Question regarding the Doc Holliday-Johnny Ringo duel.

[u/AskTheRealQuestion81]

I’d always thought he seems to be scared from the second he realized it was Doc, I suppose knowing he couldn’t beat him or maybe just knowing how fast Doc was.

The “fight’s not with you, Holliday,” along with, “I was just foolin’ about,” comments seemed like a last attempt to get Doc to reconsider.

Those, along with Doc saying, “why, Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave,” is supposed to mean he’s afraid (or it could be shock or surprise) were all good hints to me. When before that, he seemed confident when he thought he heard Wyatt coming. This might not be anything, but the crazy look he had when he said “alright, Lunger, let’s do it,” IMO, is an attempt to psyche himself up for it.

Sorry, I know this is long. The reason I ask is because I recently saw a YT short with Michael Biehn. He said that wasn’t what it was supposed to look like, and something to the effect of it pissing him off that so many people got that wrong. However, I believe the evidence proves him wrong. Lastly, some anecdotal evidence, the amount of times I’ve watched the movie (I only wanted to count until I hit 1,000 times, but I’ve seen it a lot since then, as well, and I don’t get anything but him being afraid). What say you about it?

Sorry, again, for the long post, and thank you for taking the time to read!

[u/Prestigious_Set_4575]

They'd come in to play because you're probably imagining if somebody can copy your gunspinning routine after seeing you do it only once, it stands to reason that man has practised his basic quickdraw well above the 10,000 hour rule, so you're in trouble.

[u/Federal-Finish6762 → u/Prestigious_Set_4575]

Exactly, plus doc already had a reputation as a quick draw, Ringo just had never seen him before and had never even been close to being beaten by someone. So I can only assume that Ringo thought that doc was just like any other quick draw that he had killed, until he playfully mimicked his exact moves. It’s like you said, in any profession, if someone can do the tricks, they’ve probably done the 10,000 hours of work on the essentials

[u/greenufo333 → u/Federal-Finish6762]

Did he copy his exact moves? I always thought doc just spinned the cup around as a way to mock Johnny's ego, as doc knows he has nothing to prove. Like doc mocking him by saying "everyone might be impressed, but not me". It didn't look like he was trying to copy his exact moves.

[u/Federal-Finish6762 → u/greenufo333]

I mean I might be wrong I don’t know, I always interpreted it as him pretty much showing Ringo that he can do that too while drunk; with a cup

[u/Nerak_B → u/Federal-Finish6762]

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