Stream It Or Skip It: 'Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War' On Netflix, a docudrama about the legendary lawman's rivalry with the cowboys of wild west Arizona (2024)

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Wyatt Earp and The Cowboy War

  • Stream It Or Skip It: 'Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War' On Netflix, a docudrama about the legendary lawman's rivalry with the cowboys of wild west Arizona (1)
  • Stream It Or Skip It: 'Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War' On Netflix, a docudrama about the legendary lawman's rivalry with the cowboys of wild west Arizona (2)

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Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War is a docudrama, narrated by Ed Harris, that examines the real story about how Earp and his brothers, lawmen in the silver-rich town of Tombstone, Arizona, took on the Cowboys, a gang of cattle rustlers and other criminals, in the 1880s. Instead of relying on just scripted scenes or docuseries interviews, it judiciously utilizes both.

WYATT EARP AND THE COWBOY WAR: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: “October 26th, 1881.” We see a shootout in progress.

The Gist: Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War alternates between scripted reenactments and talking-head interviews with archival photographs. In the reenactments, we start at the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral, with Wyatt Earp (Tim Fellingham), his brothers Virgil (Ariel Eliaz) and Morgan (Shane Penhale), and Holliday (Edward Franklin) on one side, and Cowboy leader Ike Clanton (Jack Gordon) and his crew on the other.

But before the show does a deep dive into the shootout and its aftermath, we go back seven months, to a robbery of a Wells Fargo stagecoach that killed a driver and a guard. Back in Tombstone, where the stagecoach originated, Sheriff Behan (Alex Price) has the Earp brothers investigate. When they find the first of the gang that robbed the stagecoach, the snakeskin band on his hat indicated that he was a member of the Cowboys. The guy flips on his partner in the attack.

Wyatt Earp goes to Clanton to find out where that partner is, Clanton and his men manage to get the snitch out of lockup so they can take care of him themselves. Holliday gets arrested and thrown into jail on a false accusation that he robbed the stagecoach. When a reward is put on the stagecoach robbers’ heads, Clanton himself becomes a snitch in order to collect. But the reward is rescinded when the robbers are killed before Earp can arrest them. That means no money, and Clanton so angry that he’s ready to confront Earp, his brothers and Holliday.

Stream It Or Skip It: 'Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War' On Netflix, a docudrama about the legendary lawman's rivalry with the cowboys of wild west Arizona (3)

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War is in this seemingly new category of “docudrama,” which intersperses scripted reenactments with interviews and real archival footage. A good example of this genre is Netflix’s Queen Cleopatra, but Wyatt Earp is a much better production. (If you’re on the hunt for something with better production and storytelling values, try Kevin Costner as the legendary lawman in Wyatt Earp or Kurt Russell in Tombstone.)

Our Take: What Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War does that most other shows in this hybrid genre don’t is pay as much if not more attention to the scripted part than the documentary part. Directed by Patrick Reams and written by Reams, Stephen David and Henry Fitzherbert, the series takes a complex story and makes it accessible, via a modern rock-and-roll soundtrack and Harris’ avuncular narration. It also helps that the performances of Fellingham as Earp and Gordon as Clanton are more than credible.

The talking heads are used somewhat sparingly, and they’re all well-known experts in the history of the Wild West, as well as Earp and Clanton. But the driver of the series is the scripted portion, which is stitched together by Harris’ narration; the veteran actor is there to skewer myths that have perpetuated over the last 140 years about Earp, the Cowboys and the O.K. Corral shootout.

But Harris is also there to put things into real-world context, like why the $6,000 reward for the stagecoach robbers was a huge, unprecedented sum back then. He also discusses how Tombstone wasn’t some “dusty, dirty lawless hellhole like you see in old Hollywood movies”; it had a wealthy population and became a cultural center in the Wild West, thanks to the nearby supply of silver. It also had the attention of JP Morgan (Peter O’Meara), the well-connected American banker who wanted to buy up the railroads and improve them. He needed his aristocratic British investors to feel that sending their money to the States was safe, and stagecoach robberies tended to make them cautious.

Because of the complexity of the situation — the Cowboy War began with the O.K. Corral shootout — the plotting of the series can go a little awry. But with Harris as well as the talking heads — including famous historian Douglas Brinkley — walking us through the various players and motivations, and a clear mandate to tell most of the story through the reenactments, the entire series is much more entertaining than most of what we’ve seen from the docudrama genre to this point.

Sex and Skin: None in the first two episodes.

Parting Shot: Ike Clanton’s brother Billy (Dylan Stav) is the first to draw his gun at the O.K. Corral, and the shootout is underway.

Sleeper Star: Edward Franklin is a lot of fun as Holliday, the former dentist who drinks to suppress his consumption-caused coughing fits, and is as big a wild card as Wyatt Earp has on his side.

