Wyatt Earp

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Wyatt Earp

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Wyatt Earp

Bill Pullman, Catherine O'Hara, David Andrews, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman

This massive, in-depth study of the dark Western icon comes off with mixed results. Trying to capture the whole life, (warts and all) of the lawman-criminal-brother-fortune hunter, director Lawrence K...( read more  read more... )asdan gains points for sheer scale, giving us a rich epic painted in dark colors with gritty settings. But the visual poetry and extensive foreshadowing ruin the dramatic drive. Some scenes have as much impact as stalker movies; you're just waiting for someone to get knocked off. As Earp, Kevin Costner is not afraid to look rumpled and play colorlessly (as in The Bodyguard), but it saps the energy of this 3-hour-plus film. The only relief is Dennis Quaid as a droll Doc Holiday, a much more engaging character. New faces Linden Ashby and Joanna Going (as an Earp brother and a lover, respectively) are solid finds, though the remainder of the female cast is barely given anything to do. Best is the first half, with Costner, as hip as he was in his Silverado days, going through a series of ups and downs until he accidentally finds his profession. Great set design (Ida Random) utilizes dozens of similar settings that always look distinctive. Recommended to fans of the star and the genre, but the story never justifies its length. --Doug Thomas

Id: 10901230

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Wyatt Earp Recent Reviews
  • SirPant
    September 23, 2009
    SirPant
    I didn?t like it as much as Tombstone. I think, I get them mixed up! :o)
  • allan913
    March 22, 2009
    allan913
    An astonishing masterwork by Director, Lawereance Kasdan. A beautiful film in atmosphere and scope. We have returned to the freedom westerns were meant to have. A romantic, thrilling and action-packed epic. Dazzeling and outstanding. Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid are absolutely ...( read more)magnificent. Costner is riveting. Quaid is wickedly funny, deeply effectionate and wonderfully brilliant, one of the best performances of his career. A remarkable, dark, tremendous and outstanding western achivement.
  • xeowulf
    September 4, 2008
    xeowulf
    I'm not the largest fan of Westerns, but this was a pretty good movie. It's further proof Kevin Costner can't be in a short movie. :p This is also one of those movies of which the phrase "all-star cast" can be used.
  • garyX
    January 31, 2008
    garyX
    Kevin Costner once again projects his own self-image of the all-American hero, this time portraying legendary frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. And as usual, it's too self-important and FAR too bloody long. The first hour is especially tiresome, as the young Wyatt's life is a dreary c...( read more)ombination of sentimentality and melodrama but things do pick up once his father bails him out of jail. Even then however, the underused supporting cast seem far more interesting than the stone faced and characterless Costner; even the plum role of Doc Holliday (played by Dennis Quaid who is clearly enjoying himself) feels little more weighty than a cameo. The aspect of male bonding does work well though, making it all the more obvious that the relationships between the Earps and their other halves rarely exceeds the level of soap opera; Costner's relationship with his second wife is marked by some particularly cornball dialogue. The main drawback for this project is the fact that this story has been told so often that it would take something truly spectacular to make it worth it, and not only is this not the best version, it's not even in the top 3; it lacks the elegance of My Darling Clementine, the grittiness of Tombstone and the good natured humour of Gunfight At The OK Corral, making it a decent but unremarkable addition to the genre.
  • harrycaul
    January 30, 2008
    harrycaul
    For a decade or so, from the late-'80s to late-'90s, cardboard Kev Costner was Hollywood's everyman of choice, before a series of increasingly elephantine projects associated him in the public consciousness with an aching backside and a struggle to stay awake, allowing Tom Hanks ...( read more)to usurp his throne. "Wyatt Earp" is a marvellous film with a majestic sweep, but it marked the beginning of the end of Costner's popularity and, before long, "Waterworld" and "The Postman" would topple him off the A-list for good. What separates this film from the legion of other retellings of Earp's story is, not so much its greater claim to historical accuracy as its portrayal of the typically goody-goody Earp, as a deeply flawed individual whom it was almost impossible to like. There's genuine darkness here but, unfortunately, Costner hasn't quite got the acting ability to nail it. The rest of the cast is great but a skeletal Dennis Quaid walks away with the movie as Doc Holiday, his performance infinitely preferable to Val Kilmer's self-consciously showy turn in "Tombstone", which was an enthusiastic B-movie but nothing more. Excepting some bluish day-for-night that I don't much care for, the film looks terrific, too.
  • VirVeritatis
    December 21, 2009
    VirVeritatis
    Tombstone came out at the same time and is, by critic's consensus i believe, a better movie
  • FilmFanatik
    December 20, 2009
    FilmFanatik
    Fantastic western from Costner, Kasdan and Co.
  • YoghurtTheWise
    December 8, 2009
    YoghurtTheWise
    "What's wrong with me? What have you got? I am dying of tuberculosis. I sleep with the nastiest whore in Kansas. Everyone who knows me hates me, and every morning I wake up surprised that I have to spend another day in this piss-hole world. All you can kiss my rebel dick!"

    A bit...( read more) slow to get going and way too long. But still pretty decent.
  • talldarkwshades
    December 2, 2009
    talldarkwshades
    In my Library







    Would like to have seen this mixed with Tombtone casts
  • Zack437885
    November 17, 2009
    Zack437885
    this is how the wild west really was. love this western. only time i felt bad for that bad guys
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