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Wyatt Earp (1994)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
5/15
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 in this dull Western picture. Somebody should've reminded the director that he's no John Ford.
It's not I mind the length but rather the direction. Watching Wyatt Earp for three plus hours, I had been asking
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 hate 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 to be 90 minutes or less, for Pete's sake.