Most Pilot-y Line: When Wyatt Earp slugs one of the stagecoach robbery suspects, his brother says, “You didn’t have to do that,” to which Wyatt responds, “Yeah, I did.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War takes an entertaining look at a surprisingly complex part of American history, with its judicious use of narration and interview supporting well-written and well-acted scripted reenactments.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

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  • Ed Harris
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  • Wyatt Earp and The Cowboy War
Stream It Or Skip It: 'Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War' On Netflix, a docudrama about the legendary lawman's rivalry with the cowboys of wild west Arizona (2024)

FAQs

Is Wyatt Earp on Netflix? ›

Where can you watch Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War? The historical docuseries has finally made its way to Netflix, and all six parts are available for you to binge-watch.

What was the cause of Wyatt Earp's death? ›

Earp died at his home in Los Angeles, possibly of chronic cystitis, on January 13, 1929, at age 80.

What is the true story of Wyatt Earp? ›

Wyatt Earp was a legendary frontiersman of the American West. He was an itinerant saloonkeeper, gambler, lawman, gunslinger, and confidence man, but he is perhaps best known for his involvement in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881.

What did Wyatt Earp do after Tombstone? ›

After leaving Tombstone, Earp went to San Francisco where he reunited with Josephine Marcus, and they lived as husband and wife. They joined a gold rush to Eagle City, Idaho, where they owned mining interests and a saloon.

Is Wyatt Earp on a streaming service? ›

Download the Peacock app and start streaming full episodes of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp. You can watch The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp on Peacock. Peacock currently has 6 seasons of The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp available for streaming.

What is the name of the movie about Wyatt Earp? ›

The popular movie Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, released in 1957, starring Burt Lancaster as Earp, cemented his place in Western history as a hero lawman.

What happened to Morgan Earp's wife after his death? ›

Morgan married Louisa Alice Houston in the 1870s. After Morgan's murder, she married Gustav Peters in 1885 and died in 1894 in Long Beach, California.

Are there any descendants of Wyatt Earp alive today? ›

The general consensus seems to be that while Wyatt Earp was a man to be taken seriously, as evidenced by the O.K. Corral gunfight, he was a caring individual when it came to his friends and family - a complex man. While Wyatt had no direct descendants, several of his relatives' offspring still live in the Pella area.

Where is Wyatt Earp's gun now? ›

The Wyatt Earp gun on display at the Arizona History Museum. Inside the Arizona History Museum beside the University of Arizona campus, held in a glass display, is a cream handled Colt . 45 revolver that museum officials say once belonged to Tombstone legend Wyatt Earp.

Who did Wyatt Earp finally marry? ›

The marriage of Wyatt and Josephine lasted another 48 years until Wyatt's death in 1929. During their married years, Wyatt and Josephine moved frequently around the American West, following gold, silver, and copper mining, until they settled in Southern California.

Did Wyatt Earp's wife attend his funeral? ›

Wyatt died at age 80 in 1929. Among his pallbearers were Tom Mix and William S. Hart. They say that Josie was too grief stricken to attend the funeral.

What disease did Wyatt Earp's wife have? ›

Earp had grown into a grizzled widower after his first wife, Urilla Sutherland, died of typhoid fever in 1870.

How many children did Wyatt Earp have? ›

Neither James, Virgil, Wyatt, Morgan, or Warren had any sons. Actually, Virgil did have a daughter that he didn't know about for many years. Before going off to war he married a Dutch immigrant, Ellen Rymsdam, whose family wanted her to marry a Dutchman, disapproved. He was sixteen and she, seventeen.

Did John Wayne and Wyatt Earp meet? ›

A controversial school of thought suggests they never actually met. The public wanted to believe the romantic notion of the famous lawman meeting the young Western actor, but it was also claimed Wayne learned about Earp's life second-hand from Ford and not in person.

What was a famous quote from Wyatt Earp? ›

Fast is fine, but accuracy is final. Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything. Are you going to do something or just stand there and bleed?

How many seasons of The Legend of Wyatt Earp are there? ›

The series is loosely based on the life of frontier marshal Wyatt Earp. The half-hour, black-and-white program aired for six seasons (229 episodes) on ABC from 1955 to 1961, with Hugh O'Brian in the title role.

Is Wyatt Earp worth watching? ›

I've seen pictures of the real Wyatt Earp, and Kevin Costner nailed this part. This movie is rich in detail, and likely the most accurate of all the movies about the famous lawman to date. Dennis Quaid should have received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Doc Holliday.

What channel is Legend of Wyatt Earp on? ›

How close was Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp? ›

“It was during this time that he also made the acquaintance of Wyatt Earp,” Masterson added, “and they were always fast friends ever afterwards.” Wyatt himself explained why in a Tombstone, Arizona Territory, courtroom in the fall of 1881: “I am a friend of Doc Holliday because when I was city marshal of Dodge City, ...

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