By Professor Paul Andrew Hutton

(L-R) George O'Brien 1934 "Frontier Marshal," Randolph Scott, "Frontier Marshal": Fox (1939), Ronald Reagan, "Law and Order": Universal (1953), Joel McRae, "Wichita": Allied Artists (1955), James Garner, "Sunset": Tri-star (1988), Kurt Russell, "Tombstone": Cinergi (1993), Kevin Costner, "Wyatt Earp": Warner Brothers (1994) All photos courtesy of Dr. Paul Andrew Hutton

Tombstone, 1993: Starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. This movie turned me, as it did many of you, onto the legend and life of Wyatt Earp. If nothing else, this movie served a great purpose in bringing a renewed interest from a new generation in Wyatt Earp. Val Kilmer was my favorite Doc Holliday, although I didn't think he "looked" the part as much as Dennis Quaid did in Wyatt Earp. Kurt Russell I could do without as Wyatt Earp. He is a good actor, don't get me wrong, and he brought a new face to the legend of Wyatt Earp. (Interestingly, Kevin Costner was offered the Russell part, but turned it down because he was getting ready to shoot Wyatt Earp.) But after later readings, I am convinced that his portrayal of Earp was very inaccurate. He played Wyatt as a very emotional and demonstrative person, two things by which all accounts I have read are exactly opposite of the way the real Wyatt Earp was. This is less Russell's fault then it is the person who wrote the script. I think I would have liked Russell playing Wyatt Earp using the Wyatt Earp script much better. As far as historical inaccuracies, Tombstone has many of them. The events leading up to the shoot-out were lacking in important details. I couldn't possibly go into them all here, but if you have read all of this web page, and have watched Tombstone, you will see them. Tombstone portrayed Wyatt as being dead-set against having anything to do with law enforcement when he came to Tombstone, and that Virgil didn't deputize him until right before the shoot-out. Contrary to this view, one of the first things Wyatt did when he came to Tombstone was secured a Deputy Sheriff job for Pima County, and started shortly thereafter into a race for Sheriff of the newly formed Cochise County. He served as Acting Marshal of Tombstone when Virgil was out of town. The shooting itself was quite accurate and many believe one of the most accurate portrayals ever recreated. The shooting did lend itself to another accuracy that Wyatt Earp did not. It showed the Earp's later claim that someone tried to shoot them in the back from either Fly's or near there. Some later claimed it was Cowboy faction member Will Allen, but the movie shows it as being Ike Clanton. Virgil and Morgan were not shot on the same night either, they were shot several months apart. The Ringo killing was ridiculous in the movie. Ringo was found dead months after the Earps left Arizona, and while several people were rumored to have killed him, even Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday was not one of those suspects. The official cause of Ringo's death was ruled a suicide. Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp were not such close friends to the end as the movie portrayed. In fact, Doc and Wyatt reportedly had a falling out shortly after fleeing to Colorado and most likely never spoke to each other again. Wyatt was not at his bed when he died, and he did not write any book about Doc. Despite these historical errors, Tombstone is still a good movie. Another bit of trivia many may not know is that Kevin Costner supposedly tried to have Tombstone killed because of his work on Wyatt Earp. If I wanted to get a bunch of people interested in Wyatt Earp, who had never heard of him, I would recommend they see Tombstone first. Then after they saw that, I would recommend they went out and read some books and watched Wyatt Earp. ;)

