling)
Cowboy: Virgil.
All right, let me show you how it's done.
I'm waiting to see it.
Because you're my brother,
I'm gonna be easy on you, all right?
So what you want is...
(gunshot)
( gunshot )
- Wyatt. - Somebody call a doctor.
Morgan.
Oh, God.
Narrator: Ike Clanton and the Cowboys murder Morgan...
and cripple Virgil in retaliation
for the three men who died at the O.K. Corral.
Kirschner: Ike Clanton couldn't get his revenge in court,
and so they basically had hit men out for the Earps.
This was the moment of change for Wyatt.
He felt that the law would no longer protect him...
and decided that he would take the law
into his own hands.
Wyatt...
are you sure you wanna do this?
You going soft on me, Doc?
No, sir, I am not.
This is for my brothers.
Lead the way, sir,
Narrator: To help him avenge his brother's death,
Wyatt calls on his trusted friend
Doc Holliday.
Together, they form a posse
to track down and take out
Clanton's whole crew.
I think one of the things we have to understand about Wyatt
is that he was capable of impulsive violence.
After his brother Morgan was killed,
he kind of snaps.
Morgan Earp was assassinated.
This was not something thatjust happened.
And Wyatt's reaction is just as planned
and just as premeditated.
You give me a name,
and I'll let you live.
You go to hell.
You first.
Robert Redford: I think Wyatt Earp, when he went on
the other side of the law, it was really about revenge.
There wasn't anything to justify
or redeem the killing,
then it had to be taken in the hands of certain individuals.
Narrator: After killing cowboy Frank Stilwell,
Wyatt and his gang continue their hunt
through the Arizona territory,
tracking more of Ike Clanton's men,
including Charlie Cruz.
Pick it up.
Narrator: As Wyatt continues his quest for vengeance,
he's turning from a man ofjustice
to a cold-blooded killer.
Narrator: Jesse James has reemerged from a life on the run,
and with the help of his trusted gang members
Charley and Robert Ford
he has reestablished himself as a feared outlaw.
In hopes of ending Jesse's crime spree,
Missouri governor Thomas Crittenden
has put a $5,000 bounty on his head.
And it isn't long
before the opportunity he's been waiting for
comes to him.
You the governor?
And you must be Robert Ford.
You ride with Jesse James.
You see this $1 coin, Mr. Ford?
Well, that's you.
But this $10,000 coin,
that's Jesse James.
A good gambler could turn that one dollar
into 10,000.
Are you a good gambler, Mr. Ford?
I want the reward and immunity for me and my brother.
Kill Jesse James
and you'll get the money.
Narrator: Robert Ford knows that by working with Jesse James,
he and his brother are now prime targets, too.
Gardner: Bob Ford decides there's a big reward,
so he had an incentive.
But there was a real fear with Bob Ford.
You know, "I'm a little afraid of Jesse James."
Narrator: Now the Ford brothers have to find
the perfect opportunity to make their move.
Eisenbach: Looking at it logically, you might wonder,
"What was Jesse James thinking trusting the Fords?"
I mean, anybody can make a name for himself
as well as a lot of cash by putting a bullet in his head.
This is gonna be the best one yet, boys.
Easy money.
Eisenbach: But you get to the point
where you get reckless because you've survived
through all these scrapes.
You kinda think of yourself as being bulletproof.
And I think that that's what happens to Jesse James.
Jesse, your breakfast is getting cold.
No!
I'm not done yet.
Zee...
thank you.
I'm gonna go check on those horses.
That farmer's out on his porch.
You probably don't wanna walk around with that gun on your hip.
Hmm.
Yeah.
( clicks )
We gotta go.
Come on.
( door opens, closes)
Zee: Jesse! No!
( sobbing ) No.
No!
Jesse James is shot in the back of the head
by one of his own gang.
You know, Jesse's criminal career
came to an end because of Bob Ford...
some, you know, riffraff, some boy.
( sobbing )
Narrator: News of Jesse James' murder
makes front-page headlines across the country.
And three days after his death...
more than 2,000 Americans
flocked to Clay County, Missouri,
hoping for a final glimpse of the outlaw legend,
Jesse James.
You know, Jesse James
is already a hero to many people.
When he's killed, he's now a martyr.
And it's the way that he's killed.
Had he been captured, been tried,
and had he been executed,
it would have been much different.
But this is a collusion between
the governor of a state and a gang member
who shoots his leader in the back of the head.
Narrator: Robert Ford never escapes his reputation
as the man who murdered Jesse James,
and is shot down in a saloon 10 years later.
But as years go by,
Jesse James' legend only continues to grow.
Gardner: Jesse reaches incredible new heights
in the American imagination...
as a hero, as a martyr
and as a representative of the defeated South.
But I grew up in Jesse James country.
When I was a kid, Jesse James was a hero.
Now I see Jesse as a tragic consequence
of an awful, awful war,
which was a tragic consequence
of an awful, awful institution.
Narrator: Jesse's story captures the imaginations
of Americans across the country.
