This Great Western Show About Wyatt Earp Beat Gunsmoke To A TV Record By Just 4 Days

The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp is a television series that aired in the late 1950s, exploring the infamous adventures of the American lawman as he traveled through the Wild West and famously fought against the dangerous Cowboys. The show was an immense success that really helped push Westerns into mainstream media, where they had previously existed solely as huge cinematic events. In particular, this series was among the best Western shows of all time thanks to its gripping storytelling and interesting, complex characters based on real figures.

Additionally, The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp was a very educational series that taught audiences much about this real person, although much of his narrative was exaggerated for entertainment value. It became one of the defining stories about this period of history, and contributed strongly to Earp’s role as the most famous lawman remembered from the Wild West period. His story was later told in multiple other films and series, with many projects focusing closely on the dynamic between Wyatt Earp and his friend Doc Holliday.

The Life & Legend Of Wyatt Earp Was The First Western TV Show For Adults

Gunsmoke Narrowly Missed Out On The Title

What’s most noteworthy about The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp is that it was among the first Western TV shows that didn’t dilute its story to please family audiences. The genre had previously been one that children and adults alike could enjoy, as the violence wasn’t too gruesome, and the conflicts essentially always boiled down to simple narratives of good versus evil. The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp didn’t do this, however, and presented a much more mature and complicated retelling of the story. It beat Gunsmoke to this by just a few days, but remains the clear holder of this achievement.

Related The One Big Reason Tombstone Beat Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp Movie Released The Following Year Tombstone beat out Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp movie that was released a year after for one big reason that is still largely remembered today.

This mature storytelling was something that had previously been restricted to the movies, and The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp’s attempts to bring the adult Western to the small screen was exactly what made it such a noteworthy project. The best Western movies ever made all had violent scenes and slow-paced storytelling, but this was something that previously hadn’t been translated to this small screen - until this show.

The Life & Legend Of Wyatt Earp & Gunsmoke Started A Western TV Boom

The Shows Made Adult Westerns On TV Popular For The First Time

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As a result, The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp is often understood as the series that really kick-started the boost in popularity that TV Westerns saw throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s. Where the films had always been popular thanks to their huge sets, movie star performances, and complex action scenes, TV shows like The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp did a great job of proving that Westerns can exist without those huge budgets, with a clearer focus on storytelling and episodic character development.

Consequently, many other shows quickly tried to replicate the success that had been achieved with The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp. There was a huge boost in the genre’s popularity, and Wyatt Earp quickly became the face of a huge cinematic movement several years after the real figure’s death. His story was retold in many different ways, with the most popular example being Kurt Russell’s reimagining of the Earp Vendettas in Tombstone several decades later.

How The Life & Legend Of Wyatt Earp Compares To Tombstone & Other Wyatt Earp Westerns

Tombstone Is Still The Best Wyatt Earp Retelling

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There have been countless projects about Wyatt Earp in the years since this formative series, and while the original show holds up surprisingly well given its age, there’s no denying that films like Tombstone and Hour of the Gun retell the story in more entertaining, accessible ways. Russell’s film is often hailed as the definitive version of this narrative, and it’s hard to disagree. The film has everything that audiences have ever wanted from a Western: fierce lead performances, intricate storytelling, and several groundbreaking action sequences that pay homage to the genre’s history while pushing it forward.

Tombstone is one of Kurt Russell’s best Western movies, and it’s hard to beat its baroque, complex storytelling - but respect should also be paid to The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp for making this story popular in the first place.

Tombstone is one of Kurt Russell’s best Western movies, and it’s hard to beat its baroque, complex storytelling - but respect should also be paid to The Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp for making this story popular in the first place. The way that it broke free of contemporary conventions and attempted to bring the intense, gritty storytelling of movie Westerns onto the television for the first time shouldn’t be overstated. Many of the best Western series today wouldn’t exist without this one coming first.

Your Rating close 10 stars 9 stars 8 stars 7 stars 6 star 5 stars 4 stars 3 stars 2 stars 1 star 0/10 Leave a Review Your changes have been saved My List My Favorite Movies My Watchlist Success! 183 9.5/10 Tombstone Tombstone is a Western film loosely based on true events. When a group of outlaws known as the Cowboys ride into a town and slay several police officers for revenge for the death of two of their gang members, word of their misdeeds reaches the ears of a retired lawman. Gathering a group together, the new vigilantes will defend the town and aim to end the terror of the Cowboys. Release Date December 25, 1993 Runtime 130 minutes Main Genre Western Cast Bill Paxton , Charlton Heston , Sam Elliott , Powers Boothe , Val Kilmer , Kurt Russell , Michael Biehn , Jason Priestley Director George P. Cosmatos , Kevin Jarre Writers Kevin Jarre Expand