Wyatt Earp, 1994: Starring Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid. This movie is my favorite. I know the critics didn't like it, and yes, it was too damned long (but what do the critics know anyway?), but this was mostly because it had Costner in it. The thing I liked most about this movie was that it covered most of Wyatt's life, not just the events surrounding Tombstone. It showed us some of the events that helped shape the man that was to become Wyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp is not without it's inaccuracies. No one begged Wyatt to leave Wichita and come help tame Dodge City. Wyatt was never fired from Dodge City, he was fired from Wichita. And Wyatt wasn't begged to come back to help tame Dodge City again after Marshal Ed Masterson was killed. Virgil Earp was not known to have ever worn a badge in Dodge City, but Morgan did. The records show that Morgan worked for Ford County Sheriff Charlie Bassett, even before Wyatt came to Dodge. Wyatt supposedly met and befriended Doc Holliday in Dodge City, not Fort Griffin, Texas (Although many believe it was the latter). Wyatt Earp, like Tombstone, leaves out the important events leading up to the shoot-out in Tombstone. Most notably, the fact that Wyatt was a Deputy Sheriff and the race for Cochise County Sheriff against John Behan. Both movies leave out the important fact that Ike Clanton was arrested earlier in the day of the shoot-out for threatening the Earps and carrying a weapon in town. (although Tombstone does allude to this fact, but shows Ike being arrested the night before the shoot-out). The movie shows Virgil and Morgan being shot on the same night, when they were shot several months apart. The shooting itself, though, was accurate enough. Right down to the words passed between Doc and Morgan while walking down to Fly's. The revenge killings that Wyatt and his party took part in after Morgan's killing were well portrayed, but there was a lot of Stuart Lake's version in those scenes. I think both movies would have done well to show some of the important events that happened after the Earps left Arizona, but the movies would have run even longer then. I am surprised by the number of people who have not seen Wyatt Earp yet. I recommend you go out and rent it, I don't think you will be disappointed.

Wyatt Earp, 1994: an alternate review of the movie by Ben Burgraff
WYATT EARP (Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Dennis Quaid)
'Wyatt Earp', Kevin Costner and Lawrence Kasdan's epic attempt to create a sweeping "warts and all" biography (a la 'Lawrence of Arabia'), has some wonderful moments, but is ultimately defeated by its sheer length, and the aloofness of Costner in the lead role.
Like 'Tombstone', the other Wyatt Earp picture released that year, this film attempts to place the famous 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' into a somewhat proper historical context, and show the bloody aftermath that followed. But while 'Tombstone' focuses solely on his life in the bustling frontier town, and is really a loving tribute to Western movies, 'Wyatt Earp' is a much more ambitious piece, devoting itself to much of Earp's life, and how he went from an innocent farmboy with wanderlust, to a cold, strict, enigmatic hero.
Costner's Earp is bound to his brothers, but is clueless about other people's needs. (This fact is painfully clear to his brothers' wives, who protest bitterly about Wyatt's insensitivity, uprooting their families to follow HIS dreams of 'striking it rich'.) In fact, Kasdan makes it clear that after the death of his first wife, Earp couldn't truly 'bond' with anyone, even his mistress (a scenery-chewing performance by Mare Winnigham), until he meets actress and free-spirit Josie (sensitively played by Joanna Going). Earp's attitude towards his profession and his brothers was more a parroting of his father's convictions (Gene Hackman is terrific as the stern patriarch!), than any real insights of his own. He is fundamentally a simple-minded 'Everyman', almost a 'Forest Gump' in a different era, having enough common sense to stay alive, but lacking the intellect to advance himself in his world. This hurts the film; with Earp so uncharismatic, it falls on the shoulders of others to 'draw' us into the film, and in a biography, supporting characters do not tend to stay very long.
The most exciting, entertaining performance of the film, by far, is Dennis Quaid's drawling, TB-ridden Doc Holliday. Quaid researched Holiday extensively, starving himself to get the cadaver-like look the gambler was known for. It is the screen's most accurate portrayal of this legendary character, ever; unfortunately, Val Kilmer's flashier, 'over-the-top' portrayal of Doc Holliday in 'Tombstone' caused many viewers (and the Academy Awards) to overlook Quaid's brilliant interpretation!
There are a lot of wonderful elements to enjoy in 'Wyatt Earp'; the powerful musical score by James Newton Howard; the epic sweep of Owen Roizman's cinematography; the gritty intensity of the early frontier; and the debunking of some popular Hollywood myths (when an outlaw band chases a wagonload of buffalo hides, Earp instructs his helper to shoot the outlaw's horses, to end the pursuit...this NEVER would have been done in a 'classic' Hollywood Western, even though it IS the logical solution!)
If you are a Costner or Quaid fan, love VERY long, grandiose Westerns, or would like to see a less romantic, harder-edged retelling of a legend, I'd recommend 'Wyatt Earp', flaws and all!

