THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 8, 1994 TAG: 9407080063
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E13 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BRENT A. BOWLES, TEENOLOGY MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
SINCE LAWRENCE KASDAN'S ``Silverado'' in 1985, the American Western has undergone a slow rebirth. Kevin Costner's ``Dances With Wolves'' kept it going. But the pinnacle of the rebirth has come with ``Wyatt Earp,'' (with both Kasdan and Costner) the story of a man who was devoted to family and justice in a land that wanted neither.
``Wyatt Earp'' follows the turbulent life of the legendary figure from naive young man to drunkard to marshall in a tiny mining town called Tombstone.
Earp is played by Costner, co-producer of the film, who casts the character in a much different light than any other interpretation. This film focuses more on Earp's beliefs in the strength of family.
Swirling around Costner is a cast of over 3,000. Gene Hackman is Nicholas, Wyatt's father, who teaches the family that ``nothing matters more than blood.''
Michael Madsen is Virgil Earp. JoBeth Williams and Catherine O'Hara are the Earp wives. Mare Winningham plays Mattie, Wyatt's second ``wife'' who is suicidal after his affair with the actress Josephine, played by Joanna Going.
The best performance is Dennis Quaid as Joseph ``Doc'' Holliday. He lost nearly 50 pounds for the part and plays Holliday with a dark comic edge and a suppressed violent streak. Oscar material?
In the director's chair is Kasdan, the screenwriter of such classics as ``Raiders of the Lost Ark'' and the ``Star Wars'' sequels.
Costing over $65 million, this epic boasts a huge cast, three specially-built towns including one on 16-square blocks of Santa Fe real estate and a whopping 189-minute running time, molded from nearly 100 hours of film shot in five months in places everywhere from Missouri to Alaska. (Watch video stores in the coming months for the release of Kasdan's 210-minute version.)
The screenplay, by Kasdan and Dan Gordon, is an epic in itself. It takes a refreshing look at Wyatt Earp as a man whose personality is sculpted by heartbreak and loss, not violence and conflict. Focusing much more on the Earps' family beliefs than any previous treatment, the screenplay is never boring and has a surprisingly hard-edge to it. The famous OK Corral gunfight is reduced to a simple alley scrape lasting under a minute.
Despite occasional lulls, ``Wyatt Earp'' is soaring and fabulously well-made in the grand tradition of epic filmmaking. Photographer Owen Roizman fills the screen with gently waving prairie grass, rolling hills, bustling towns and a breathtaking herd of buffalo. The music score by James Newton Howard, an Oscar nominee last year for ``The Fugitive,'' is a perfect example of true epic scoring, complete with flowing melodies that beautifully complement the action on screen.
``Wyatt Earp'' has everything a great Western saga should. The film's star, Dennis Quaid, described it as ``the `Lawrence of Arabia' of Westerns.'' It's a good analogy. ``Wyatt Earp'' has every characteristic of a true epic film, at the center of which lies the simple story of a man and his family. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Brent A. Bowles is a 1994 graduate of Princess Anne High.
by CNB