Dreadfully Boring

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Living in Arizona, I visited there a weekend when Tombstone was celebrating a milestone of some sort. There are always reenactments of the OK Corral going on but when it's a special occasion the best actors in town do the job. It was fantastic! In leaving that area, and after talking to a local historian, I bought Wyatt Earp on CD. I was recommended because of its historical accuracy. Contrary to other reviews, my opinion is that Costner, Quaid, Madson, and company couldn't have been better. I looked for nominations for any of them and found only Razzies. Dennis Quaid was particularly a standout in portraying Doc Holiday. What does it take for that type of performance to be recognized? I could go on but that film was made decades ago. Watch it. It's authentic.

The most famous lawmaker from the old west is Wyatt Earp (1848 – 1929), largely because he survived and actually went to work for Hollywood in his old age during the silent era, hob knobbing with directors John Ford and Raoul Walsh, and actors William Hart, Tom Mix, and Harry Carey. Some say he even had an influence on a young John Wayne.Earp was first featured in the 1923 "Wild Bill Hickok" and Earp himself worked behind the scenes with his buddy William Hart (who played Hickok). He appeared again in "Frontier Marshall" (1934) and John Ford produced the first notable film about Earp, called "My Darling Clementine" (1946).The "Wyatt Earp" TV series (1955 – 61) gave birth to the 1957 film "Gunfight at OK Corral". John Sturges directed this film and re- visited the era with "Hour of the Gun" (1967). In the 1990s, "Tombstone" (1993) and "Wyatt Earp" (1994) gave us more intense portraits. In Tombstone, we have Kurt Russell (Earp), Val Kilmer (Doc) and Stephen Lang (Ike Clanton) with Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as the Earp brothers, Powers Boothe as an unredeemable Curly Bill Brocius and Michael Biehn as the deadly Johnny Ringo.Actors who played Earp include Henry Fonda ("My Darling Clementine"), Hugh O'Brien ("Wyatt Earp" TV series), Burt Lancaster ("Gunfight at OK Corral"), James Garner ("Hour of the Gun"), and Kurt Russell ("Tombstone"). For my tastes, the best Earp was Hugh O'Brien on the TV series, followed by Kurt Russell ("Tombstone") whom I think was the more realistic Earp.Actors who played Doc Holiday include Victor Mature who played a wonderful coughing Doc Holiday ("My Darling Clementine") as does Dennis Quaid in this film. Val Kilmer ("Tombstone"), Kirk Douglas ("Gunfight at OK Corral"), Jason Robards ("Hour of the Gun"), and Douglas Fowley ("Wyatt Earp" TV series) also played Doc. Val Kilmer is my favorite Doc Holiday, though I am partial to TV's Douglas Fawley.Old Man Clanton was played savagely by Walter Brennan ("My Darling Clementine") but otherwise rarely shown. For villains, no one was as despicable as Walter Brennan ("My Darling Clementine") although Powers Boothe ("Tombstone") came close and I was also fond of Michael Biehn ("Tombstone").Ike Clanton has been played by Robert Ryan ("Hour of the Gun"), Lyle Bettger ("Gunfight at OK Corral"), and Stephen Lang ("Tombstone")Billy Clanton was played by John Ireland ("My Darling Clementine"), Dennis Hopper ("Gunfight at OK Corral"), and Thomas Haden Church ("Tombstone"). Hopper's cowardly Clanton is the most memorable.The Brothers Earp have been played by Ward Bond and Tim Holt ("My Darling Clementine"), DeForest Kelley and Martin Milner ("Gunfight at OK Corral")Johnny Ringo has only occasionally been featured in films dealing with Wyatt Earp. He appeared in "Gunfight at OK Corral" by John Ireland and in "Tombstone" by Michael Biehn.Curly Bill Brocius has only occasionally been featured, by Jon Voight ("Hour of the Gun") and Powers Boothe in "Tombstone". Boothe is the stand-out.With this as background, how does 1994's "Wyatt Earp" stand up? Pretty poorly. "Wyatt Earp" had Kevin Costner (Earp), Dennis Quaid (Doc), and Jeff Fahey (Ike Clanton) along with a host of women who played the Earp's extended family. We even had Gene Hackman in a cameo as the father. It is a seemingly never-ending tale about Wyatt's entire life, with very little action and almost no character development among the critical players like Ike Clanton, Curly Bill, and Johhny Ringo. As such, it's nearly impossible to understand what is happening. (FWIW – the only film to make an attempt to explain the behind the scenes happenings is "Tombstone").This isn't the worst Wyatt Earp film. That honor goes to "Hour of the Gun". But it is a colossal waste of talent. The only memorable scene is at the very end of the film.

Kevin Costner can Pass as a Movie Star, once in awhile, but Simply does not have the Depth as an Actor to Pull Off this Heavy Study of the Western Icon. Especially when the Script takes Over Three Hours to put On Screen, the Length and Microscopic Details that Focus on the Life of Wyatt Earp ends up Revealing itself as another Kevin Costner Vanity Project.He is a Much Better Fit in "Open Range" (2003) having Grown Out of His Self Aggrandizement and His Film Projects in the Later Years show a Humble Restraint. Lessons Learned.Mediocre and Inconsistent Director Lawrence Kasdan must take Equal Blame for this Elongated, Episodic Epic. It's Not a Bad Film, but Only Slightly Above Average. Because the Better Parts (the Cinematography, and some good B Actors) are Intruded Upon by way too Many side Stories and a Bloated, Wordy Script that Keeps making the same Points, Over and Over.Overall, it's an Obese Film that seems to Never get any Momentum and even when it Manages some Motion, it is Reined In and Slowed Down by rather Boring and Unwelcome Scenes. The Movie Ends a Number of Times and the Train Sequence in one of the Endings is so Mishandled and Unremarkable as to be Anti-Climactic and Nearly Incomprehensible.Worth a Watch for Die-Hard Western Fans, but Others are Not Likely to be Impressed and may have Trouble making it to One of the Endings.

I found this entertaining but less accurate than I'd have wished for. Wyatt Earp born (Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp) March 19, 1848 left home at 17 had quite a few shortly lived jobs but mostly (to this day) is known for being a law enforcement officer that between him and his brothers and a couple of close friends had a heavy hand in instrumenting the taming of the outlaw wild west. October 26, 1881 Wyatt, Virgil & Morgan Earp + Doc Holiday faced down Ike and Billy Clanton + the McLaury brothers at the O. K. Corral (Billy & the McLaury's were dead, 'all' the others were wounded except Wyatt who was unscathed). In what took 30 seconds soon became the greatest gunfight in the history of the West. by Sireadslot