A fun fact: No one had heard of Earp until the late 1920's when a movie was made of him.I was actually thinking of starting a whole sub-forum but let's see how much interest we get.
Well we were talking about which movie portrayed Wyatt Earp in the most accurate light.
In the movie Tombstone Wyatt Earp was portrayed as a noble law man that has resettled in Tombstone to seek not fame but fortune and especially to leave the badge behind.
In the movie Wyatt Earp, Earp is portrayed as someone who viewed Tombstone as a place where a law man can make real money.
The reality is that both movies left out A LOT of history with regards to Wyatt. Probably because no one would watch a 7 hour movie but also because a lot of what Earp did was not really "Hollywood" acceptable. He certainly wasn't the "Hollywood Hero" he made himself out to be on all of the sets of the original movies back in the 20's and 30's.
For example Wyatt's formative years were pretty wild. From being a coachman to a buffalo hunter... Even before he married his first wife, he was a frequent pimp and body guard to the ladies of the night. And he actually married a couple of them. Wyatt was engaged in just about everything, from prostitution, horse thievery and prize fighting (both fighting and refereeing). This continued after Priscilla's death until which point he was going to be hanged for stealing a horse and he "Straightened" his life out. All he really did was quit drinking because he went on as a law man in Dodge but also had several side businesses in transport, saloons and brothels.
Tombstone wasn't Wyatt's first option for riches. He tried Deadwood. Not for the gold but for timber to sell to the miners. Unfortunately all the trees on the timber lease he had were green so him and Morgan did a little more buffalo hunting before making their way into Tombstone.
Once there the Earp brothers wasted no time in becoming the law. The law in those days meant everything. Controlled everything. They were the original mafia and only a very select few can be pointed to as having been completely "clean".
The most famous lawmen of the west... Wyatt Earp, Bat Masterson, Bill Hickock, Bill Tilghman... These were all men who were professional gunfighters but figured out how to do it legally. Then reaped all of the rewards of being a gunfighter on top of the rewards for being lawmen. Then all of the backend $#@! they were involved in.
Wyatt, when he and his brothers moved down into Tombstone came across an ingrained criminal entity ironically called "The Cowboys". They were literally like the Bloods or Crips. Just a bunch of dudes who when they weren't doing normal duties as cowboys were rustling cattle, mostly from Mexico, but also involved in robberies of trains and stages. They were basically a rival mafia gang and the Earps were moving in on them only they had badges.
Well their shared criminal activities inevitably ran into each other. The ranchers started to pay the Earps money directly to take a special interest in making sure their herds were protected. So they did. Which directly conflicted with the Cowboy's operation.
Lots of words were said and the gunfight at the OK Corall was the result. It's what happened after that gunfight that really sums up who Wyatt Earp was. You see after the gunfight...Morgan Earp was assassinated while playing pool in a bar. After his younger brother was killed Wyatt exercised the most blatant and visibile abuse of the law utilizing his status as a Marshall to hunt down and kill those suspected of his brother's murder.
After that he lit out to California and laid low until all the warrants kinda just died away.
Wyatt Earp wasn't an American hero. He was just smart and tough enough to make the law work for him in a lawless land.