Wyatt Earp with Kevin Costner

[Old Doc]

And now thanks to the Westerns Channel, we can watch the definitive Wyatt Earp with Hugh O'Brian every afternoon. 

[Mean Bob Mean]

I did not mind Wyatt Earp, but it was not my favorite.  In my opinion, Costner's best western was Open Range.  Earp is too large of a persona for Costner's abilities, he's just not that great an actor.  When he tries to portray subtlety it looks like sulking, moping, or just plain stupidity.  Russel pulled off being more introspective, in my opinion. 

As for accuracy, neither film fits the bill but I think Tombstone captured the feelings of the time more accurately.  Tombstone's script did call for a much more accurate rendition of events but circumstances and editing lost much of that.  For example, the actor hired to portray Newman Haynes Clanton was ill so they improvised the cross border raid to establish the Cowboy's faction.  They had intended to shoot one of old man Clanton's notorious Bushwhackings.  Also, the original script was lengthy and developed many characters more fully (that story really is about several characters).  Too bad they did not shoot that film.  Both films made far too much of Johnny Ringo.  Brocius was considered to be more dangeorus and his humor was dark (which is well portrayed in Tombstone), which in Wyatt Earp he comes across as possibly a bad guy but not really a sociopathic one.  He gets a lot of time in Tombstone as he should have:  he was a famous outlaw.

[Bugscuffle]

I enjoyed both movies for what they were, entertainment, a little escape fiction loosely based on an historical event. I don't watch movies to critique the historical accuracy or to judge the accuracy of the costuming or the guns used. That's darned near work. I don't want to work. I want to relax and eacape the everyday hum drum.

[Advertising]

[griswold]

That's a fact

Remember it's Hollywood not Arizona 1880's I beloeve Quaid did do a better part for accuracy but Kilmer was alot more entertaining, his part as Holiday became almost a cult following at Ohio State and other colleges.  Did Quaid in his part, carry a S&W?

Pull up a photo of Quaid as Holiday and a photo of the real Doc Holiday...........uncanny resemblance.............

griswold

[Stillwater]

The biggest detraction to Kevin Costner's acting is his voice. It's one of the worst, and most boring I have ever heard on the screen...

Bill

[Old Doc]

The biggest detraction to Kevin Costner's acting is his voice. It's one of he worst, and most boring I have ever heard on the screen...

Bill

I don't really recommend watching Oliver Stone's "JFK" but if you happen to see it by accident , notice how many times Costner goes in and then out of , what he thinks is a Southern accent.

[J.B. Justice]

I like both movies but for different reasons. I guess Tombstone was my first western and one of the movies that I watched more than once in the theater when it came out. It's full of historical and gun related inaccuracies but the characters, dialogue, and shooting scenes are just plain fun to watch. 

What I like about Wyatt Earp is it has some great scenes depicting famous lawmen in both Dodge City and Tombstone. In addition to Earp, I enjoy the scenes with Bat and Ed Masterson. I find that the early years portion of the movie are a bit boring and the movie does plod along at times. I agree that the portrayal of Doc Holiday in Wyatt Earp is probably more historically accurate but Val Kilmer with his dandy dress, pair of nickel plated Colts, and witty dialogue is just plain cool 

[Mean Bob Mean]

The biggest detraction to Kevin Costner's acting is his voice. It's one of the worst, and most boring I have ever heard on the screen...

Bill

The only Robin Hood with a midwestern accent.

[J.B. Justice]

I do have to agree with Costner's acting being not so hot in Wyatt Earp. He is too wooden and lacks range of personality or emotion. Kurt Russell portrayed a Wyatt Earp who seemed lively and like a real person.

[Mean Bob Mean]

I do have to agree with Costner's acting being not so hot in Wyatt Earp. He is too wooden and lacks range of personality or emotion. Kurt Russell portrayed a Wyatt Earp who seemed lively and like a real person.

He certainly seemed more like what Earp is reported to have been.  Intelligent, tough, mean even.  I thought Russel showed that he has really grown as an actor, that's a heavy role and he did fine. The scene where he bulldogs Johnny Tyler is more in line with what being a lawman was likely to have been in those days, from what my poor faculties can ascertain.