Review of Wyatt Earp (1994) by Olli H — 27 Nov 2008

There weren't many good westerns in the 90's, only Unforgiven and another Costner movie Dances With Wolves come to mind. In 1993 there was a movie called Tombstone, where Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer were Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday.

Now that movie was great, though it concertrated on the lifes of the Earps in Tombstone(hence the name=P )and so on. In Wyatt Earp we see the whole story of how did Wyatt Earp became a legendary lawman/crimefighter.

Director Lawrence Kasdan had done a westren before (Silverado) which also starred Kevin Costner, much younger though. So he got the western theme well in place. Kevin Costner has done a lot of good westerns, like Dances With Wolves, Silverado, Open Range and this one and he's also done one bad, The Postman.

But he is at his best in wild west, so good is his portrayal as Wyatt Earp. But one man keeps stealing his scenes at almost every moment in this film and that is Dennis Quaid as Doc Holliday. His former-dentist-turned-killer who becomes Wyatt Earps best friend is simply the best thing in this movie.

This is a "based on true events" movie and there is some historicly accurate scenes like the gunfight at O.K Corral. And even though they make Wyatt Earp this invincible sherriff there is a bit of truth on that as well: not a single bullet hit Wyatt Earp as long as he lived.

Pretty cool, huh.