And tales of his exploits are enshrined
in dime store novels,
onstage, and eventually in western cinema...
leading him to become
one of the most notorious figures
in American history.
Sutherland: Americans, for better, and sometimes for worse,
truly cut their own path.
And I think that that's why we always
idolize Jesse James.
Jesse James said, I'm not gonna take this,
and went and grabbed what he wanted.
I think there's a place in America's heart for those people.
Narrator: But while another ruthless outlaw may be gone...
there's still one man causing chaos in the West.
Narrator: In the territory of Arizona,
Wyatt Earp rides to avenge the murder
of his brother, Morgan.
Earp and his posse have killed two cowboys already...
and are now hot on the trail
of another member of the gang,
William "Curly Bill" Brocius.
James Caan: The code of the West, there were certain things permitted,
and there's certain things that weren't permitted.
But there was no law and order,
and usually the guys that kept the order,
the Wyatt Earps of the world,
they were stone-blooded killers.
Come on.
Whoa.
(horse nickers)
( nickering )
(horse whinnies)
Saddle 'em up.
Let's move.
Cowboy: You're a dead man, Wyatt!
Collier: Wyatt shoots Curly Bill dead.
The heel on his cowboy boot
gets shot out from underneath him.
He's got holes all through his jacket.
He leaves completely unscathed.
Gets his man and leaves without a bullet hole once again.
Narrator: Wyatt and his men survive the shootout,
but after brutally executing four men in two weeks,
his actions begin to make headlines.
But instead of being seen as a hero,
he's branded an outlaw.
Eisenbach: You got a lot of people saying, "Wait a minute.
This guy running around, shooting people in cold blood?
This isn't justice."
So the bigger issues
of frontier law versus justice
now become wrapped up in the story
of Wyatt Earp.
Narrator: Authorities in Tombstone assemble a posse
to track down and arrest Wyatt Earp.
Now that he's a fugitive,
Wyatt Earp decides to give up on his hunt
for Ike Clanton.
Kirschner: Wyatt finally realized that he had had enough
and disbanded the posse and escaped Arizona,
where things were getting mighty hot for him.
Narrator: With his reputation tarnished,
Wyatt Earp vanishes from the public eye.
Isenberg: I think Wyatt Earp is remembered less
for being a lawman than for being a vigilante.
What people find appealing about the Wyatt Earp myth,
what always shows up in most of the films,
is that when the law is unable to bring justice,
Wyatt Earp takes the law into his own hands.
And so it's as a vigilante,
as a guy who embodies a kind of higher law
that he's most famous.
Eisenbach: The sad thing about Wyatt is that in his heart,
he just wanted to settle down and make some money.
But he winds up getting himself
into one situation after another.
And so he never stakes down the roots
that he wanted to stake down.
And so we have this kind of myth of Wyatt Earp
as being the guy who just did it on his own.
He was the cowboy, that individual...
that was not what he wanted to be.
Narrator: Wyatt Earp's quest for justice has come to an end.
But the legendary lawman still hasn't made
his final mark on the West.
( whistle blows )
After returning from exile in Canada,
Lakota Chief Sitting Bull
has been traveling across America
with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show...
hoping to preserve what's left of his culture.
But after four months of touring modern cities in the East,
Sitting Bull has become disheartened
by what he's seeing
and decides it's time to go home.
( whistle blowing )
Larry Pourier: I don't know how an Indian would have gone East
and gone home and felt better.
That has to be the most hopeless feeling in the world,
to know that your land is now gonna look like that
in about 50 years.
And if you're alive in 50 years,
that's probably what you're going to be living in.
Narrator: But when Sitting Bull returns to the reservation...
he finds something unexpected.
A new movement has taken hold of his people.
A ritual that they believe could restore the Lakota
to their former way of life.
It's called the "Ghost Dance."
Jacoby: The Ghost Dance movement
is something that emerges in the 1880s.
If you do these rituals,
you can make time go backwards.
White people would disappear,
the buffalo would come back,
and Indian peoples would be restored
to their former prominence.
It's a very appealing vision.
Narrator: But as the movement gains momentum,
government agents fear it's leading to an uprising.
Jacoby: A lot of the people who are most active in the ghost towns
are difficult to get to and so, seemingly,
the reservation authorities decide,
"Instead we'll arrest Sitting Bull
because he's close by, he's in his cabin.
We know where it is."
And they decide to send
a recently created Lakota police force.
Narrator: In December of 1890...
the U.S. sends 40 armed guards
to remove Sitting Bull from his home.
But the chief's followers are determined
to protect their leader.
( speaking native language )
Lower your weapon.
( speaking native language )
I will not go!
Narrator: The great Lakota chief, Sitting Bull,
who fought for over 30 years
to preserve his people's way of life,
is killed at the age of 59.
Pourier: The death of Sitting Bull
was the death of our culture,
at that moment.
We had faith in one man,
and he's doing everything he can to keep you alive
and to keep your way of life alive
and to protect you,
and he dies a violent death
instead of a natural death.
