The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp is tough show to assess. There’s a lot to say about it, both good and bad. I want to like this show, and I do enjoy it, but I have to be in the right mood or I can’t sit through it.
The problem is that the show uses so many factual items that it makes it a lot of fun. Hearing names like Ben and Billy Thompson, or Shanghai Pierce, as well as having Bat Masterson with Wyatt, are all a lot of fun to a die-hard Earp enthusiast. But then when you start seeing how much they mangle all these ingredients, it can be a little tough to take.
Unfortunately, this mangling of elements isn’t what makes the show hard to watch. It’s actually the invisible force-field they put up around Wyatt as he magnificently hovers through the west, righting any wrong he may encounter, with nary a scratch ever suffered.
It’s easy to see why there was such a wave against Wyatt building in the early 60’s. This show would probably be amazing to a child, but as one gets older they would more and more realize the overstated attributes of Wyatt the Good. It’s of course not Wyatt Earp’s fault that the show about him was done in such a way, but it has caused a lot of people to lash out at the man as a result of the show.
Biographer Stuart Lake was on board as the show’s historical consultant, but clearly the show producers wanted to go even bigger and better than Lake’s already exaggerated biography. What we get as a result is a fun, but overly-simplified, overly-powerful lawman that is better consumed by the less critical thinking viewer (children, primarily).
The show has it’s value, and can be fun to watch, but keep in mind it’s not going to push the hero to new limits of self-challenge.
The show can be watched on Amazon Prime, or ordered on DVD. Just follow the link below to be taken to the IMDB page.
Handy With A Gun...! 