Author Robert Lang writes that the true expression of sexuality in this film is based in the relationship between Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid. He says that the film is about "the complications that arise when Doc Holliday falls in love with Billy the Kid, and Pat Garett becomes jealous of the bond that develops between the two men." Hughes scholars and historians scoff at this highly subjective Hollywood interpretation; they suggest that Hughes would have never allowed any form of sexuality to be expressed in his films that might take away from the effect and value of his starlet, Jane Russell.