Factual error: Throughout the entire film the wrong holsters are used. They are wearing "drop loop" holsters but they weren't invented until the 1930s.
Wyatt Earp (1994)
1 review
Directed by: Lawrence Kasdan
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Kevin Costner, David Andrews
Genres: Action, Adventure, Biography, Drama, History, Romance, Western
Your rating
Average rating
(6 votes)
I watched this movie on Netflix.
This is the lesser known movie about Wyatt Earp and his group that came out the year after Tombstone. I'm not sure if this was another case of twin movies like Dante's Peak and Inferno or Armageddon and Deep Impact, but it's still a striking coincidence for these to come out so close together.
and I can see why Tombstone became so popular and yet I hear almost nobody talk about this particular film. I didn't even know about it myself till they talked about it on the CinemaSins podcast.
Had it on my list of movies to watch and saw it was on Netflix and leaving before the end of the month (September 2025) so decided to watch it before it left that platform. They have the 3 hour extended cut on Netflix, so was quite a long watch. Especially the way I watch movies over several days, a few minutes when getting ready for work, and a few minutes after I get back home.
This movie is pretty good. Granted it's not as good as Tombstone but is like an interesting companion piece to that film. Showing events from a more broad range of time and a different angle. Somethings even play out fairly differently between the two films. Almost hilariously being the way Doc Holiday kills Johnny Ringo. In Tombstone it's this big built up thing with the famous "I'm your huckleberry" scene. Where as in Wyatt Earp, there's barely any interaction between the two and in the last shoot out of the movie Doc just calls out Johnny's name before shooting him off a rock. And that's it.
Still though, Denis Quaid is one of my favorite actors and seeing him as Doc Holiday was really cool. Though doesn't compare to seeing Kurt Russell, also one of my favorite actors, playing Wyatt Earp in the Tombstone movie.
In this film, Wyatt is played by Kevin Costner. I don't know if I'm alone in thinking this, but I feel Costner is a fairly overrated actor. He's good in some parts but... he's one of those actors I never feel like I'm seeing the character he's playing, I always just see Kevin Costner. Even in Water World.
And with this movie being 3 hours and resting on his charisma... or lack there of, it gets kinda dull.
It's not a bad movie, but it's not amazing or anything.
I'd say this is a pretty good movie to check out at least once. I don't know if it's better to watch the 3 hour cut like I did from Netflix or the smaller versions of the film. But yeah, watch it once, then stick to the Tombstone movie as the far superior version of this story.
3 stars, it's OK but not great. Not bad.
Mistake Status: Caught one in my first viewing. Decided to go back and add pictures and time codes to other mistakes already here and a few corrections, and in the process spotted 2 more mistakes.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: The claim that "drop loop" holsters weren't invented until the 1930s is incorrect. The style often called the "Mexican Loop" (or Mexican Drop-Loop) holster was already in use by the mid-1870s to early 1880s, especially in the American Southwest and northern Mexico. These rigs were worn over cartridge belts and featured loops that secure the holster to the belt. https://cochiseleather.com/western-gun-leather-history.aspx.
Doc Holliday: All of you can kiss my rebel dick. (01:37:38)