Movie Review: Wyatt Earp (1994)

Wyatt Earp is epic in length and scope, but it never stirs the soul. The detailed story of the legendary lawman is told in a mammoth 3 hours and 10 minutes, and by the end it certainly feels like every significant event in Earp's life has been chronicled, at least according to Hollywood's best imitation of life. But this is a humourless, almost robotic rendition, tipping into territory where the significance of the man appears to be insufficient to justify the attempted grandiose treatment.

Wyatt Earp (Kevin Costner) and his many brothers are raised in Missouri by a restless father (Gene Hackman), who is always looking for the next move and eternally stressing the importance of family and the law. The young Wyatt works as a wagon driver and fight referee, before courting and marrying Urilla (Annabeth Gish) and appearing to settle down. When the pregnant Urilla contracts typhoid and dies, Wyatt is devastated and he turns to drinking and crime. Bailed out of jail by his father, Wyatt cleans up and works as a buffalo hunter and eventually becomes deputy marshal in Wichita. His good reputation lands him a similar position in the wilder outpost of Dodge City, where he grows in power and wealth and is uncompromising in imposing law and order.

Replaced for being too tough, Wyatt travels to Fort Griffin, Texas, where he meets and befriends Doc Holliday (Dennis Quaid), a former dentist, frequent gambler, occasional outlaw, and suffering from severe tuberculosis. Two women also enter Wyatt's life, prostitute Mattie (Mare Winningham) and stage performer Josie (Joanna Going).

Another stint in Dodge City follows before the Earps relocate to Tombstone, Arizona. Wyatt and his brothers Virgil and Morgan antagonize the local cattle rustlers known as The Cowboys, including members of the Clanton, Claiborne, and McLaury clans. The escalating tension climaxes with the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in which the Earp brothers helped by Holliday face off against the Cowboys. The Earps are subsequently targeted with retribution attacks, enraging Wyatt into a violent rampage against all remaining Cowboys.

While the relatively much lighter Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957) took great liberties with the legend of the man, Wyatt Earp conveys both the thoroughness and the dryness of reading an encyclopedia, with all the implied pleasures and frustrations. The performances are earnest, the episodes are recounted with respect, the emotions are packaged, the drama is predictable. Director Lawrence Kasdan plays along, with a serious orchestral score too eager to repeatedly flourish, and lush grand vista scenery. Its a film that never lets its hair down, evoking a history teacher who respects his subject too much to animate it.

Wyatt Earp is competent and reasonably engaging. But the attempt to faithfully capture the man unfortunately also manages to lose his spirit.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.

Movie Review: Body Heat (1981)

About 30 years after the film noir era was supposed to have ended, writer and director Lawrence Kasdan conjures up what may be the best example of the genre.

Body Heat is memorably dominated by oppressive heat: the debilitating heat wave that mother nature has unleashed on Florida; the sensual heat of bodies rubbing against each other; the evil heat of fires caused by arson; and the suffocating heat of the ever-present cigarettes that most of the characters cannot stop smoking. Kasdan grabs control of the temperature dial, cranks to the right, and never relents.

In the middle of this heat, Ned Racine (William Hurt) is a small town lawyer in Florida. He's not a good lawyer, but that does not seem to bother Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), a rich and unhappily married woman who meets Ned and seduces him with all the lust and sex that he can handle. Matty soon has Ned convinced that they need to murder Matty's husband Edmund (Richard Crenna) so that they can together inherit his massive fortune.

They pull off the murder, and Ned's life quickly starts to unravel, as he realizes that Matty is not exactly what she appears to be, and that he may have unwittingly stepped into an elaborate scheme way more complex than he can handle.

Body Heat catapulted both William Hurt and Kathleen Turner into super-stardom, and both are outstanding. Hurt portrays the sleazy and dim-witted Racine as both realistic and sympathetic. Turner, in her film debut, is outstanding as the lethal seductress, attracting and ensnaring Racine with passionate heat that is nothing but camouflage as she coldly manipulates him to serve her plot.

The quirky supporting cast adds to the enjoyment. Ted Danson as the only other lawyer in town and J.A. Preston as the local police detective undergo interesting transformations, from being friends with Racine to suspecting him of murder. Richard Crenna and Mickey Rourke add great depth to the film in minor but critical roles.

Kasdan's script includes many memorable lines and exchanges of dialogue, from Matty telling Ned "You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man", to Ned telling Matty "You shouldn't wear that body". It's all clever, adult, and dangerous, perhaps too witty to apply to all the characters in this movie, but hugely successful as entertainment.

In all its elements, Body Heat simply crackles.

All Ace Black Blog Movie Reviews are here.