September 1, 2024
Well, it's time to take stock of where we've been and where we're headed in the latest installment of:
When it comes to the new Netflix show "Wyatt Earp And The Cowboy War" here's some of the feedback I'm getting from my friends:
"I've got to think you've gotten at least a whiff of all the hand wringing and bellyaching coming from our colleagues and fellow western history enthusiasts about the many historical inaccuracies in the Netflix docuseries 'Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War.' What a travesty, they say, that viewers, especially impressionable youth, are being misled, that the truth of the past is taking a beating. I would like to ask these same critics, though, how many of them first took an interest in the Old West after reading Walter Noble Burns or Stuart Lake? How many were enthralled by films such as 'My Darling Clementine,' 'The Searchers,' 'The Alamo,' or 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'? How many were glued to their TV sets each week when 'The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp' and 'Davy Crockett' aired? As you well know, Bob, all these books, movies, and TV shows I've mentioned are littered with historical inaccuracies, but they entertained. And, more importantly, they caused many viewers to want to know more about these Old West subjects, to read a book, buy a history magazine, visit a historic site. Some of these viewers/fans even became historians and authors! So far, 'Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War' is among the top ten TV shows on Netflix. It's garnered more than four million views, and the reviews in the media have been overwhelmingly positive. The audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 84% fresh. I'm guessing that a significant portion of the audience is learning for the first time about the Earps and the street fight on Fremont (otherwise known -- inaccurately, us historians never tire of pointing out -- as the gunfight at the O.K. Corral). I wonder, then, how many of these Netflix viewers will now do a Google search for Wyatt Earp? A YouTube search for the O.K. Corral? How many will find Casey Tefertiller's biography or Bob Boze Bell's illustrated history online or at their local library? How many will include Tombstone on their next summer vacation? How many will discover the Wild West History Association and become a member? Instead of nerding out on all the historical errors, everyone who has a love for the Old West and its history should be thanking their lucky stars that this Netflix series, warts and all, was made and is so successful. I know I sure am."
—Mark Lee Gardner, best selling author who coincidently has a new book coming out on the friendship between Doc & Wyatt
Not that it matters a whole hell of a lot, but I'm thoroughly enjoying this latest version of the Earp/Tombstone saga. And not that anybody gives a crap, but the one and only time I visited Tombstone, I was HUGLY disappointed ! Even though, you BBB warned me that I might be disappointed. I'll take this new Netflix version over the real town any day. And as is the case of all history....good or bad, the very fact that you're diving in is what it's all about.
ReplyDeleteI admit my interest began when Tombstone was first released and it caused a mania that led me to devour any bit of information on the subject, from John Meyer Meyer's entertaining look at Doc to And Die In The West, one of the better efforts trying to make sense of 30 seconds that nobody , even those that were there, seem to be sure about. I tend to do this a lot, so I assume others do so as well, stumble across a gateway drug and go crazy, starting with little discernment and ending up a near scholar. I can talk for hours on things like Custer, the Earps, and have walked the ground in both cases! A visit to Lincoln is on my bucket list so I can experience that as well, so we are all in good company.
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