User Reviews

This has turned out to be my longest review in the making, as I began watching "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" episode by episode once it began with the first story on the Encore Western Channel, estimating that to be back in June of 2016 or so. My viewing was made poignant around the third season I think, with Hugh O'Brian's passing on September 5th, 2016. Interestingly, if you catch a Western in which O'Brian appeared before this series began, it's often as a villain. Perhaps that's why, when you catch the traditional opening of each show, O'Brian is shown stepping out of the Marshal's office with that sly, 'cat that ate the canary' grin on his face, that seems to be saying, 'What am I doing here with a gig like this'? In alternate opening scenes in later seasons, O'Brian makes use of the same expression to varying degrees, so maybe it was just his way of being thankful for the role.

Stories in the series seem to be loosely based on Wyatt Earp's career as a lawman and his affiliation with characters of the Old West like Doc Holliday, the Clanton Gang, and members of his own family, like brothers Virgil and Morgan Earp. Many of the stories in the series were inspired by the real life Wyatt Earp biographer Stuart Lake, whose reputation for accuracy is more likely to be described as fictional. In fact, Hugh O'Brian has a line in Episode #1.29 - 'The Pinkertons', which seems to address this when he says - "Most of that stuff's (referring to history) just written from hearsay by men that are too lazy to dig up the facts". I thought that was pretty interesting.

Generally though, the series does an admirable job in tracing Wyatt Earp's career as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, with Season One following him from Ellsworth, Kansas, on to Wichita (5th episode), and then to Dodge City for the start of the Second Season. With O'Brian's matinée idol good looks and fine physique, it was only a matter of time before the show's producers would write him into a beefcake scene. That happened with Episode #2.39 - 'Wyatt's Love Affair'. Don't let the title of the story fool you though, O'Brian's shirt gets torn off during a fight scene against the foreman of a cattle outfit.

With all these early TV Westerns, I'm always on the lookout for celebrity names that eventually went on to bigger and better things. There weren't a lot of big names to appear in this series, some of the familiar character actors of the era who appeared in the show included Bob Steele, Gordon Jones, Harry Lauter, Glenn Strange and Richard Devon. However a few noteworthy future stars who made it into the stories included Angie Dickinson, James Coburn and Louise Fletcher.

One thing that happened regularly throughout the course of the series run was the use of the same actor for different roles in different seasons. An example would be Douglas Fowley and Myron Healey, both of whom portrayed Doc Holliday at different times. I particularly liked Fowley's version as an irascible gunman who continuously goaded Wyatt to be more forceful by killing more outlaws. Instead, Marshal Earp probably whacked as many bad guys over the head as Chuck Connors shot and killed in his own series, "The Rifleman".

With two hundred and twenty seven episodes, it would be hard to pick a favorite, but one of the more memorable ones, even if entirely made up, was one that brought a host of legendary gunmen to Wyatt's aid in a gunfight. In Episode #2.72 - 'The Time For All Good Men', Wyatt is joined by gunmen Ben Thompson, Mannen Clements, John Wesley Hardin, and Clay Allison, along with Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson, against a gang of outlaws intent on killing Earp. Not much credibility to the story, but it was cool to have all those names in one place at one time.

The final season of the show introduced the OK Corral in the first episode, and the stories built up to the famous showdown between the Earps and Doc Holliday against the Clantons and McLaurys on October 28th, 1881. The final four episodes take an interesting approach. Instead of portraying the Gunfight at the OK Corral entirely from start to finish, it's shown in a series of flashbacks based on Wyatt Earp's court testimony after the gunfight. What I found amazing was how accurately the event was portrayed from the standpoint of known, recorded history. The real deal lasted only about thirty seconds with around thirty shots fired between the two factions. Trying to keep track, I came up with counts of 35, 36 and 39 through various replays, so if you're of a mind to do so, you might give it a try yourself if the opportunity ever presents itself.

Hsving now watched all episodes on Amazon Prime, both relatively recent movies, 'Tombstone' and 'Wyatt Earp', as well as 'My Darling Clementine', and 'The Gunfight at OK Corral'; and read a biography of Earp's life, I think Hugh O'Brian's depiction of Earp well captured his character and policing method. The TV series did however, write out his love life, which the movies did not.

The depiction of the OK Corral gunfight is accurate. Of course the series as a whole is entertainment snd not history, despite dome episodes covering real events.

None of the movies mention brothers Newton, James and Warren Earp. In reality, James Earp was a bartender in the west, and Warren accompanied Wyatt on his vendetta to avenge Morgan's murder (below).

The series was a chronological depiction of Earp's police career. But a great deal happened after the OK Corral. The murder of Morgan Earp and the crippling of Virgil for a start, Doc Holliday's gunning down of Ringo and Wyatt Earp's shooting after a chase, of Curly Bill. I feel that a seventh series might have covered the aftermath. The way the last episode of series six concluded certainly suggested that more was to come.

All in all an excellent series.

Wow just started watching in 2020 some are awesome and some well. Some of the actors over act. Some screens don't seem like Wyatt Earp would be that dumb. In one episode he's trapped not a lot of ammo. And he even knows he doesn't have enough. But he just shoots away even when bad guys ain't doing a thing. But other shows even my 3 sons (19, 21, 23) were like that was pretty good. From the acting to story good so their watching it now.