Wyatt Earp (film)

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Wyatt Earp
Wyatt earp ver1.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Written by
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Owen Roizman
Edited by Carol Littleton
Music by James Newton Howard
Production
companies
  • Kasdan Pictures
  • Tig Productions
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date
  • June 24, 1994 (1994-06-24)
Running time
190 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$63 million [2]
Box office$55.9 million [3]

Wyatt Earp is a 1994 American epic biographical Western drama film directed and produced by Lawrence Kasdan, and co-written by Kasdan and Dan Gordon. [4] The film covers the lawman of the same name's life, from an Iowa farmboy, to a feared marshal, to the feud in Tombstone, Arizona that led to the O.K. Corral gunfight. Starring Kevin Costner in the title role, it features an ensemble supporting cast that includes Gene Hackman, Mark Harmon, Michael Madsen, Bill Pullman, Dennis Quaid, Isabella Rossellini, Tom Sizemore, JoBeth Williams, Mare Winningham and Jim Caviezel in one of his earliest roles.

Contents

The film was released a mere six months after Tombstone , also about Earp and the O.K. Corral gunfight. Unlike Tombstone, it was a box office failure [5] and received mixed to negative reviews, with criticism for its three-hour runtime, although its production values were praised. [6]

Plot

During the American Civil War, teenaged Wyatt Earp lives on his family's farm in Pella, Iowa, while his older brothers Virgil and James serve with the Union Army. Wyatt attempts to run away, intending to lie about his age and join his brothers in the war, but his father catches him. His brothers return home at the war's end, with James gravely wounded, and the family moves west to start over. Wyatt sees a man being shot dead in a duel and vomits at the sight.

Years later, a teenaged Wyatt works as a wagon driver and earns extra money by acting as a referee for boxing matches. A bully tries to shoot him after a drunken argument, but Wyatt disarms him, taking his gun. Returning home to Missouri, Wyatt marries his childhood sweetheart, Urilla Sutherland. They move into their own house, and he begins working as a lawman. Months later, his pregnant wife dies from typhoid fever. After staying by her side through the illness, Wyatt becomes deeply depressed. Burning their home and possessions, he begins drinking and drifts from town to town, landing in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He robs a man and steals his horse but is quickly arrested. With Wyatt facing certain hanging, his father bails him out of jail, telling him to never return to Arkansas.

Working as a buffalo hunter, Wyatt befriends Bat Masterson and his brother Ed Masterson. Years pass, and Wyatt becomes a deputy marshal in Wichita, Kansas, building a reputation as a man unafraid to enforce the law. He is recruited to work for the police force in Dodge City, with a lower salary but earning extra money for every arrest. Wyatt becomes romantically involved with a prostitute, Mattie Blaylock, and persuades the Matersons to come on as his deputies. Wyatt believes Ed is too passive, but the Dodge City council fires Wyatt for repeated complaints of excessive force, appointing Ed to take his place. Wyatt starts working for the railroad to catch robbers.

Pursuing outlaw Dave Rudabaugh, Wyatt is introduced to gunman and gambler Doc Holliday in Fort Griffin, Texas, and the two become friends. Holliday assists Earp in locating Rudabaugh, whom he dislikes tremendously. Wyatt receives word that Ed has been killed, having shot and killed both his assailants before dying in the street. Wyatt returns to Dodge City and soon after kills his first man, witnessed by actress Josie Marcus. Despite his brothers' wives' and Mattie's protests, Wyatt moves the family to Tombstone, Arizona and immediately finds himself at odds with the outlaw Cowboy gang. He becomes romantically involved with Josie Marcus, angering her boyfriend Sheriff Behan and stressing his relationship with Mattie, and becomes the subject of rumor about town.

Wyatt and his brothers Morgan and Virgil arrest several Cowboys, and Virgil assumes the post of head marshal following the murder of Fred White by Curly Bill Brocius. Tension builds between the brothers and the gang as Wyatt breaks up several altercations involving the Cowboys, particularly Ike Clanton, and Holliday swears his loyalty to Wyatt, whom he considers his only real friend. The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral makes the brothers very unpopular in town as many citizens feel that they deliberately provoked the shootout. Virgil is ambushed and wounded, and Morgan is killed. In the Vendetta Ride, Wyatt forms a posse with his friends to hunt down and take revenge against the remaining Cowboys.

Many years later, Wyatt and Josie mine for gold in Alaska. A young man on the same boat recognizes Wyatt and recounts a story in which Wyatt had saved the boy's uncle, "Tommy Behind-The-Deuce". Wyatt says to Josie, "Some people say it didn't happen that way", to which she responds, "Never mind them, Wyatt. It happened that way." An epilogue states that Holliday died six years later in a hospital in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Members of the Clanton gang continued to die mysteriously for years after Morgan's murder. Josie and Wyatt's marriage lasted 47 years until Wyatt died at age 80 in Los Angeles.

