Judge Roy Bean, who died in 1903, was one of those larger-than-life characters who helped define the Old West. If he hadn't lived, the movies would probably have invented him.
He dispensed his version of justice from his saloon in southwest Texas, but each of the major movies about him was filmed in Arizona.
"A Time for Dying" (1969) - Directed by Budd Boetticher, with Victor Jory as Judge Bean. The movie, filmed in Apache Junction, was the last for Audie Murphy, who played Jesse James. On May 18, 1971, he was aboard a private plane when it crashed into the side of a Virginia mountain, killing all six aboard. Murphy, who gained worldwide fame as the most-decorated American soldier of World War II, was 46.
"The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean" (1972) - Directed by John Huston, with Paul Newman as the legendary justice of the peace.
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