There may not a figure from the American West that Hollywood has revisited so frequently, and Kasdan made the ambitious choice to follow his story from his youth, and chronicle the forces that forged his courage and hardened his soul. His scenario opens on a teenaged Kansas farmboy ready to bolt the homestead and join his older brothers in the Civil War, until his stern attorney father (Gene Hackman) reminds him that duty begins with family. Still, the elder Earp is hardly immune from wanderlust himself, and Wyatt gets his first taste of the frontier when the family makes a postwar pilgrimage to California by covered wagon.
The now-grown Wyatt (Kevin Costner) returns east for a clerkship with his judge grandfather, and to woo and wed his childhood sweetheart (Annabeth Gish). The young couple's idyll is dashed when, carrying their unborn child, she dies of typhoid. The devastated Earp drifts into alcoholism and thievery, narrowly avoiding hanging after jumping bail posted by his father. Making his way back to the territories, Wyatt supports himself through buffalo hunting, taking as associates the brothers Bat and Ed Masterson (Tom Sizemore, Bill Pullman).
Earp finds his true calling when he brings a rowdy drunk to heel and gets a deputy's commission for his trouble. His reputation quickly grows to where he's hired to bring order to the famously corrupt Dodge City, which he does in short order with the aid of his brothers and the Mastersons. During this time, Earp also made a friend and ally of the notorious dentist-turned-gambler Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid).
Wyatt presently sets his sights on the town of Tombstone, Arizona, hopeful of the prospective security that its burgeoning silver mining could provide for his extended family. It isn't long before the Earps return to the way of the gun, and the stage is set for the familiar confrontation with the Clantons at the O.K. Corral. Costner's patented earnestness suits the role of the hardened, loyal marshal, and the attention lavished on the project by Kasdan and crew is obvious. While the end result is diverting, it borrows far too many cues from the works of Ford and others to create a genuinely lasting impression.
The supporting cast is both large and gifted, so much so there isn't enough screen time to go around, even in a film of this length. Standouts include Mare Winningham as the prostitute who becomes Wyatt's common-law wife; Joanna Going as the Jewish actress who'd ultimately wind up as his lifemate; Catherine O'Hara and JoBeth Williams as the sisters-in-law resentful of his hold upon their husbands; and Isabella Rossellini, ultimately underused as Holliday's woman, Big Nosed Kate. Of the supporting turns, Quaid's was easily the most flavorful. Frighteningly gaunt--the actor purportedly dropped 40 pounds in order to portray the tubercular gunslinger-- Quaid managed to walk off with every scene in which he appeared.
Warners opted to split the presentation of Wyatt Earp across two discs, and it was a commendable decision, as it freed up enough bitrate to do justice to the visual aspects that comprise the film's primary virtues. From Owen Roizman's lush cinematography to Ida Random's period-perfect production design, the crew's efforts are captured in a strikingly crisp 2:35.1 widescreen transfer. The Dolby Surround 5.1 audio does justice to the considerable gunplay and James Newton Howard's affecting score.
For a multi-disc presentation, the extras package on Wyatt Earp has a disappointingly sparse feel. The menu is headed by a pair of making-of documentaries: It Happened That Way, a 14-minute presentation prepared for the DVD release, and Wyatt Earp: Walk With A Legend, a 22-minute TV special created to promote the '94 theatrical release. The new documentary seems to have been largely cobbled together with unused interview footage shot for the latter, which, in turn, is pretty much a standard puff piece with cast and crew sharing war stories. Next up are 11 "lifted scenes" which run an aggregate 18 minutes, ostensibly the footage contained in Kasdan's 212-minute director's cut of the film. It's somewhat odd that Warner would elect not to simply present the longer cut for this special edition. The theatrical trailer completes the add-ons.
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by Jay S. Steinberg
