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Wyatt Earp (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Wyatt Earp (Two-Disc Special Edition)

List Price: $26.99
Your Price: $21.59
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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "One picture is NOT worth 1,000 words." Costner
Review: Considering al the variations on the Wyatt Earp ledgend that Hollywood has pushed on us, this is at least an attempt to tell the man's story minus the crap. Compared to "Tombstone" which relies on traditional Western habituals like guys beating eachother up for no reason, this movie is pretty tame. But, after all, Wyatt Earp was just a man caught in his time who died in Los Angeles, with William S. Hart as a pawl bearer. Watch it for the story.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Western of All Time!
Review: Kevin Costner's best work ever is overshadowed by the outstanding performance of Dennis Quaid as Doc Holiday. If you like true to life westerns, the story of Wyatt Earp is the most fascinating ever. Wish it would come out on DVD!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cameron McKinney
Review: I think that this is a great movie.And anyone who likes cowboys or great lawmen (Wyatt Earp ext.) should see this film. It's no doubt my favorite movie. And something else that makes it good is the fact that it's based on the life of Wyatt Earp himself. Kevin Costner played the role of Wyatt Earp with an uncante skill. I love this film and would recomend it to anyone!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good Biography
Review: "Wyatt Earp" is a very solid (though somewhat innacurate) biography of the legendary figure. "Tombstone" is a better Hollywood Western Shoot-Em-Up, "Earp" is a more understated drama. But any Western made after 1980 HAS to have Eastwood or Sam Elliot in it to be a real classic-- Michael Madsen is a much better gangster than cowboy.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wonderful Western, Earp is a facinating character !!!!!
Review: Much that has been written about this film is extreamly negitive. It flopped at the Box office and critics tore it apart. Well, I love it with a lot of admiration. It is a great film, great acting, action, set design, cinematagraphy, and James Newton Howard's wonderful score makes it great viewing.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Truly a Great Western
Review: Wyatt Earp is the best film ever concerning the life of this famous frontier figure. It covers his life, from youth through the highly publicized (at the time) vendetta following the OK Corral shootout, revealing both his virtues and his faults. One of the wonderful things about this film, as is characteristic of Lawrence Kasdan westerns, is the way the viewer feels he/she is seeing the Old West as it actually was. One famous western film opens with "Texas 1868", but the scenery is not found in Texas, the Colt handguns are from a decade later, and the Winchester rifles from 1892. Not so with Kasdan westerns. Everything was carefully researched to fit the period(s) and the attention to detail comes through. The cinematography is terrific and leaves one feeling as if they have taken a time machine beck to the previous century. Kevin Costner does a great job as Wyatt and Dennis Quaid is absolutely incredible as Doc Holliday. All the actors are good, but the ladies are especially to be praised for the contributions they bring to the story, portraying interpersonal and family dynamics of pioneer women. Some historical facts were altered, like the shootings of Virgil and Morgan in the same night (actually they were 3 months apart) for the flow of the story-line. Overall, this is one of the great Westerns and deserves a special place in Western film history.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Expanded version improves on original epic.
Review: When I saw the epic "Wyatt Earp" in the movie theaters, it was about 190 minutes long, and although I liked it, I couldn't honestly give it more than 3 stars. This video expanded version (212 minutes), added greatly to my enjoyment of this film in that it made the movie more seamless. Although a bit dull in places (especially the first hour), the film picks up speed and impact. I found all the performances very good, especially Dennis Quaid's interpretation of 'Doc' Holliday (although I must admit I liked Val Kilmer's interpretation better in "Tombstone" -- I think he had better lines). Actually, Quaid looked very much like real Holiday.

Richly textured, "Wyatt Earp" has a lot going for it (accuracy not withstanding). I don't know if there will ever be a definitive version on this man's life, but I think this film probably comes as close as we are going to get. While it was a little difficult to sit in the theater for more than 3 hours, this film should do very well in the video market. Between 1 and 10, the expanded version of "Wyatt Earp"gets a marginal 8.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A classic bio of a man who let nothing stand in his way.
Review: Wyatt Earp is one of the most intriguing films of it's kind. Although Costner gives a good performance as Wyatt, I would have to give the supporting cast members the 'golden statue'! Dennis Quaid does an impressive Doc Holliday, Michael Madsen plays a dark and sexy Virgil Earp, Isabella Rosellini plays one of the least seen, yet most remembered characters as big nosed Kate, and Bill Pullman and Tom Sizemore play the irrestible Masterson brothers to a tee! Wyatt Earp delivers action, suspense, romance, history, and so much more. Bravo!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not accurate, but a good one just the same.
Review: If your wanting to see a truly accurate portrayal of Wyatt, keep waiting as it hasn't been made yet (and knowing Hollywood it never will). But seeing Dennis Quaid's portrayal of Doc Holliday is worth it alone. I've heard people say this is more accurate than Tombstone but each movie has about the same amount of goofs. It's incredible that a movie made on an epic scale couldn't figure out a way to show Virgil and Morgans' shootings on different nights! (They happened three months apart)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Costner's interpretation of the Stuart Lake biography
Review: It is ironic that Wyatt Earp, who lived long enough to be a movie studio consultant, never saw his own story rendered into film. Since Earp's death at the age of 84, there have been many such movies, and he has been portrayed by Henry Fonda (_My Darling Clementine_), Burt Lancaster (_Gunfight at O.K. Corral_), James Garner (_Hour of the Gun_ and _Sunset_), Kurt Russell (_Tombstone_) and many others. Regrettably, all of those films attempt to improve upon what is already a fascinating story.

This dark, biographical film is only three removes from the man, Wyatt Earp, having passed first from Earp to his biographer, Stuart Lake, and now through Kevin Costner's interpretation. I suspect that we still have the essential Wyatt Earp in this film, particularly as compared to efforts such as the cartoonish _Tombstone_ which was released at about the same time.

Unlike other reviewers, I find the film plodding at the start with the real interest peaking after Earp becomes a lawman. I would also note that if the real-life Josephine Marcus was unhappy with Lake's biography, she would be horrified at the depiction of her husband in this film. But then, Josephine was devoted to maintaining the two-dimensional lawman/hero image of her husband.

Costner portrays Earp as what he claimed to be: a businessman. Earp brought the same pragmatic, hard-nosed approach to law enforcement that he did to his other endeavors, exuding a cold ferocity and ruthlessness that seems to have cowed opponents without the fatal use of the officially sanctioned weapon he carried. The film accurately portrays the truly minimal killing done by Earp early in his career and up to the point when the aftermath of the O.K. Corral signaled a homicidal vendetta against the enemies of the Earps.

Costner was made to play Wyatt Earp, but Dennis Quaid nearly steals the show with his interpretation of Doc Holliday. The first meeting between the two is one of the best scenes in the film.

So far as there ever can be an accurate depiction of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, it is presented in this film, as is the aftermath. With cinematography reminiscent of _Dances with Wolves_, and an excellent score, this movie presents Earp as a human, three dimensional character of flesh and blood.

This film deserves better consideration than it has received from critics heretofore. Taken in context and without the misplaced desire for another _Dances with Wolves_, this is the definitive film on the life and times of one of the West's legendary figures.


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