Cast

Production

Costner was originally involved with the film Tombstone , another film about Wyatt Earp, written by Kevin Jarre of Glory . However, Costner disagreed with Jarre over the focus of the film (he believed that the emphasis should have been on Wyatt Earp rather than the many characters in Jarre's script) and left the project, eventually teaming up with Kasdan to produce his own Wyatt Earp project. The film was also originally meant to be a six-hour miniseries until Kevin Costner joined the cast. Costner proceeded to use his then-considerable clout to convince most of the major studios to refuse to distribute the competing film, which affected casting on the rival project. [7]

Filming

Principal photography began on July 19 and ended on December 15, 1993

Soundtrack

Wyatt Earp
Soundtrack album by
Released1994
Label Warner Bros. Records

The score was composed by James Newton Howard, conducted by Marty Paich with The Hollywood Recording Musicians Orchestra and released by Warner Bros. Records in 1994. It was later re-released in 2013 in an expanded edition by La-La Land. [8]

  1. "Main Title"
  2. "Home from the War"
  3. "Going to Town"
  4. "The Wagon Chase"
  5. "Mattie Wants Children"
  6. "Railroad"
  7. "Nicholas Springs Wyatt"
  8. "Is That Your Hat?"
  9. "The Wedding"
  10. "Stillwell Makes Bail"
  11. "It All Ends Now"
  12. "Urilla Dies"
  13. "Tell Me About Missouri"
  14. "The Night Before"
  15. "O.K. Corral"
  16. "Down by the River"
  17. "Kill 'Em All"
  18. "Dodge City"
  19. "Leaving Dodge"
  20. "Indian Charlie"
  21. "We Stayed Too Long"
  22. "Winter to Spring"
  23. "It Happened That Way"

Release

Box office

Wyatt Earp, released six months after Tombstone, grossed $56 million on a $63 million budget, [3] [5] compared to Tombstone's $73 million gross on a $25 million budget. [9] The film opened at number 4 at the US box office behind The Lion King , Speed and Wolf , grossing $7.5 million in its first weekend. [10] Internationally, Wyatt Earp was more successful grossing $31 million, compared to Tombstone's $17 million, but this was not enough to recoup its budget, making it a box office bomb. [3]

Later Dennis Quaid said:

"I personally thought it was too long. But I'm also really proud of it." [11]

Critical reception

Wyatt Earp received mixed to negative reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively gives the film a "rotten" score of 32%, based on 85 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10. The site's consensus states: "Easy to admire yet difficult to love, Wyatt Earp buries eye-catching direction and an impressive cast in an undisciplined and overlong story." [6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 47 out of 100 based on 20 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [12] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying "Wyatt Earp plays as if they took Tombstone and pumped it full of hot air. It involves many of the same characters and much of the same story, but little of the tension and drama. It's a rambling, unfocused biography of Wyatt Earp (Kevin Costner), starting when he's a kid and following his development from an awkward would-be lawyer into a slick gunslinger. This is a long journey, in a three-hour film that needs better pacing." [13]

Todd McCarthy of Variety praised the cast and production values, but remarked, "If you're going to ask an audience to sit through a three-hour, nine-minute rendition of an oft-told story, it would help to have a strong point of view on your material and an urgent reason to relate it. Such is not the case with Wyatt Earp." [14] Similarly, Caryn James of The New York Times complimented the film's ambition and effort to portray a more human Wyatt, but still felt that "the film's literal-minded approach to the hero's dark soul is one of its terrible problems. 'Wyatt Earp' labors to turn this mythic figure into a complex man; instead it makes him a cardboard cutout and his story a creepingly slow one." [15]

Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F. [16]

Year-end worst-of lists

Accolades

AwardCategoryNominee(s)Result
Academy Awards [23] Best Cinematography Owen Roizman Nominated
American Society of Cinematographers Awards [24] Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography in Theatrical Releases Nominated
Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Picture Kevin Costner, Lawrence Kasdan, and Jim Wilson Nominated
Worst Director Lawrence KasdanNominated
Worst Actor Kevin CostnerWon
Worst Screen Combo Kevin Costner and "any of his three wives"
(Annabeth Gish, Joanna Going, and Mare Winningham)
Nominated
Worst Remake or Sequel Kevin Costner, Lawrence Kasdan and Jim WilsonWon
International Film Music Critics Association Awards [25] Best Archival Release of an Existing Score – Re-Release or Re-Recording James Newton Howard, Dan Goldwasser, and Tim GrievingNominated
Spur Awards [26] Best Drama Script Dan Gordon and Lawrence KasdanWon
Turkish Film Critics Association Awards Best Foreign Film18th Place

