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Wyatt Earp (1994)

Rate: 3
Viewed: 5/15

Wyatt
5/15: The first of three epic flops in Kevin Costner's oeuvre, Wyatt Earp is an overwrought, poorly constructed Western picture that's annihilated in every way possible when compared to Tombstone.

Lawrence Kasdan, not Kevin Costner, is the director, and with the exception of The Accidental Tourist, he hadn't done anything significant since he ripped off the story from Return of the Secaucus 7 for The Big Chill. His failure is showing big time here. Somebody should've reminded him that he's no John Ford.

It's not that I mind the length but rather the direction. Watching Wyatt Earp for three plus hours, I asked myself, "Is this movie getting anywhere?" because it never seemed to. There must be dozens of characters, and I've had a hard time keeping track of them. In fact, I always forget Wyatt has two (or three or five) brothers, and I'm unable to remember their names.

My problem with the acting is the artificialness. Dennis Quaid's performance is the worst. Having lost over thirty pounds for the role, he looks desperate in trying to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Hence, it's best to go with Val Kilmer of Tombstone. Nobody is going to top that one. Kevin Costner is actually okay, but I hated it when he acted like a retard as if he's in a porno film at the beginning before being transformed into a mature moustachioed adult. Gene Hackman looks like a sell-out after winning the Oscar for Unforgiven because he's above this dreck.

The others try too hard by making every moment bigger and more forced than it has to be. The longer the movie goes on, the more fake the whole thing feels. That's why the ending, when the titular character said, "Some people say it didn't happen that way," best sums up Wyatt Earp because most of what's shown has been fictional. Obviously, the big fanfare is Tombstone, Arizona. Yet the movie never explains what's going on. It's rather about bad blood leading to the gunfight. Okay, so...that's it?

All in all, there are countless Western pictures better than Wyatt Earp, and if it's going to suck, please just make the running length 90 minutes or less, for Pete's sake.