Cheap Wyatt Earp (Video) (Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman) (Lawrence Kasdan) Price

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Customer Reviews of Wyatt Earp

BUY THIS DVD!
At last Warner Bros. has seen fit to release Kasdan's masterpiece on DVD. Sadly and inexplicably this movie was overlooked at the time of it's release. This superbly written,beautifully played piece is the definitive account of the life of a western archetype achieving everything that previous Earp accounts have failed to with the possible exception of Hour Of The Gun. Avoiding the ludicrous romanticism of My Darling Clementine, or the appaulingly laughable Lancaster/Douglas fiasco, Gunfight At OK Corral, Kasdan's portrayal presents these characters as the contradictory individuals they undoubtedly were and the actors and actresses do a tremendous job of bringing them to life. Costner is utterly believable as a complex man who, influenced by his father's belief in the family unit, almost destroys the very family he is trying to protect. We see him go from an idealistic young man to becoming a resolute, serious individual as a result of circumstances often beyond his control which serve to form his hardened personality and tunnel vision. Dennis Quaid is superb as Doc Holliday and presents a real person rather than Val Kilmer's amusing charicature in the over rated t.v movie-quality Tombstone. JoBeth Williams, Catherine O'Hara and Isabella Rosselini are great in their portrayals of the role of women in the west. Each of the actresses in this movie portrays a distinctly different character never resorting to cookie-cutter characterisations but the one thing they all have in common is, true to the period, women were expected to be supportive but not to have minds of their own; No revisionist western this.
Technically the movie looks and sounds great. Kasdan creates a visual style without being heavy handed and we are presented with a west in various stages of development from shanty towns to the developing, lawless Dodge City and Tombstone where law and order are trying to take hold even when the "law" is being enforced in a very subjective manner, again there is a lot of gray in this movie.
Finally I have to praise James Newton Howard for his wonderful score which, if it were isolated on the DVD would make this a 6 star release.
Apparently deleted scenes are being included on a second disc. An expanded lazer disc was released some years ago which restored this footage to the film, adding even more depth to the characters and as a result an even better movie.
Please buy this movie and, in doing so, encourage Warner's to release the expanded version in the near future. You will not be disappointed.

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Wyatt Earp was a Man
A lot of people forget that Wyatt Earp was a real man who had more courage and integrity then most people you will ever know. I have read almost every book about Wyatt Earp and have visted the town of Tombstone 9 times in as many years. This movie is a pretty accurate portrayl of that man and to now have it finally come out on DVD is a long overdue achievement. Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid (Doc Holliday) do a superb job, although the supporting cast has a lot to be desired. This movie differs from the movie "Tombstone", in that it portrays a lot of Wyatt's life from being a teenager during the Civil War to his and Josie's adventure to the Alaskan gold fields near the turn of the century. "Tombstone" deals primarily with the happenings in Wyatt's life in that one town, which ironically dealt with less than 2 years of his long adventurous life. I liked this film because it dealt with an approximate 35 year time span of Wyatt's life, and the movie is long enough to dipict this. There are a lot of historical accuracies in the movie which include proper representations of people, places and dialogue such as what is said on the way to and during the gunfight. The inaccuracies are easily overlooked such as Virgil being shot in the wrong arm and the reference to "Johnny behind the Duece" as "Tommy." All in all though, an excellent film about the life of a great man, Wyatt Earp. This will be remembered as a classic.

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Western Classic
No doubt this movie is a western classic. I saw it years ago and loved it. I don't have anything negative to say about the movie itself. I almost picked up this 2 disc set until I learned it's a cut down or edited version. Why is the complete 212 min version only available on VHS ? That's just stupid. This is a great movie worthy of a director's cut edition maybe 3 disc set? I'd spend the extra cash on a deeper edition, until then I'll save my money. Please, please release the FULL version on DVD!