Gunfights Of The Old West

Though movies and television would like us to believe otherwise, it was very rare when gunfights occurred with the two gunfighters squarely facing each other from a distance in a dusty street.

This romanticized image of the Old West gunfight was born in the dime novels of the late 19th century and perpetuated in the film era, to such a point that this fictional version is what our mind's eye quickly conjures up when we hear the word 'gunfight/' In actuality, the 'real' gunfights of the Old West were rarely that 'civilized.'

Gunfights of the Old West.