EYES narrowed, lips curled, the two gun-slingers face each other across a smoke-filled saloon. Dust-covered coats are swept aside to reveal shiny side-irons, low-slung six shooters, embraced by intricately carved leather holsters.

It's a showdown and the slowest draw will die, blasted into the next kingdom by a slug from a .45.

It's a Wild West scene portrayed for decades in the movies by make-believe cowboys, such as John Wayne and Clint Eastwood.

Unfortunately, it couldn't be further from the truth. Real cowboys wouldn't have lasted two minutes wearing the sort of fancy waistcoats and thin jackets worn by the actors on the big screen.

Life was tough, the nights were bitterly cold and civilisation was always hundreds of miles away. If you want to see a more accurate cinema image, then watch Tombstone, with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and Sam Elliott. Long coats, thick woollen 'wescuts' and filth and grime just about everywhere. These are the hallmarks of the old cowboy days.

Instead of riding into town all coiffed and shiny, your average cowhand would arrive in long johns so stiff with muck he could stand them up in the corner.

"After six months on the trail the first thing they would do is chuck away the long johns and buy some more, have a bath and find themselves a whore," says John Elstob, a member of the Lone Star Living History Group. And he and a veritable posse of fellow Wild West enthusiasts should know - they've researched the topic in minute detail for years.

The Darlington band is now the premier Wild West re-enactment group in the North-East, staging fights, fast draw displays, camping workshops and doing television and film work on a subject close to their hearts.

Named after the outlawed Texas state, Lone Star boasts 20 members, aged between 14 and 56, all sharing such a passion for the period of United States history that they go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their portrayal is as accurate as it can be.

One member even risked life and limb to get the true feel of the era. Recruitment officer, 7th Cavalry (that's General Custer's lot) second lieutenant Patrick Townsend decided to camp at the site of the Battle of Little Big Horn, to experience first hand where Custer lost his scalp to Sitting Bull. Awoken early by the need to answer a call of nature, he unzipped his tent door - only to come face to face with a deadly rattlesnake. "I heard the rattle, saw the snake and decided I could wait to go to the toilet," recalls the 20-year-old.

Lone Star members obtain their costumes from America. The army uniforms, for instance, are made by the same company which manufactured the originals back in the 1800s. Guns and rifles look like the real things but are theatrical props which fire only blanks. There's even a genuine wagon-trail chuck wagon, which dates back to the early 19th Century, now lovingly restored to its former glory.

"Authenticity is the key," says Lone Star chairman and gun marshal Billy Davis, the group's very own Wyatt Earp. "We do various sketches for the general public, serious workshops and living history displays. It's purely a hobby but we aim to learn about Western history and educate the general public.

"It's been distorted by the movies, so we are trying to dispel some of the myths created by Hollywood, especially the clothing and the gunfights."

Life in the West was largely wild and hard, particularly for the women, who were outnumbered ten to one.

"Western movies made the period too glamorous. They were made just after World War II and people wanted something more flamboyant and colourful to lift their spirits. Today, there is more demand for the truth.

"There were no such thing as the gunfights in the street. They tended to be spur of the moment things or one cowboy lying in wait for another. Sheep and cattlemen had range wars, particularly over rustling and there was vigilante justice. They were hard times."

Each of the members has a particular speciality. Lt Townsend studies the native American - that's Injuns to me and you.

"I have been interested since I was about eight-years-old and I used to go to my grandparents' where they would be watching John Wayne movies. I didn't fancy the modern army so this is the next best thing.

"With the native Americans, it wasn't just a case of them riding around on horseback making whooping noises. I've looked at their religion - mother nature, the Earth, the medicine wheel. I also found that the white man used to shoot buffalo for trophies. The native American hunted them to survive. They would use the whole animal; its skin would become blankets, they would eat the meat and make tools from its bones.

"If I had to idolise one tribe it would be the Blackfoot Sioux, who used to inhabit the North West plains. In 1891 there was the last Indian massacre, the battle of Wounded Knee. On December 29 the 7th Cavalry went on to the Pine Ridge Reservation to try to disarm them after hearing about illegal ghost dances to raise warriors from the dead. One soldier struggled with a blind brave and the gun went off. One hundred and seventy six men, women and children were massacred. It was gruesome."

More than a century later, life on the plains is still tough as many of the native Americans live in a squalid time-warp.

"It's still the Wild West out there. If you go to Deadwood, there are still some of the original buildings. Alongside these there are high rise casinos. But if you go to Tombstone, Arizona, it's exactly the same as it used to be.

"The native Americans are still living on reservations and it's an absolute disgrace. There is still a war going on between them and the government. There is a still a feeling that the only good Indian is a dead Indian."

l Anyone interested in joining the Lone Star Living History Group should contact Patrick on 040-398-0001.