Wyatt Earp

Television and movies have mythologized Wyatt Earp—along with the 1881 gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, AZ, featuring Earp and his friend Doc Holliday—almost beyond recognition. Rob Rapley's PBS-aired American Experience profile offers a straightforward, fact-based account of the lawman's colorful life, combining archival stills, artwork, maps, dramatic recreations, and interviews with academics and enthusiasts. Narrated by actor Michael Murphy, the documentary traces Earp's biography from his childhood in Illinois and Iowa and rambunctious youth in the West to his career as a lawman in Dodge City and later in Tombstone. Rapley sorts through the bewildering mass of rumors and claims with considerable skill and even offers some surprises (including a suggestion about the real reason behind the animosity between Earp and outlaw Ike Clanton). Oddly, however, although the film begins with the observation that an aged Earp tried to persuade western star William S. Hart to make a movie about him to bolster his reputation, Wyatt Earp doesn't touch on the avalanche of films, TV shows, and novels that eventually followed. Still, even though it won't satisfy those who want every minute detail of Earp's career and the famous gunfight, most viewers will find this to be a solid, engaging biography. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)