"To me it was hollow," he says, "and I think it was hollow for my father, though he would not have ever brought that to his conscious mind. He totally loved cowboys and so did most of the cowboys he worked with and that got him through his life. But he knew perfectly well that it wouldn't last another generation ... it just was not going to last."
In his new book, The Last Kind Words Saloon, McMurtry creates an unvarnished picture of one of the heroes of Western myth: Wyatt Earp and his sidekick, Doc Holliday. Over the years Earp has been portrayed as legendary lawman but McMurtry says it's a reputation he doesn't deserve.
"Wyatt didn't do much of anything except drink and pester his wife and run around," he says. "He didn't do anything remarkable his whole life, ever."
McMurtry strips Earp down to a guy who doesn't talk much, hits his wife and gets people killed for no particularly good reason. Earp and Holliday spend a lot of time doing nothing. At one point they try, unsuccessfully, to become stars in Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. The duo's adventures culminate in the infamous shoot out at the O.K. Corral.
More With Larry McMurtry
Books
McMurtry's 'Literary Life': Not Simple, But Practical