Wyatt Earp (1994)

epic western
directed by : Lawrence Kasdan
featuring : Kevin Costner - Dennis Quaid - Gene Hackman - Jeff Fahey - Mark Harman
running time : 3 hours 9 minutes
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan, this epic version of the legendary western sheriff-gunslinger's life story stars Kevin Costner as Earp, who lived from 1848 to 1929. Growing up on a farm in Iowa, Earp tries to run away to join the Union Army in the Civil War, but he is turned away because of his youth. Instead, he studies law and marries Urilla Sutherland (Annabeth Gish). But Urilla dies of typhoid fever before they can have children. Earp grows despondent and descends into drinking and petty thievery, but his father Nicholas (Gene Hackman) finds him, sobers him up, and sets him straight. Earp becomes a buffalo hunter and a close companion of Bat Masterson (Tom Sizemore) and his brother Ed (Bill Pullman). With his brothers, Virgil (Michael Madsen) and Morgan (Linden Ashby), Earp sets out to clean up the violence plagued towns of the old West — by using his own guns to settle scores. Earp takes up with Mattie Blaylock (Mare Winningham), a drug addict and prostitute, then discards her for actress Josie Marcus (Joanna Going). In Tombstone, Arizona, the Earp brothers and their comrade Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid), who is plagued by tuberculosis and a compulsion for gambling, meet their match in a ruthless gang led by Ike Clanton (Jeff Fahey).

Released in theaters at a robust 195 minutes, Wyatt Earp ballooned to 212 for its video release. For those familiar with Costner and the "prestige projects" Dances With Wolves encouraged him to do, this should be no surprise. As producer and star, Costner partners up with writer/director Kasdan to deliver a Wyatt Earp movie with high production values, but very little sustained drama. Each dusty town looks exactly as it should, and the camera doesn't miss a splendid detail. But the story itself has little arc, advancing through a series of unconnected and unexplained scenes, few of which contain rousing moments. In fact, the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral begins with no fanfare, and it's about as exciting as watching paint dry. Certainly, Kasdan and Costner's project was to produce a darker, more historically accurate epic, featuring a grumpier Earp than had appeared in Tombstone, the more upbeat action-adventure version of the story released a year earlier. A surly Earp may be truer to history, but in Costner's stiff hands, it slows the pace and deadens the film. Furthermore, the relationships between characters are so strained that the whole movie starts to mope along with him. For a movie of such bloated length, it's surprisingly underdeveloped. The viewer knows little about Earp's brothers, lovers, or enemies, all of whom are just about equally disagreeable. In its design details, Wyatt Earp does carry a badge of authenticity, but it doesn't do much else to earn the viewer's affections. Instead, it serves as a preview of Costner epic misfires to come (Waterworld in 1995, The Postman in 1997).