Wyatt Earp, by Lawrence Kasdan and with Kevin Costner in the title role, is a looong film - more than three hours. I like long films, but it helps if they're about interesting people. It's maybe more authentic than My Darling Clementine was, but where's the story? This film is pretty much, Earp lost his young wife which turned him into a grumpy old man. Then he shot some people. Okay... That's it? He meets Doc Holiday 85 minutes into the film, and for the first time there is some real energy in the film. You can't help but feel you'd rather follow Dennis Quaid as Doc, and see what happens to him. There's the standard Western scene of a guy buying a round of drinks for everybody, and then one guy, here Earp, refusing, causing a big fight. I wonder - did that actually happen in the Wild West, even once? The music, by James Newton Howard, is just far too pompous. It's a Western, put in a fiddle!
I,somehow,found John Ford's take on the Wyatt Earp saga more close to my heart. Romantic? Yes. Fabricated? Certainly. But what fun!
ReplyDeleteYes, I'll always go with "My Darling Clementine".
Agreed. Gunfight at The O.K. Corral, with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas is not bad, as well.
ReplyDeleteAnd "Tombstone" is a bit silly, but very entertaining.
ReplyDeleteHei Roy! I watched Tombstone once many years ago and I remember I didn't like it, but I don't remember WHY I didn't like it. Yes, maybe because it's silly. The dialogues didn't ring true for a Western. Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday was good, though.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's more of a movie-movie than a movie about the old west. And it works because it doesn't take itself very seriously.
ReplyDeleteI should re-watch it. Wyatt Earp, the film, took itself TOO seriously.
ReplyDelete