American Film Institute nominated the film in AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gunfight at the O.K. Corral</span> 1881 shootout in Tombstone, Arizona, United States

The gunfight at the O.K. Corral pitted lawmen against members of a loosely organized group of cattle rustlers and horse thieves called the Cowboys on October 26, 1881. While lasting less than a minute, the gunfight has been the subject of books and films into the 21st century. Taking place in the town of Tombstone in Arizona Territory, the battle has become one archetype of the American Old West. The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud between five outlaws and four representatives of the law, including three brothers. The trigger for the event was the local marshal's decision to enforce a city ordinance that prohibited the carrying of weapons into town. To enforce that ordinance, the lawmen would have to disarm the Cowboys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Doc Holliday</span> Gambler, gunfighter, and dentist in the American West (1851–1887)

John HenryHolliday, better known as Doc Holliday, was an American dentist, gambler, and gunfighter who was a close friend and associate of lawman Wyatt Earp. Holliday is best known for his role in the events surrounding and his participation in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona. He developed a reputation as having killed more than a dozen men in various altercations, but modern researchers have concluded that, contrary to popular myth-making, Holliday killed only one to three men. Holliday's colorful life and character have been depicted in many books and portrayed by well-known actors in numerous movies and television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyatt Earp</span> American lawman (1848–1929)

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American lawman in the American West, including Dodge City, Deadwood, and Tombstone. Earp was involved in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, during which lawmen killed three outlaw Cochise County Cowboys. While Wyatt is often depicted as the key figure in the shootout, his brother Virgil was both Deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone City Marshal that day and had considerably more experience in law enforcement as a sheriff, constable, and marshal than did Wyatt. Virgil made the decision to enforce a city ordinance prohibiting carrying weapons in town and to disarm the Cowboys. Wyatt was only a temporary assistant marshal to his brother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virgil Earp</span> American Old West figure (1843–1905)

Virgil Walter Earp was an American lawman. He was both deputy U.S. Marshal and City Marshal of Tombstone, Arizona, when he led his younger brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday, in a confrontation with outlaw Cowboys at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. They killed brothers Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. All three Earp brothers had been the target of repeated death threats made by the Cowboys who were upset by the Earps' interference in their illegal activities. All four lawmen were charged with murder by Ike Clanton, who had run from the gunfight. During a month-long preliminary hearing, Judge Wells Spicer exonerated the men, concluding they had been performing their duty.

<i>Tombstone</i> (film) 1993 film by George P. Cosmatos

Tombstone is a 1993 American Western film directed by George P. Cosmatos, written by Kevin Jarre, and starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, with Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, and Dana Delany in supporting roles, as well as narration by Robert Mitchum.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morgan Earp</span> American lawman and Earp family brother (1851–1882)

Morgan Seth Earp was an American sheriff and lawman. He served as Tombstone, Arizona's Special Policeman when he helped his brothers Virgil and Wyatt, as well as Doc Holliday, confront the outlaw Cochise County Cowboys in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881. All three Earp brothers had been the target of repeated death threats made by the Cowboys who were upset by the Earps' interference in their illegal activities. The lawmen killed Cowboys Tom and Frank McLaury and Billy Clanton. All four lawmen were charged with murder by Billy's older brother, Ike Clanton, who had run from the gunfight. During a month-long preliminary hearing, Judge Wells Spicer exonerated the men, concluding they had been performing their duty.

<i>Gunfight at the O.K. Corral</i> (film) 1957 film by John Sturges

Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is a 1957 American Western film starring Burt Lancaster as Wyatt Earp and Kirk Douglas as Doc Holliday, and loosely based on the actual event in 1881. The film was directed by John Sturges from a screenplay written by novelist Leon Uris. It was a remake of the 1939 film Frontier Marshall starring Randolph Scott and of John Ford's 1946 film My Darling Clementine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Claiborne</span> American outlaw (1860–1882)

Billy Claiborne was an American outlaw, cowboy, drover, miner, and gunfighter in the American Old West. He killed James Hickey in a confrontation in a saloon, but it was ruled self-defense. He was present at the beginning of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, but was unarmed and ran from the shootout. Only a year later, while drunk, he confronted gunfighter "Buckskin" Frank Leslie and was killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ike Clanton</span> Rancher and member of the Cochise County Cowboys, Arizona Territory (1847–1887)

Joseph Isaac Clanton was a member of a loose association of outlaws known as The Cowboys who clashed with lawmen Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan Earp as well as Doc Holliday. On October 26, 1881, Clanton was present at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in the boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona Territory but was unarmed and ran from the gunfight, in which his 19-year-old brother Billy was killed.

