Christopher Vogler The Writers Journey
There he goes beyond
the usual roles of Ally as provider of comic relief and someone for the hero to talk
to. H e also serves as a conscience, muttering every time John Wayne's character makes
a moral error and rejoicing when Wayne's surrogate son finally stands up to him.
T h e relationship with the Ally can be quite complex, sometimes becoming
dramatic material in its own right. A vast body of story has been written and filmed
about self-righteous Western lawman W y a t t Earp and his unruly, alcoholic, sickly,
but very dangerous Ally, Doc Holliday. In some versions o f the tale, like director
John Sturges' thundering Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the two men are nearly equally
matched, and while joining together to fight the external threat of the Clanton gang,
they are also two horns of a great debate in American culture, between the rigid
moral universe of the Puritans, represented by law-abiding W y a t t Earp, and the
annaabi.ee 
