Review of Wyatt Earp (1994) by Stuart K — 05 Aug 2013

Directed by Lawrence Kasdan (Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983) and Grand Canyon (1991)), this film came about after star/producer Kevin Costner was attached to Tombstone (1993). Unhappy with the way the script of Tombstone had turned out, Costner left and planned his own Wyatt Earp film, one that would be more respectful to the title character.

It started out as a 6 hour TV mini-series, then it became this well-meaning but hard-going western. It follows the life of the Wyatt Earp (Costner), who as a teenager had wanted to run away to join the Union Army, but his father Nicholas Earp (Gene Hackman) convinces him not to.

Years later, and Earp marries his childhood sweetheart Urilla Sutherland (Annabeth Gish), but she dies from typhoid fever. Bereaved, Earp becomes a drifter, getting into trouble with the law, but he reforms and works for the law and becomes Marshal of Wichita, Kansas.

Earp later meets Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid), and the two go off to bring law and order to the west. One of their battles includes the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. Kasdan makes the old west look brilliant, with rich cinematography by Owen Roizman and a sweeping score by James Newton Howard, but it's 3 hour running time does drag at times.

But Costner does great as Earp, it's just a shame his status as a superstar came crashing down around him with Waterworld (1995).