New Wyatt Earp TV Show

Travis Fimmel, who played Ragnar Lothbrok on History Channel’s Vikings, has made his departure and is ready to take on new projects. This has resulted in a potential Wyatt Earp anthology show to be produced, starring Fimmel, who has also pitched the show and is helping to get it made. There are no dates set yet, though the latest guesses have it looking like it could start production as soon as he completes a current short-film project he’s working on. It’s important to keep in mind that many shows and movies are bandied about and then die a slow death before ever being made into something real. Fimmel has good relationships with History Channel and those behind the scenes there, so the prognosis is on the positive side of things, but until production starts and cameras are rolling, we have to simply wait with fingers crossed.

The idea, as reported so far, is to introduce Wyatt Earp to the western frontier, primarily in Kansas, and especially in Dodge city. The show will build to the events of the Tombstone shootout and be a work up about how the man came to be who he was, and how he came to that moment. Along the way there will be focus on the people in Wyatt’s life and the associations he held. Friendships with fellow dangerous men like Bat and Doc will be included, and, with a little luck, perhaps we could even see a screen version of Luke Short.

There’s a couple of pluses and minuses that can be assessed even at this early stage. For one, Travis Fimmel has a good look for Wyatt Earp. I haven’t seen him with a swooping mustache yet, but just his eyes and general face shape seem to belie a touch of the stoic gunman. He has expressed his reasons for wanting to see this made, and while I don’t know that it qualifies as a “passion project”, he does carry some level of personal interest in seeing it get done, and that can keep the fires burning for a sustained period of time, rather than seeing it smoke out right away. In short, Fimmel’s participation as both actor and producer should help to make this produced and be decent quality.

On the flip side of things, Hollywood seems to never really understand history, and when they don’t understand history they seem to think they can hide the fact by filling in with lots of cheesy tropes that they think are true to the time. The show is planned to be a History Channel project, so this can offer some hope, but even History Channel sometimes seems to be remiss at presenting accurate history. Additionally, everyone seems to have their own take on Wyatt Earp. This is because he was a fairly complex man who lived a complex life. Some will say that he was a thief and pimp, others will argue that he was an upright officer who valued life. Most all would be able to back up their conviction with solid evidence. Like I say, it was a complex life.

Where this element of complexity becomes an issue is when people try to tell the tale. Too often Wyatt is either unfairly vilified, or unaccountably praised. It’s true that in life he was much more often on the side of right, but it’s become the more contemporary trend to sensationalisticly pick over the darker periods of the mans life and slap the label of bad guy on him. The reason this is relevant to this show is because Fimmel states his reason for wanting to do this project is that he is fascinated by peoples scandalous journey’s into infamy. This sounds like a predisposed notion to cast Earp as a villain, and we don’t need another “Doc” (1972).

It’s still very early, so no judgments should be made at this point, but to do justice to a complex man living a complex life it would be best to avoid pre-labeling him as one thing or another. Fimmel said he’s fascinated by the journey, so let’s hope that means they really investigate it and do it intelligently, and fairly.

Tombstone (1993)

Let’s all say it together: I’m you’re Huckleberry

Ok, now with that out of the way we can begin…

It’s been almost twenty-five years since Tombstone’s release and still it remains as an oft-quoted piece of easily recognizable Americana. It’s hard to find a person who even moderately enjoys westerns and hasn’t already seen the movie, so I don’t see any need to offer a review and critique, but instead, let’s just talk about it.

Tombstone was the first major movie to get mustaches right! This is a huge thing for me. As much as I love the old classics, and the old TV shows, I can never get past how clean shaven and pretty everyone was. Tombstone unapologetically hoisted upon the un-expecting American movie-going public a whole cast of men with testosterone laced sweeping ‘staches. And upper-lip coiffing was only the beginning. From this bold point the creators set forth to bring us one of the most accurate historical westerns we’ve seen.

True, some will highlight this or that element that isn’t accurate, but movie makers have to be allowed to be succinct in pulling together certain moments in order to get the point across when the alternative is to leave significant elements out altogether. But the amount of things that Tombstone gets right overrides any petty nitpicking of details that the average movie goers wouldn’t be aware of, anyway. Probably the only way to be able to get more accurately detailed would be if they were to make a week long mini-series of the whole ordeal; which would be a welcome endeavor, to my way of thinking.

Tombstone is the western for a generation. In the late 60’s Clint Eastwood teamed with Sergio Leone and re-presented westerns, changing people’s attitudes for a whole generation. Until Tombstone came along Eastwood’s spaghetti westerns were considered template of what westerns had come to mean for the world at large. But Tombstone came along and did the same thing, changing people’s notions of what westerns should look like, and their characters should act.

People like Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo illuminated a truth about the gambling, gun-slinging men of those wild days. Wyatt and Virgil and Morgan gave us a real insight to what lawing was really like, and the challenges facing a society working hard to establish itself. Yes, these elements have been done before in westerns, but never with the accuracy and sleek style of Tombstone. It’s mix of history lessons with cool appeal imbedded itself in the minds of American consciousness.

Now, nearly twenty-five years since it’s original release, we can hope that someone is yet again up to the challenge and present us with another cinematic marvel that embodies all that Americans have loved about westerns, and define it for this generation, giving new viewers a reason to be awed by the west and the men and women who lived it.