KSL Movie Show review: ‘Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War’ was exhilarating
Aug 26, 2024, 11:40 AM
There have been 11 movies made about the legendary Wyatt Earp but nothing is as complete as "Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War."
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SALT LAKE CITY — Having lived in the West my whole life and having spent my formative years on a cattle ranch, the stories of the old Wild West have always fascinated me.
Hearing the local cowboys spin tales of their adventures at spring brandings or listening to their good-natured ribbing of each other, made me realize the bond of friendship and hard work meant everything to them.
Perhaps this is why I took such an interest in Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp.
He was both a legend and occasionally a bit of a scoundrel but he was never boring.
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This new Netflix docudrama, “Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War” goes into so much more detail.
It has a great mix of scholarly insight, engaging re-enactments —not just a series of old photographs— and the down-home narration of Ed Harris. The combination was mesmerizing. I hope any student or fan of those times will find this six-part series as exhilarating as I did.
At the center of it all, or at least the jumping-off point, was the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral on the outskirts of Tombstone, Arizona on Oct. 26, 1881.
I’m sure many of you have seen a couple of films on the subject. Most notable, are 1993’s “Tombstone” with Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, followed in 1994 by “Wyatt Earp” with Kevin Costner and Dennis Quaid.
My personal favorite though is the John Ford-directed “My Darling Clementine” in 1946 with Henry Fonda and Victor Mature.
There have been eleven movies made, one an animated comedy (odd) and at least one TV series, so Hollywood definitely took notice, but nothing is as complete as this new Netflix series.
Have I mentioned it’s really good?
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The filmmakers take the theme that the O.K. Corral gunfight was just the beginning of a smoldering problem between the Earps; Virgil, Wyatt and Morgan, and the Clantons, led by Ike Clanton.
There’s so much more background on how Clanton’s “Cowboys” were like a Mafia mob, rustling cattle from Mexico, robbing stagecoaches full of silver and killing anyone who stood in their way.
Also misunderstood, was the town of Tombstone, which was actually a thriving, upscale, wealthy city due to the vast amounts of silver in them thar hills. It even had an oyster bar —think about that for a minute— in the middle of the desert.
The Cowboys were in control through fear and money, with Ike as the mob boss. Even the town lawman, Sheriff Behan, was in the back pocket of Ike and the Cowboys.
So while Behan was the county sheriff, it was actually Wyatt’s older brother Virgil who was the federal marshall, with Wyatt and Morgan as deputies.
There are so many new and interesting revelations that come out of this series. I took pages of notes and look forward to going back and studying them and these episodes all over again.
“WYATT EARP AND THE COWBOY WAR” (A) Rated TV-14 Starring narrator Ed Harris, Tim Fellingham, Ariel Elias, Edward Franklin and Jack Gordon. Co-written and directed by Patrick Reams (“Let’s Write a Story” “The Men Who Built America”) NETFLIX series, six episodes, each under an hour.
