wyatt earp has a lot to tell and little to say . this story of the legendary lawman runs three hours and nine minutes and that's too long for this epic-wannabe that plays more like a tv mini-series than a movie . the story opens on the earp family farm , with young wyatt ready to run away from home . he wants to fight in the civil war , but his dad ( hackman ) has different ideas and wants his son to study law . time passes and wyatt heads west , returns home to marry , and , after a spell , begins his career in law enforcement . by the time he ( costner ) and his brothers ( madsen , david andrews , and linden ashby ) arrive in tombstone , wyatt has tried his hand at everything from hunting buffalo to dealing cards . wyatt earp is very appealing in places-- such as cast , costumes , and cinematography-- but an overstated story and overpowered score deaden most of the emotional impact . who can be moved by scene after scene after scene of swelling strings and suffocating speeches ? somber is fine-- just ask clint eastwood-- but this film that boasts not one , not two , but three , count 'em three , hammy death scenes ! still , a little bit of earp goes a long way and the life and times of the legendary lawman are from uninteresting stuff . his , uh , unusual relations with women , for example , are an intriguing contrast to his character's credo of " nothing counts as much as blood . " equally amusing is a buffalo-hunting ( and skinning ! ) sequence that is decidedly non-pc . director lawrence kasdan takes a refreshingly realistic approach to the gunplay . the infamous gunfight at the ok corral is both brutal and brief , devoid of almost any theatrics . don't look for much glorified violence here . despite some large exclamation points in the story , the characters * do * come to life . the diverse cast includes everyone from betty buckley ( ! ) to mackenzie astin ( ! ! ) . kevin costner is very good in the title role . dances with whitney nevers get as steely as the role requires , though , but his transformation from lighthearted law student to stoic sheriff is fun to watch . he was tougher in a perfect world . his foil is dennis quaid , who pulled a deniro by losing 40+ pounds to play the tubercular terror doc holliday . gaunt * and * gamely , he's a scene stealer who's seen too little . other familiar faces include tom sizemore ( looking like bruce mcgill ) , bill pullman ( looking like jeff daniels ) , and lea thompson ( looking like someone other than lea thompson ) . both gene hackman and isabella rosselini appear and disappear like magic , while late entries catherine o'hara and jobeth williams are surprisingly solid . though the story and score should've tried " less is more , " all other credits are technical tops . production designer ida random , art director gary wissner , and costume designer colleen atwood are some of the vips who helped spend what must've been an enormous budget . clearly no expense was spared .
