Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War

When clicking play on a title like this you settle in to learn some history, spoken by a dry cowboy sounding narrator and a series of academics who don't seem like they'd last 5 mins in the west and then finally the occasional cut scene which.... well. Yeah.

From the moment this series starts you can tell things are going to be different. The slick editing, great music and scenes which frankly wouldn't look out of place in "Deadwood", Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War pulls you in and keeps you there.

It feels like watching The Defiant Ones for the first time, knowing that what you are watching is redefining a genre.

Ed Harris's narration is spot on, casual and humorous, keeping the story going in a nearly 'telling you over a beer' kind of a way. Meanwhile the cut scenes are lavish, cinematic and captivating.

The guy who plays Wyatt Earp (Tim Fellingham) is the perfect casting to counter Ed's chilled vibe as he blasts his way through the west with a quick draw and a chilling stare. Surrounded by a great supporting cast they bring this little known and vastly complex story to life in a way that feels new and bang on the times.

Although there are plenty of documentaries that do the acting along the way as they're explaining the history, the pacing and overall storytelling is just really fun. It's different than other acting documentaries I've seen for that reason. I especially love how the historical context gives more support to the acting. And they really did a great job casting Wyatt Earp. He's borderline perfect. Even if he is Australian ;)

It's different than other acting documentaries I've seen for that reason. I especially love how the historical context gives more support to the acting. And they really did a great job casting Wyatt Earp.

I like to think of myself as a student of History, and, I found this take of the Gunfight, to be very Informative. Nothing happens in a vacuum, and, it was interesting to see all the interlocking interests. There were many things, I did not know, and, I've seen many movies, and, other documentaries, that didn't describe all the outside impacts of this gunfight. It's definitely worth a look. Each episode, leaves you wanting to see, what happens next. Bravo, to all involved in the effort to flesh out the story. The series, could easily have been longer, because there were many things, that could have been discussed in a deeper dive.

This is an outstanding documentary on the events surrounding the Earps and the Clantons. I have read and watched plenty of books and documentaries about the events and this still provided new facts I never heard. This is not a straight documentary as they have actors playing the roles in little vignettes of the events. They all do a very commendable job of giving a human touch to the events. Ed Harris is a fantastic narrator. He is not just reading the script.

He uses various inflections in his voice to provide either humor or tension to the events he is narrating. He needs to do more of this kind of voicework. Where this show really shines is taking a very broad approach to the the events and discussing outside factors that led to the conflict. Some of these are the hurt feelings still being held by the South after the Civil War, America's debt from the war, trying to pay off that debt with silver from Arizona, said silver getting hijacked by stage coach robbers, J. P Morgan trying to get investors in England to give him loans to buy up the railroads, the recent assassination of President Garfield, Wells Fargo bankrolling Wyatt's Vendetta Ride until it becomes too scandalous, and, finally, the impression people in the East were getting of the West based on the inflammatory news articles in the New York and Washington D. C. papers. President Arthur even sent General Sherman to Arizona to determine if the violence was getting out of hand. Hint: It was. The gunfight at the OK Corral and the aftermath were not happening in a vacuum. They were affecting events all the way to Washington and Europe.

All of this is handled with pinpoint storytelling. Each of the six episode focuses on a different aspect of events. In the first episode you get the backstory to include how Tombstone came to exist, the climate in America post-Civil War, and the background on the Earps' and Clantons' conflict. Then you get an episode dealing with the OK Corral gunfight and the alternate views of both sides. There is an entire episode on the preliminary hearing trying the Earps for murder. This was fascinating and the best part of part of the series IMO, as most of the movies skip right over or give very little attention to the details of how close the Earps came to hanging. Ike Clanton comes across as a pretty sly and wily opponent rather than a drunken fool like he is portrayed in the movies. Yes, he drank, but he was also ingenious at times in how he manipulated the press and the townfolk.

The one negative I found in this show is the way they completely ignored Johnny Ringo. He is not even mentioned. Michael Biehn deserved better. Haha.

I binged this entire series last night as I could not wait for the next episode. A very well done series that deserves to be watched by anyone who enjoys historical documentaries.

Well, if you only know Wyatt Earp from the movies, such as Tombstone (which is a great movie, BTW), then this will open your eyes to the complexity of the real Wyatt Earp.

It wasn't all so cut and dried as the movies make it out to be. And events didn't quite go down the way the movies claim. It's actually much more interesting than that!

This docu-drama does a great job of layering in the events, all the way from the local events in Tombstone, to the reverberations they caused politically and economically.

The drama parts are well acted and the story rattles along at a great pace. They manage to end each episode on a cliffhanger, too.

And a special mention for Ed Harris' outstanding narration!

I binge-watched it in one evening and i highly recommend it!