Wyatt Earp FilmsWilliam M. WehrbeinDavid J. WishartProject TeamKatherine WalterLaura WeaklyNicholas Swiercek2011egp.fil.066Encyclopedia of the Great PlainsUniversity of Nebraska–LincolnCenter for Digital Research in the Humanities319 Love LibraryUniversity of Nebraska–LincolnLincoln, NE 68588-4100cdrh@unlnotes.unl.edu2011
William M. Wehrbein. "Wyatt Earp Films." In David J. Wishart, ed. Encyclopedia of the Great Plains. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004. 281-282.2008-02-12Nicholas SwiercekModel Encoding
WYATT EARP FILMS
Wyatt Earp, itinerant lawman, gambler, and
saloon keeper, was born in 1848 and died in
1929. He served as marshal in several towns in
Kansas, but his legendary status rests on an
incident in Tombstone, Arizona, that lasted
no more than half a minute.
Besides having his own television series, the
character Wyatt Earp appears in about twenty
motion pictures. In some, nothing more than
the character name is used, while in others,
Earp is only a minor figure. But four wellknown
films purport to tell the history of Wyatt
Earp. Although the events in these films are
inconsistent, all of them emphasize the close
relationship between the Earp brothers (Wyatt,
Morgan, Virgil, and James), the unlikely
friendship between Wyatt and the notorious
alcoholic and tubercular gambler John "Doc"
Holliday, the stormy relationship between
Holliday and his female companion, and Wyatt's
own romance with a strange and beautiful
woman who arrives on a stagecoach.
My Darling Clementine (1946) is the most
economical of the four, beginning when the
Earp brothers reach Tombstone and ending
immediately after the famous gunfight. Furthermore,
the shootout involves only two
Earps and Holliday versus four Clantons.
From its opening shot of Monument Valley
this film is unmistakably a John Ford Western,
with its emphasis not on action but on the
transition from wilderness and disorder to
civilized society. Henry Fonda's Earp has a dry
sense of humor and is even a bit playful. While
the gunfight that destroys the power of the
Clanton family is certainly the climax, the
turning point in the film is the dance held at
the construction site of a church, emphasized
by the long tracking shots of Earp and Clementine
(Cathy Downs) walking arm in arm to
the camp meeting while the hymn "Shall We
Gather at the River" can be heard in the background.
At the end of the film the surviving
Earps head to California, while Clementine
chooses to remain in Tombstone to organize
its first school.
Frankie Lane sings a Dimitri Tiomkin ballad
over the credits of John Sturges's
Gunfight
at the OK Corral (1957) that comments on the
action throughout the film. The first half recounts
the story of Earp's developing friendship
with Holliday in Fort Griffin, Texas, and
Dodge City. Burt Lancaster is a stolid if somewhat
prissy Wyatt Earp who disapproves of
the near sadomasochistic relationship between
Holliday (Kirk Douglas) and his longsuffering
companion, Kate (Jo Van Fleet).
Their emotionally charged relationship is a
stark contrast to the rather dull and unconvincing
romance between Earp and a woman
gambler (Rhonda Fleming) he initially disdains.
Accompanied by Holliday, Wyatt leaves
her to join his brothers in Tombstone, where
town marshal Virgil is threatened by a gang of
cattle rustlers. After young Jimmy Earp (Martin
Milner) is ambushed, the three surviving
Earps are joined by Holliday in that final
showdown with six members of the Clanton
and McLaury gang.
After a montage of historical footage, clips
from
The Great Train Robbery (1903), and
scenes of the cast shot in grainy black and
white, Tombstone (1993), directed by George P.
Cosmatos, opens as Wyatt and his wife join
his two brothers and their wives in Arizona to
seek their fortunes. Although they are financially
successful, the lawlessness of Tombstone
leads Virgil and Morgan to take up the badge
again, over Wyatt's objections. Conflict with
the outlaw gang known as the Cowboys culminates
in an especially quick and ugly gunfight,
with three Earp brothers joined by
Holliday blasting away at five Clantons and
McLaurys at point-blank range. Surviving
members of the Cowboys ambush Virgil and
kill Morgan, convincing the Earp family to
leave Tombstone. But before heading to California,
Wyatt secures an appointment as U.S.
marshal and heads a posse of loyal followers in
an orgy of revenge killings. While Kurt Russell's
Earp possesses a cruel streak, he has a
rather tender relationship with the deteriorating
Holliday (played by Val Kilmer in a flamboyant
performance).
Released only nine months after Tombstone,
Lawrence Kasdan's
Wyatt Earp (1994)
takes time telling its story. The film flashes
back to the cornfields of Iowa, where Earp's
father (Gene Hackman) instills in his many
children the primacy of family over all other
human relationships. After adventures in California
and Wyoming Territory, young Wyatt
settles in Lamar, Missouri, to raise a family
and read law. When his wife dies of typhoid, a
despondent Earp (Kevin Costner) falls into
alcoholism and crime until his father arranges
for his release from jail. Jumping bail, Wyatt
heads west to become a lawman in Wichita
and Dodge City, where he is fired for excessive
brutality. The story of the Earp family in Arizona
parallels rather closely the Tombstone
version, but this Wyatt is even colder and
more aloof, his life driven primarily by fate
rather than choice.
After years of traveling the real Wyatt Earp
settled in Southern California and in his later
years often hung out with former cowboys
who had become extras and wranglers for
Hollywood Westerns. When he died both William
S. Hart and Tom Mix were pallbearers at
his funeral.
See alsoCITIES AND TOWNS: Cattle Towns / IMAGES AND ICONS: Earp, Wyatt; Holliday, Doc.
William M. Wehrbein
Nebraska Wesleyan UniversityFaragher, John Mack. "The Tale of Wyatt Earp." In Past Imperfect: History According to the Movies, edited by Ted
Mico, John Miller-Monzon, and David Rubel. New York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1995: 154–61.Parks, Rita. The Western Hero in Film and Television: Mass Media Mythology.
Ann Arbor MI: UMI Research Press, 1982.