Kevin Costner's Notorious '90s Western Flop Is Streaming On Netflix

Kevin Costner has directed and starred in some of the best Westerns of all time, as well as a few underwhelming bombs like "Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter I." By and large, though, he delivers more hits than misses. However, some movies that initially seemed like hits on paper turned out to be flops, which brings us to Lawrence Kasdan's "Wyatt Earp," which is currently streaming on Netflix.

"Wyatt Earp" should have been a success in theory. The film sees Costner — a major star in the '90s — playing an Old West legend. He's also joined by an all-star cast that includes Gene Hackman, Mark Harmon, Michael Madsen, Bill Pullman, Dennis Quaid, and the late Catherine O'Hara, so attracting big-name talent wasn't the project's biggest issue. 

Sadly, the movie earned mediocre reviews and underperformed at the box office, failing to even recoup its $63 million production budget. Plus, it was released one year after "Tombstone" — a far superior Western about Earp — and audiences only gravitated toward one of them.

Quaid believes Costner's "Wyatt Earp" failed because of its three-hour runtime, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing when it comes to Westerns. There are fans out there who love an epic adventures in the Old West, and Costner's flick fits the bill in that regard — even if it isn't as good as "Tombstone."

The downside of two similar movies being released months apart is that they will inevitably be compared to each other. What's more, any 1994 Western about Wyatt Earp was going to play second fiddle to "Tombstone." After all, the 1993 classic is widely regarded as one of the most entertaining Westerns ever made — designed as a crowd-pleaser, albeit one that appeals to genre fans as well. 

By contrast, "Wyatt Earp" is more suited to the tastes of Western movie aficionados and history buffs. The story follows the eponymous character from his childhood years toward his days as one of the West's greatest gunslingers, which is an ambitious, but not always action-packed. "Wyatt Earp" invites viewers to bask in the time period and get to know the characters — and it's all the more absorbing for it. 

Despite its poor box office performance and negative critical reception, Costner is proud of "Wyatt Earp," and he has fond memories of working on the movie. As he explained in an interview with People:

"I loved making 'Wyatt Earp' with Lawrence Kasdan and our cinematographer, Owen Roizman. It was beautiful. That movie took about 113 days to make. I loved living in that era."

Now that it's on Netflix, why not give "Wyatt Earp" another chance? And if you do, try not to compare it to "Tombstone." Both movies are great in their own way, but Costner's unsung gem deserves more respect than it gets.