Wyatt Earp (1994)

Plot of Wyatt Earp: The Earp family move west in the aftermath of the Civil War, and Wyatt now a young man marries his childhood sweetheart. But she dies of typhoid setting him on a downward spiral, resulting in him stealing a man’s wallet and his horse. He is captured, but rescued by his father, and is forced to run for his life. He becomes a buffalo hunter, striking up friendships which last over the years. He works at times in law enforcement and while chasing outlaw Dave Rudabaugh meets and befriends Doc Holliday.  He ends up in Tombstone with his brothers, all having roles in law enforcement and also having interests in various businesses, particularly the saloons. Wyatt has by now become married to Josie Marcus, who had arrived in town at the behest of the sheriff, and who had become involved with Wyatt. In general there is a rule in these towns what guns have to be surrendered, and so there are confrontations between men known at “Cowboys” and law enforcement, in Tombstone resulting in the shootout at the OK Corral.

Content: No sex or nudity despite the fact that much of the drama takes place in saloons and brothels. A lot of smoking and drinking, although Wyatt Earp becomes teetotal as a result of his descent into alcoholism, from which he has been saved by his father. Doc Holliday particularly drinks a lot. Scenes take place when Wyatt is a teenager and tries to run away to join the army. Then as a young man, getting married and so on. Much is made of the various friendships with the Mastersons and his brothers. And there are a number of shoot outs building up to the main event, as well as the gradual involvement of the wives in the brother’s affairs.

A View: How could anyone have thought it was a good idea to make a western taking more than three hours. It takes an hour for Wyatt to reach adulthood.  Of course the money tells the story. It cost a lot and did not recover its costs at the box office. It was nominated in several categories at the Razzies, and won in two of them. Honestly it is mostly boring and I find that when I read the synopsis I had not bothered to watch it to the end. It is honestly not even worth your time to have on while doing something else, but if you could leave out the first hour you could give it a go.

Fun Fact: Wyatt Earp’s real life, as researched by people keen on such things, is actually more interesting than what is portrayed in the movie.