Wyatt Earp: American Experience

As a young man, Wyatt Earp was a caricature of the Western lawman, spending his days drinking in saloons, gambling, visiting brothels and gaining notoriety as the legendary gunman in the shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona.

Shortly after his death in 1929, distressed Americans down on their luck transformed Wyatt Earp into a folk hero: a central figure in the American narrative of how the west was won, a man who took control of his own destiny.

Wyatt Earp, Tuesday at 10 p.m. on PBS-HD.

American Experience