A near flop
When I am asked to sit down and watch an almost four hour movie, I want to be impressed. I was not impressed with Wyatt Earp, though I did enjoy it and would recommend it to others. The film suffers most from Kevin Costner. Here's a guy who has thought it his calling to make a string of 3 to 4 hour movies. Postman, Waterworld, Dances with Wolves, and Wyatt Earp add up to a bunch of time, and a big so what. All of the movies are good and enjoyable, and equally not great.

What must Costner have been thinking? I can imagine. "Well, I've made so many long, long movies, but none of them have truly been westerns. Sure, The Postman was close, and many of my movie buddies were in it with me. Dances.... had Native Americans and the U.S. Cavalry, but it was soooo esoterically lost that it would be hard to call it western. So, I felt a need, a desire, a calling to make a western, so I jumped when Wyatt Earp was conceived." Surely, he knew that Tombstone was in the making. Or was he so OUT of touch that he just didn't see it coming. Was it the pressure of making a tv movie that caused him so much stress? Heck, he didn't even look that convincing when he portrayed Lt. Dunbar, even though we know he was actually Kevin Costner.

Dennis Quaid hands in an admirable job as Doc Holliday, but nowhere near Val Kilmer's status as a Doc Holliday. Nonetheless, he was incredible, and easily a highlight of the show. Gotta go. My eyelids are heavy, and I need to see about getting some

Wyatt rules!
Although this production goes somewhat flat after the sequence showing Wyatt as a buffalo hunter, the fault lies with the Director for trying too hard to show Earp as suddenly devoid of emotional response and empathy. In this, the movie tries a little too hard to "explain" him. The production is, however, pretty historically accurate and the revisionists don't take over the film completely.
However,the person responsible for deciding to "slick down" Costner's hair, (even when no portraits of Earp show him wearing his hair like that, and Costner's hair is too thin to look right greased down anyway)should be shot - it bugged me for the rest of the movie. The action is realistic, with out being gratuitous, and Dennis Quaid is SUPERB as Doc Holliday, the acting is generally fine, with excellent film work.
Earp was a freind of my Grandfather, who never represented him as anything but a common man, reacting to uncommon circumstances, with the honor, honesty and determination required by the times; this production remains true to the man.
Well worth the time!

Exceptional Western
I know there are detractors of both this movie and Kevin Costner but I'm not one of them. It is longer and more historically accurate than Tombstone but just as well made. It also features a more realistically stoic portrayal of Earp by Costner and an "I'm no slouch at playing Doc myself" performance by the unrecognizable Dennis Quaid who would have been the measuring stick had Val Kilmer not been otherwordly as Doc. This film also features a GREAT ensemble cast much like Tombstone and it amazes me how two separate casts can hit such a home run on the same topic. A must own if you are a western fan.

The Way It Happened
It is refreshing to see a western film done with such objectivity. The characters are real and are all that more interesting to watch because they are represented as family people who, along with performing what would become legendary deeds, are just trying to get through their everyday lives and relationships. I admire Costner's films because he keeps his characters real and leaves the epic filmaking to the cameraman and the landscape he is shooting. It is no wonder that this film is worth seeing in high definition. The extra features are informative additions and are worth watching.

Really Enjoyed This Hollywood Epic ...
I really enjoyed this, capital 'H', Hollywood historical epic film and fully expect I'll return to it from time to time. Casey
Tefertiller's book 'Wyatt Earp' helped make this epic depiction much more fun for me as I could link and look forward and back on the TONS of missing detail that the film simply hasn't the time to include. For all that, this is an outstanding movie. If you're a western/Tombstone fan, history buff, etc, get your spurs on and spend 3 hours in the 1800's. GREAT film!