SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Richie-67-485852 First off the head star Joel McCrea does a great job in portraying a man of the west. He is tall, has a good build, great demeanor and comes across mellow until he has to come across another way. This one has it all: Bad and good guys, love interest, lots of horses, cattle, cowboys, shooting, drinking, saloon activities, painted ladies, piano playing with a touch of what it was like back then at the start of the cattle boom along with the railroad teaming up. Good supporting staff plus direction makes it come alive and make sense. We all have heard about the shoot-out at the OK corral in Tombstone but this takes place prior to that in Wichita where he had done some good work. They even mention in this movie that he was known for some other heroic deed prior to that. So we get to be in a part of his history courtesy of this movie. Pay special attention to his sidearm. Its a cannon and supports the premise of one shot one kill and don't make me pull-it which btw Earp utters a couple of times which helps to build tension and suspense. Very easy in this movie to root for the good guys and boo the bad guys. Nice closure at the end and I highly recommend singing along with the end credit song to just end it all on a whooping good note. Those old Western songs do the trick! I ate some home roasted pine nuts and had a tasty drink during this movie plus a meat dish with Quinoa all delicious. Plan your watching now and enjoy. Let's ride all you pards!

MartinHafer Up front I must tell you that I usually HATE westerns featuring folks like Jesse James, Billy the Kid and other real life folk. This is because very rarely do the filmmakers get it right--and completely fictionalize these lives to make minor characters seem far, far more important and interesting than they really were. So, when I saw that Joel McCrea stars as Wyatt Earp, I was NOT pleased. And, to make it worse, Bat Masterson apparently is in the film as well. The only reason I forced myself to watch it is because even a bad McCrea western is still usually worth seeing. Plus, it did help that folks like Lloyd Bridges, Peter Graves, Edgar Buchanan, Wallace Ford, Vera Miles and Jack Elam also were in the film.To set the record straight, I used to teach US History and much of what's in this film is crap. While it is true that Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson did work together for a bit, it was in Texas, not Kansas. Also, Earp WAS a deputy in Wichita--never the marshall or sheriff. And, although Bat Masterson DID become a newspaper man, that was later--after he was a lawman. I sure wish they'd kept the script and just changed the names--it would have improved it immensely. That's because it really is a very, very good film apart from all the historical confabulations! In this story, Wyatt is a peace-loving and patient man. He's headed into Wichita to open a business and live a normal life. Unfortunately, the town is pretty lawless--especially when the cattlemen and their hands arrive in town. During one of these times, the guys shoot up the town--and kill a little kid. So, Wyatt is quickly sworn in as sheriff and he takes on these drunken rowdies with only the assistance of young Bat Masterson. You'd think the town would be thrilled, right? Well, this is NOT the case of the rich guys in town who own the saloons and stockyards! They want the sheriff to turn a blind eye to the outrages of the cattlemen because their fortunes depend on cattle. However, Wyatt will only do it his way--the RIGHT way! What's to happen next? See the film for yourself.Excellent acting, lots of action and a terrific take on the myth of the old west. Yes, I do mean myth as gunfights and much of what we think of as common stuff in the west rarely ever occurred--and more often than not, it was just some guy shooting another guy in the back!

vincentlynch-moonoi The way you can tell a "B" Western -- and this IS a B Western -- is not always the actors. This movie has a pretty good cast. Joel McCrea (who should have never gone into Westerns in my view) is a really good actor...and he is good here. The supporting cast is pretty decent, too -- Vera Miles, Lloyd Bridges (in his bad-guy era), Wallace Ford, Edgar Buchanan, and Peter Graves. And they do their jobs well.And, it's not always the story the makes a movie a B movie...although the story here is -- as a couple of other reviewers pointed out -- a little too simplistic.Sometimes it's just the lack of care that is taken in the production. For example the first day the new railroad comes into town it's on tracks rather overgrown with weeds. Or the high mountains outside Wichita...high mountains in Kansas??? In other words, throw a Western together. It's the 1950s and Westerns are hot. It'll get good box office...and it did. Today this little Western would go nowhere at the box office. I doubt it would even make into theatres. But, that's not to say it's unwatchable. It's slightly better than the average mid-1950s Western.

Keith Kjornes Joel McCrea was 50 when he made this movie. The real Wyatt Earp, when he took the job in Wichita, Kansas, was 28. "He only shot to wound those fellas" is also claptrap. This movie is filled with this "made for kids" dialog and fight scenes. Wrongs are righted, the bad guys are caught, and all is right with the world. TV was a booming place for TV westerns in the mid 50's, and this was right out of that world. Sorry, but this film is just plain laughable.It has all the usual characters-- well dressed saloon bosses, the boozy newspaper man with a secret past, the town marshal who has a yellow streak a mile wide. Cattle barons and cow punchers who feel it's their duty to tear a town apart. All the "saloon girls: are wearing fancy duds without a hair out of place and perfect makeup-- but they don't show cleavage. Yeah, right.... Pass.