A colourful and vigorous retelling of a familiar tale.

What may be seen by some as clichéd and unoriginal is also a very old-fashioned but thoroughly enjoyable Western.

In contrast to My Darling Clementine and Gunfight at the OK Corral, the fabled showdown, seen about two- thirds of the way through, isn't the climax of the story, but the start of a small war between the avenging Earp and the baddies, led by Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe - very effective).

Kurt Russell looks and sounds the part more than any other screen Earp, helped in no small measure by costuming and his courage in growing a magnificent Earp-like moustache.

There's also vigorous 'tache-wearing from Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as brothers Virgil and Morgan.

Val Kilmer makes Doc Holliday the fine Southern gent he was and coughs with consumptive conviction.

Wonderful photography and a fine sense of period help to make this an entertaining action film: not as accurate as the Kevin Costner Wyatt Earp perhaps, but, taking a quote from another great Western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance: `When the legend becomes the fact, print the legend.'