You know, you've lost your leader
on top of losing everything.
Narrator: In the wake of Sitting Bull's death,
many of his followers flee the reservation
and set up a temporary camp in South Dakota
at a place called Wounded Knee.
But the U.S. government remains fearful
of the possible uprising
and sends the 7th Cavalry to track them down.
Jacoby: From the U.S. Army's perspective of hostile
from non-hostile Indian, is they basically decide,
"Well, anyone who's off the reservation
is potentially hostile, and we'll treat them this way."
Narrator: Just two weeks after Sitting Bull's murder,
200 more Lakota men, women and children
are killed by American troops at Wounded Knee.
Jacoby: It's a very disturbing event.
They begin to throw in these howitzer shells
into the encampment at a rate of 50 shots a minute.
It's quite clearly a disproportionate use of force
against a community that was not in any way
clearly, um, violent towards the United States.
Narrator: Led by General James W. Forsyth,
the massacre at Wounded Knee
is the last major attack by the U.S. government
against the Lakota people.
I think Wounded Knee was so devastating
that it really did kill the spirit of a lot of people
because they were fighting something
that we don't agree with.
And Wounded Knee was basically the end
of that life.
Narrator: For decades, American Indians
have fought to keep their place in the West.
But now the Indian population,
once estimated at over 300,000,
has been cut in half.
Redford: Characters like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse,
they fought to the end.
And, of course, eventually, the end did come.
Pourier: I'm honored to be Sitting Bull's relative.
You know, we're actually to a point now
where we can survive and thrive, so we need to do that
in order to honor our ancestors,
to honor Sitting Bull,
because they didn't want to lose their way of life.
And we fought and died to keep our way of life,
and we still have it.
Narrator: By the end of the 19th Century,
outlaws like Billy the Kid and Jesse James
no longer terrorized the West.
And the war between the U.S. Army and the Indians
is effectively over.
With the frontier wide open,
the Government frees up 1.9 million acres
of former Indian territory in Oklahoma.
And within hours, 50,000 settlers
pour into the land.
It will come to be known
as the "Oklahoma Land Rush."
By 1890, the West has been settled to the point
where the U.S. Census Bureau can declare the frontier
officially closed.
In a span ofjust 25 years,
America has gone from a country divided by war
to a nation united by land.
H.W. Brands: What happened was the West
eventually came to look more like the East.
Before 1860, if you went West,
you dropped out of sight,
and people couldn't hear from you.
All of a sudden, you could go through
much of the West in the 1890s,
and you could keep almost instantaneously in touch
with what was going on in the East.
And that made all the difference in the world.
Narrator: But while the frontier has been tamed,
there's one place where the spirit of the West
still lives on.
Director: And cut!
Was that good for you?
That was perfect.
Narrator: Decades after escaping Arizona,
Wyatt Earp reemerges in Hollywood, California,
as a consultant in one of America's newest industries...
motion pictures.
Kirschner: Wyatt Earp had the advantage
of living to a ripe old age.
He simply outlived everybody else.
So, you know what they say,
history belongs to the victors.
Wyatt Earp: We used to drive cattle into Dodge City
that would stretch as far as the eye can see.
Thousands of cattle coming into town.
Just trample everything in their path.
Narrator: By telling stories about his past,
Wyatt Earp immortalizes the Old West in film.
Isenberg: Wyatt Earp decides that if his life
can be made into a film the way he wants it made,
then the legacy will be the one that he wants remembered.
And in a lot of ways, that's exactly what happens.
- First day on the job? - Yes, sir.
I'm a big admirer of yours, Mr. Earp.
Narrator: Earp even inspires a young production assistant
named Marion Morrison,
who will go on to become an actor,
taking the stage name John Wayne.
John Wayne uses Wyatt Earp
as the model for many of his Hollywood roles,
creating an iconic image of the Western hero
and becoming one of the most prominent western stars
in movie history.
Danny Glover: The attachment to westerns
were certainly, I think, an important part
of this country's evolution,
it's sense of it's identity,
it's sense of freedom.
Narrator: To this day, the West is remembered
as an era of violence and lawlessness
defined by larger-than-life figures
like Jesse James, Crazy Horse,
Custer, Billy the Kid,
Sitting Bull, and Wyatt Earp.
( woman screams)
Narrator: They were men who took what they wanted
and fought for what they believed in.
Brands: The outlaws were in some ways the ultimate individualists.
No one could tell the outlaws what to do.
A lot of Americans could imagine,
"Boy, if things had been different,
I could be as bold and brave
as daring as Jesse James or as Billy the Kid."
Tom Skerrit: The Old West engaged your imagination
in a way nothing else has ever done.
And it really is that eternal American figure,
that guy who faces adversity and comes through it.
Narrator: The story of the West is the story
of a country evolving and growing
through the sheer will and courage of its people.
I believe that it is truly American
to strike out in a new life, in a new existence.
The hardships on those individuals is amazing.
And despite all the obstacles,
we've populated a nation that is now and always has been
one of the great experiments in history.