The Gunfighter turned it down, despite having expressed a strong desire to play the part, because of his longstanding hatred for Columbia's president, Harry Cohn. Columbia sold the rights to Twentieth Century Fox, where the role went to Peck. Wayne's final film, "The Shootist" (1976), is often compared to "The Gunfighter" and contains numerous plot similarities. The script was loosely based on the purported exploits of an actual western gunfighter named Johnny Ringo, a distant cousin of the outlaw Younger family and a purported survivor of the infamous gunfight at the OK Corral against Doc Holliday and the Earp brothers. As in
Sunset (1988 film) a real gunfight at a real isolated ranch, with Mix telling Earp "I wish there was a camera here" before drawing a real gun. After the death of Christina, matters become personal for Earp, leading to the explosive climax between Mix, Alperin, and Earp. Although largely fictitious, the story does contain elements of historical fact. "Sunset" depicts Wyatt Earp as a technical advisor to a fictional Tom Mix film of the Gunfight at the OK Corral in which Mix portrays the famous western marshal. Earp had been living in the Los Angeles area since about 1910. He had served as