Ashley Hayes | Through the Shattered Lens

2014’s Doc Holliday’s Revenge takes place in late 1800s, just outside of the town of Tombstone. Following the murder of Morgan Earp, the legendary Doc Holliday (William McNamara) is seeking revenge and hoping to kill every suspected members of the Clanton gang before he himself is killed by tuberculosis. When a suspected Clanton gang member named Indian Charlie (Oliver Rayon) stumbles wounded into the homestead of Elizabeth (Ashley Hayes) and Joseph Cooley (Bart Voitilla), Holliday comes looking for him. Elizabeth stands up to the gunslinging dentist.

This is a bit of an odd viewing experience. Much like David DeCoteau’s earlier Bonnie and Clyde film, it’s an attempt to do a historical film on a budget. As such, there’s a lot of narration and sepia-toned stock footage. Newspaper headlines flash across the screen. Tom Berenger, as Judge Wells, narrates the story and is filmed in extreme close-up and with a greenscreen behind him. Strangely, the same thing seems to have been done with William McNamara, who spends most of the film sitting on his horse and talking to people who are clearly off-camera. It also appears that the majority of McNamara’s scenes were also done with a greenscreen. It’s a weird effect, one that leaves the viewer wondering if both Berenger and McNamara are meant to be playing ghosts. That said, it’s oddly effective. At the very least, it reinforces the idea of Holliday being a mythical figure, a ghostly spirit of Americana. Eric Roberts also shows up very briefly at the beginning and the end of the film, playing Elizabeth’s estranged father. Unlike McNamara and Berenger, it’s clear that Roberts actually was on the set when he filmed his scenes.

Doc Holliday’s Revenge feels like a companion piece to David DeCoteau’s Bonnie and Clyde: Justified. (Ashley Hayes was in that film as well, playing Bonnie Parker.) The budget is low and the dialogue is far too modern for a historical film but the cast at least seems to be trying and the film holds your interest while you’re watching it. (Good luck remembering much about it afterwards, though.) If nothing else, it’s better than Bigfoot vs DB Cooper.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed:

2013’s Bonnie and Clyde: Justified opens with a long-haired Eric Roberts introducing himself as legendary Texas Ranger Frank Hamer. Speaking straight to the camera, Roberts-as-Hamer warns us against idolizing the notorious Depression-era outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. They were murderers!, Hamer tells us with all the fervor of a tent revival preacher.

We then flashback to Bonnie (Ashley Hayes) and Clyde (Jim Poole) driving down a country road. Clyde is behind the wheel. Bonnie, a redhead like me!, reads aloud her latest poem about what it’s like to be a notorious outlaw. Suddenly, Hamer and his men appear on the roadside and open fire.

We then start yet another flashback. 15 year-old Bonnie marries good-for-nothing Roy (Julian Brand) while Clyde and his brother Buck (Hagen Mills) steal a truck full of turkeys. Jump forward to 1929 and Bonnie is unhappily married and working in a diner that we’re told is in Dallas, Texas. Oddly enough, there’s a lot of mountains in the background. I live in North Texas and I can assure you that, as much as things have changed here over the past few years, one thing has always remained the same. There are no mountains in Dallas County.

Eventually, Bonnie meets Clyde, they fall in love, and they rob banks. At least, that’s what we’re told. The majority of the film is told through sepia-toned still shots and newspaper headlines. Clyde attempts to escape from prison but we don’t actually see him do it. Instead, we just see a headline. Bonnie and Clyde rob banks but, again, we don’t really see it as much as we hear about it. Even when people die during the robberies, we don’t really learn the exact circumstances that led to Clyde opening fire. Ashley Hayes actually gives a good performance as Bonnie and her scrappy interpretation of the character is probably closer to the truth than Faye Dunaway’s. As for Jim Poole, he’s much better-looking than the real Clyde Barrow and that’s a good thing. Who wants to watch an ugly bank robber? There’s a reason why my distant-relation Pretty Boy Floyd remains a legend. As for the title, you may be wondering what exactly was justified about Bonnie and Clyde. You can argue that they were justified in doing what they had to do in order to survive during the Great Depression. Or you can argue that Frank Hamer was justified in ambushing them. Or you can assume the film was trying to appeal to (or perhaps just tricks) fans of the Justified television series. Or you can just not worry about it.

This is the story of Bonnie and Clyde on a budget. It came out in 2013, presumably to coincide with a 4-hour Bonnie and Clyde miniseries that was airing on A&E at the time. To be honest, you have to respect the nerve of a film about Bonnie and Clyde that doesn’t actually feature much of them doing what they were famous for. Cheers to director David DeCoteau for sticking with it and giving Eric Roberts top-billing for a cameo appearance. And cheers to Eric Roberts for just being Eric Roberts.

Previous Eric Roberts Films That We Have Reviewed: