Without Wyatt Earp, and his 17 second Blaze-of-Glory shootout, Hollywood would have had a very dry time trying to make sense of the American West. That West was really only wild for about 20 years, in any real sense, from about 1860-ish to around the time of The Rumble in Tombstone, Az.; by 1880, recorded sound, the telegraph, the railroads and all the rest of the modern world were taking over. Earp was a man who lived some exiting minutes in a long life, and outlived both his friends and his enemies. His very uniqueness in early Hollywood put him in a position to write history; instead, he fostered mythology. Wyatt did that SO well, that almost a hundred years after his death, and damned near 200 years after his birth, he still inspires argument, worship and villainization, but most of all, he inspires STORYTELLING. Movies, fictional and non fiction writing, even gun manufacturing and the shhoting sports are all alive, well, and benefittng from the fact of Wyatt Earp's existence, facts of his life be damned. I think the man himself would be pleased to know it.
Thanks to Tim and his crew for bringing a little life to the image.
Review of And With Him Came The West
