The First Ride of Wyatt Earp

Overall I enjoyed the movie, there were a few rough acting spots....But the story was good and believable.

What bothered me was the setting. If you are making a movie about Dodge City, or Western Kansas, please be aware that it is FLAT. The foot hills, green fields, vistas, etc., are all beautiful in this movie. However, there isn't a single hill in Western Kansas, it is as flat as a piece of paper, and dirty, dry and brown. With scenery this mismatched it was a little hard to believe the movie was supposed to be set in Dodge City and surrounding counties.

Other than the poor location shoot choice, and some awkward acting at times -- Overall, I enjoyed the movie. It's worth a watch.

The basic motif to see it is Val Kilmer. In fact, he is the only one. Yes, the story is a too simple sketch and the portrait of events is far to be inspired . All remains conventional, in service, not in brilliant manner, of easy cliches and the film gives not something real useful as memory. So, a film about Wyatt Earp. Posible, not the worst one.

I first learned of this movie when finding a DVD copy of it in my local Wal-Mart's $5 DVD bin. Now, I love westerns, and I was tempted to buy it since it was a western and cheap. But then I remembered that Val Kilmer in recent years has said yes to numerous junky projects. So I ultimately decided not to buy it. But today I watched it after it appeared on a movie TV channel, and boy, am I glad I didn't buy it all those months ago. To begin with, the movie is a cheat. Though Val Kilmer's name is trumpeted, in fact he only has about seven to ten minutes of footage in the entire movie. Which is just as well, because the combination of his uninspired acting plus his strangely puffy face doesn't exactly make him interesting to observe. Actually, the rest of the cast is pretty awful as well. They give "modern" performances despite the bulk of the movie taking place in the 1800s, and none of their characters come across in a compelling way. The surroundings are shabby as well - there's not that much action, with the movie mostly being conversations, none of which sounds very interesting. And the movie looks real cheap, from the unconvincing sets to unspectacular countryside. Whether you are a Kilmer fan and/or a western fan, more likely than not you'll find this movie to be really poor and not worth any attention.

So the tale of Wyatt Earp gets a 21st century makeover. Perhaps best described as Wyatt Earp: The Early Years, this movie details an adventure in the life of the young (late 20-something) Wyatt, and is narrated by an older Wyatt (Val Kilmer - who did a fine job of playing Wyatt's sidekick Doc Holliday in Tombestone waaay back in 1993) Featuring a cast of young guns including Shawn Roberts as Wyatt and Matt Dallas as Bat Masterson the film is good clean fun set against the backdrop of the violent west. Playing out like a modern version of the B-western oaters that used to be a cinema staple, it'll be a hard hearted viewer indeed that can't find something positive to say about this flick. True, it looks low budget and appears to have come from a different era of comic books and B-movies, but that's part of the joy. Everyone involved seems to be having a blast from country star Trace Adkins to dastardly bad guy Daniel Booko as Adkins wayward son. Other noteworthy performances include David O'Donnell, Levi Fiehler and a brief but memorable performance from Brian Groh as Confederate Jones, which leaves you longing for the bit part character to get his own movie. While not in the same league as My Darling Clementine, Gunfight at the OK Coral or even 1990s efforts Tombestone and the Wyatt Earp, the yarn is sufficiently entertaining to make you glad they bothered to make it. One is just left longing for some appearances by old time western stars such as Harry Dean Stanton and LQ Jones in these modern day oaters.

When someone says "straight to DVD" that invokes a certain "image" about a film, and this movie embodies it perfectly. Small budget, virtually unknown cast, simple story... pretty much everything you'd expect. But that's not to say it doesn't have good points too: Val Kilmer as an elder Wyatt Earp does a fine job and has several genuinely touching moments. Wilson Bethel steals his scenes as Doc Holliday, taking a hilarious and memorable turn as the character Kilmer himself made famous. (And Kilmer as Doc fans will appreciate that Bethel seems to be playing from the former's play-book - down to using Kilmer's more memorable lines.) There are some truly lovely vista shots (as one would expect from any western worth it's salt) and a few honestly funny comedic moments.

Down the downside, I do wish Trace Adkins had gotten more scene time and the script could have definitely done with a bit of a cliché overhaul.

Overall, I'd say it does a fine job at being exactly what it is - a straight to DVD Western; nothing more and nothing less.