This has turned out to be my longest review in the making, as I began watching "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp" episode by episode once it began with the first story on the Encore Western Channel, estimating that to be back in June of 2016 or so. My viewing was made poignant around the third season I think, with Hugh O'Brian's passing on September 5th, 2016. Interestingly, if you catch a Western in which O'Brian appeared before this series began, it's often as a villain. Perhaps that's why, when you catch the traditional opening of each show, O'Brian is shown stepping out of the Marshal's office with that sly, 'cat that ate the canary' grin on his face, that seems to be saying, 'What am I doing here with a gig like this'? In alternate opening scenes in later seasons, O'Brian makes use of the same expression to varying degrees, so maybe it was just his way of being thankful for the role.Stories in the series seem to be loosely based on Wyatt Earp's career as a lawman and his affiliation with characters of the Old West like Doc Holliday, the Clanton Gang, and members of his own family, like brothers Virgil and Morgan Earp. Many of the stories in the series were inspired by the real life Wyatt Earp biographer Stuart Lake, whose reputation for accuracy is more likely to be described as fictional. In fact, Hugh O'Brian has a line in Episode #1.29 - 'The Pinkertons', which seems to address this when he says - "Most of that stuff's (referring to history) just written from hearsay by men that are too lazy to dig up the facts". I thought that was pretty interesting.Generally though, the series does an admirable job in tracing Wyatt Earp's career as a Deputy U.S. Marshal, with Season One following him from Ellsworth, Kansas, on to Wichita (5th episode), and then to Dodge City for the start of the Second Season. With O'Brian's matinée idol good looks and fine physique, it was only a matter of time before the show's producers would write him into a beefcake scene. That happened with Episode #2.39 - 'Wyatt's Love Affair'. Don't let the title of the story fool you though, O'Brian's shirt gets torn off during a fight scene against the foreman of a cattle outfit.With all these early TV Westerns, I'm always on the lookout for celebrity names that eventually went on to bigger and better things. There weren't a lot of big names to appear in this series, some of the familiar character actors of the era who appeared in the show included Bob Steele, Gordon Jones, Harry Lauter, Glenn Strange and Richard Devon. However a few noteworthy future stars who made it into the stories included Angie Dickinson, James Coburn and Louise Fletcher.One thing that happened regularly throughout the course of the series run was the use of the same actor for different roles in different seasons. An example would be Douglas Fowley and Myron Healey, both of whom portrayed Doc Holliday at different times. I particularly liked Fowley's version as an irascible gunman who continuously goaded Wyatt to be more forceful by killing more outlaws. Instead, Marshal Earp probably whacked as many bad guys over the head as Chuck Connors shot and killed in his own series, "The Rifleman".With two hundred and twenty seven episodes, it would be hard to pick a favorite, but one of the more memorable ones, even if entirely made up, was one that brought a host of legendary gunmen to Wyatt's aid in a gunfight. In Episode #2.72 - 'The Time For All Good Men', Wyatt is joined by gunmen Ben Thompson, Mannen Clements, John Wesley Hardin, and Clay Allison, along with Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson, against a gang of outlaws intent on killing Earp. Not much credibility to the story, but it was cool to have all those names in one place at one time.The final season of the show introduced the OK Corral in the first episode, and the stories built up to the famous showdown between the Earps and Doc Holliday against the Clantons and McLaurys on October 28th, 1881. The final four episodes take an interesting approach. Instead of portraying the Gunfight at the OK Corral entirely from start to finish, it's shown in a series of flashbacks based on Wyatt Earp's court testimony after the gunfight. What I found amazing was how accurately the event was portrayed from the standpoint of known, recorded history. The real deal lasted only about thirty seconds with around thirty shots fired between the two factions. Trying to keep track, I came up with counts of 35, 36 and 39 through various replays, so if you're of a mind to do so, you might give it a try yourself if the opportunity ever presents itself.