My Darling Clementine, 1946: Hunker down for a classic western movie. Four brothers are driving a herd of cattle west to California. They stop overnight outside a lusty mining town. Three of the brothers head into town, leaving baby brother James to tend the herd. James is killed by rustlers who steal the herd. Bent on revenge, the brothers take jobs as marshals, making friends and enemies as they do their job. Among their new friends - a drunken tubercular gambler. Among their new enemies - a powerful ranching clan, suspected of killing James. After the ranchers kill brother number two, the remaining two brothers and their new friend, the gambler, shoot it out with the clan. When the smoke has cleared, the gambler and all the ranchers are dead, and the marshal has clear sailing for the gambler's girl friend - the lovely Clementine. Great movies have been built around weaker story lines, and when the mining town happens to be Tombstone, and the principals are the Earps, the Clantons and Doc Holliday, the stage is set for some great cinema. Particularly with John Ford calling the shots.

Henry Fonda stars as Wyatt Earp, with Ward Bond as Virgil, Victor Mature as a sulky Doc Holiday, and Walter Brennan as Old Man Clanton. The story is not accurate - like "Tombstone" 50 years later, it uses a historical event as the centerpiece of an intriguing and entertaining story. (Interestingly, the film claims to be based on the book by Stuart N. Lake!) John Ford is reported to have said "Forget History, it's a great movie" when he was told that the OK Corral fracas didn't happen that way. And knowledgeable Earp fans should not look to this story for historical accuracy. However, the setting, the props, the scenery (Monument Valley), the acting, the directing, the cinematography and the presentation of many townspeople all give a sense of how it might have felt to live and work in Tombstone of the 1880's.

Enjoy it for what it is - a masterpiece of the western genre. Unfortunately, this movie is presently hard to find in the video stores. I had to record mine late one night off the Disney Channel (thanks Walt!). It was worth staying up late for. Reviewed by Norm Hesseldahl

Read on for another viewer's comments on Earp movies:

"My Darling Clementine"...John Ford KNEW Wyatt Earp, late in Earp's life; Ford brought up the idea of an Earp bio, which Wyatt was not crazy about, but Ford always planned the film as a tribute to the "Law and Order" aspect of the Old West (much as his cavalry trilogy glorified the U.S. Cavalry). By most people who knew Earp, Henry Fonda's portrayal was the closest to the actual Earp. (Ford supposedly saw Earp rocking on the back legs of a chair, and had the two actors who portrayed Earp in his films - Fonda, and Jimmy Stewart in 'Cheyenne Autumn', both do the 'chair thing'.) Ford did NOT like Victor Mature, which is why a lot of the film doesn't focus much on him. ( By the way, my father grew up with Victor Mature, in Louisville, Kentucky!)
"Gunfight at OK Corral"...Burt Lancaster supposedly did extensive research on Earp, right down to interviewing the few surviving Earp associates, before taking on the role. The actor who actually had the closest 'feel' to his historical counterpart was Kenneth Tobey, who had one scene as Bat Masterson. What I love about this film is Dimitri Tiompkin's score, and Frankie Laine singing the title tune throughout the film. And, as a 'Star Trek' fan, it's fun seeing DeForest Kelley as Morgan Earp!
"Hour of the Gun"...Director of both "Gunfight at O.K. Corral" and "Hour of the Gun", John Sturges said he felt he had 'glamourized' Earp too much in the first film, and wanted to present a more honest portrayal, the second time around. Jason Robards was 'hot' in Hollywood at that time (he was a busy actor for several years, until personal problems and his disasterous performance in Charlton Heston's 'Julius Caesar' slowed him down), and his 'Doc' Holliday, while too old, was considered a pretty fair interpretation. Garner says he didn't do much research for his role (it is remarkable he played Earp twice!)
"Wyatt Earp" (TV Series)...The publicity SWORE Hugh O'Brian was called 'perfect' as Earp by those who 'knew' Earp....Sound's like network hype, to me!
Review by Ben Burgraff

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