<i>Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die</i> 1942 film

Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die is a 1942 American Western film about the Gunfight at the OK Corral. It is directed by William McGann and stars Richard Dix as Wyatt Earp, Kent Taylor as Doc Holliday and Edgar Buchanan as Curly Bill Brocious. The supporting cast features Rex Bell as Virgil Earp and Victor Jory as Ike Clanton.

<i>Hour of the Gun</i> 1967 film by John Sturges

Hour of the Gun is a 1967 Western film depicting Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during their 1881 battles against Ike Clanton and his brothers in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and the gunfight's aftermath in and around Tombstone, Arizona, starring James Garner as Earp, Jason Robards as Holliday, and Robert Ryan as Clanton. The film was directed by John Sturges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Earp</span> Union Army soldier, brother of Virgil Earp (1841–1926)

James Cooksey Earp was a lesser known older brother of Old West lawman Virgil Earp and lawman/gambler Wyatt Earp. Unlike his brothers, he was a saloon-keeper and was not present at the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26, 1881.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mattie Blaylock</span> Wife of Wyatt Earp (1850–1888)

Celia Ann "Mattie" Blaylock was a prostitute who became the romantic companion and common-law wife of Old West lawman and gambler Wyatt Earp for about six years. Knowledge of her place in Wyatt's life was concealed by Josephine Earp, his later common-law wife, who worked ceaselessly to protect her and Wyatt's reputation in their later years. Blaylock's relationship with Earp was rediscovered by Earp researcher John Gilchriese and author Frank Waters in the 1950s, when they uncovered a coroner's report for "Mattie Earp", and a deathbed conversation in which she told someone, "Wyatt Earp had ruined my life."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Stilwell</span> American outlaw (1856–1882)

Frank C. Stilwell was an outlaw Cowboy who killed at least two men in Cochise County during 1877–82. Both killings were considered to have been self-defense. For four months he was a deputy sheriff in Tombstone, Arizona Territory for Cochise County Sheriff Johnny Behan. Stilwell owned interests in several mines and various businesses, including a saloon, a wholesale liquor business, a stage line, and at his death livery stables in Charleston and Bisbee. He was also a partner in a Bisbee-area saloon with ex-Texas Ranger Pete Spence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom McLaury</span> American outlaw (1853–1881)

Tom McLaury was an American outlaw. He and his brother Frank owned a ranch outside Tombstone, Arizona, Arizona Territory during the 1880s. He was a member of a gang of outlaws and cattle rustlers called the Cowboys that had ongoing conflicts with lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp. The McLaury brothers repeatedly threatened the Earps because they interfered with the Cowboys' illegal activities. On October 26, 1881, Tom and Frank were both killed in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. The Tombstone shootout was his only gunfight.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Billy Clanton</span> Outlaw of the old American West (1862–1881)

William Harrison Clanton was an outlaw Cowboy in Cochise County, Arizona Territory. He, along with his father Newman Clanton and brother Ike Clanton, worked a ranch near the boomtown of Tombstone, Arizona Territory and stole livestock from Mexico and later U.S. ranchers.

<i>Doc</i> (film) 1971 film

Doc is a 1971 American Western film, which tells the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and of one of its protagonists, Doc Holliday. It stars Stacy Keach, Faye Dunaway, and Harris Yulin. It was directed by Frank Perry. It was the first film of his to not be written by Eleanor Perry; Pete Hamill wrote the original screenplay. The film was shot in Almeria in southern Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">O.K. Corral hearing and aftermath</span> Results following the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona

The O.K. Corral hearing and aftermath was the direct result of the 30-second Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, on October 26, 1881. During that confrontation, Deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone Town Marshal Virgil Earp, Assistant Town Marshal Morgan Earp, and temporary deputy marshals Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday shot and killed Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury. Billy's brother Ike, who had repeatedly threatened to kill the Earps for some time, had been present at the gunfight but was unarmed and fled. As permitted by territory law, he filed murder charges against the Earps and Doc Holliday on October 30.

<i>Tombstone Rashomon</i> 2017 American film

Tombstone Rashomon is a 2017 Western film directed by Alex Cox and starring Adam Newberry and Eric Schumacher. It tells the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory, from multiple differing perspectives in the style of Akira Kurosawa's 1950 film Rashomon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wyatt Earp in popular culture</span>

Wyatt Earp was an American Old West lawman and gambler in Cochise County, Arizona Territory, and a deputy marshal in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.

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