Buried in the credits of The Life And Legend Of Wyatt Earp is the one that lists Stuart N. Lake as the consultant. That makes it an official Earp project. Wyatt Earp had the distinct advantage that he lived long enough to have outlived most of his contemporaries and then at the very end of his life in 1929 commissioned his memoirs. Writer Stuart N. Lake did a series of interviews with Wyatt before he died and it was on that basis that a fine biography was published about him. Of course it was strictly from the Earp point of view.When Earp died, Lake became custodian of the legend. Most of the films subsequently made concerning Earp if you'll look at the credits are based on Lake's book. And of course Wyatt is a cowboy hero. It took the recent films by Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell to kind of put Earp and his accomplishments in perspective.To deal with towns like the frontier Wichita, Dodge City, and Tombstone you couldn't be a Boy Scout. Wyatt Earp was certainly not that and neither were his brothers Virgil and Morgan. Still this show preserves the legend as it would since it was based on the book of the legend maker.I don't think any real person has been so blessed as Wyatt Earp to have had the variety of people playing him. Tom Mix, Randolph Scott, Joel McCrea, Henry Fonda, Burt Lancaster, James Stewart, James Garner as well as Russell and Costner, I can't think of anyone who's been better preserved for posterity by Hollywood.Add to the list Hugh O'Brian who got his career role in this series and never was ever really able to shake loose from the casting. He's as good a cowboy hero as they come.Many of the stories from the series came from Lake's book. I urge you to read it if you can find a copy. There have been a number of attempts to debunk the Earp legend, but his fame and glory will live long, just as the series theme tells us.

This tremendously popular and long-running half-hour series featured changes of locale, added characters and deaths, and in several cases changes of the actors plying parts. Central to the proceedings from first to last from 1955--1961 was lean and athletic Hugh O/Brian as a plausible young Wyatt Earp. Into this the life of this fictionalized American icon, other characters real and imagined were introduced. The series was first located in Kansas cattle towns such as Wichita and Dodge City; then O'Brian moved to Tombstone, Arizona. He became and remained a town marshal during this time. Other regulars of note in this very intelligently-made, innovative and realistic series--one whose 'history' was decidedly not of a documentary variety--included Lloyd Corrigan as Ned Buntline, Alan Dinehart as Bat Masterson, several Doc Hollidays, Gloria Talbott, Don Haggerty, Denver Pyle, Damian O'Flynn, Carol Stone as Kate Holliday, Selmer Jackson, Randy Stuart, Wlliam Tannen, Paul Brinegar as Mayor "Dog" Kelly, Trevor Bardette as Old Man Clanton, Steve Brodie as Sheriff Johnnie Behan, Ross Elliott and others as Wyatt Earp's brothers, etc. The peculiar and memorable structure of the show allowed "changes" in character, relationships, locations, etc. when many series did not permit such alterations. In addition, the show's producers used some actors in guest roles many times, including Sam Flint, Steve Pendleton, Rico Alaniz and more. Guest stars of note included Anna May Wong, Arthur Space, Ann Robinson, Howard Petrie, George Wallace, Richard Travis, Robert Lowery, James Coburn, Peggy Knudsen, Fay Baker, Carolyn Craig, Jim Bannon, Nancy Hadley, Whitner Bissell, Angie Dickinson, Francis de Sales, Peter Mamakos, Ed Nelson, Richard Devon, Lane Bradford, Dorothy Green and John Vivyan, plus many more. Directors of record included Paul Landres and Frank McDonald. The staff of writers included Frederick Hazlitt Brennan, John Dunkel and Dan Ullman. These professionals kept up the show's very consistent quality throughout, I suggest. During its run, this series was shot by six cinematographers but only two art directors, by Ralph Berger and Albert M. Pyke, created its authentic western 'look'. Set decorations were done by Jack Mills and Kenneth W. Swartz. Bruce Bilson was second-unit director, with Hollywood veteran Roy Rowland as executive producer. The producers employed a gun expert, several production specialists and very good but less-expensive talents in order to keep up their high-standard of quality. The series ended with a memorable five-part but not-very-accurate gunfight at the OK Corral. This by my lights was a first-rate narrative TV series, I assert, one which was much imitated for decades afterward. Also of note was the show's theme song, whose picture of Earp set the tone for Eliot Ness, The Lawman, and Kojack among many other TV lawmen to come.

When TV Land recently began showing reruns of "Wyatt Earp," I had forgotten that, apparently in the early episodes, the only music heard was an a cappella male quartet. Not only did they sing the theme song, but periodically during those episodes, to augment certain special "drama," they would chime in, humming either low in the background for sentimentality, or swelling to full volume when the emotions were supposed to be at peak. The only lyrics heard were those of the theme song; otherwise, the musical accompaniment consisted entirely of that periodic humming in four-part harmony. Written out, it appeared, "mmmm-oooooo-AAAAHHHH-OOOOOHHH!!" Bypassing a full orchestra was one sure way to save a chunk of cash for the budget. Then in other, perhaps later, episodes, orchestral music replaced that humming, and the a cappella quartet only sang the theme song. I must admit that the humming contributed a rather corny element to the show.