Tombstone (DVD)

...and rid the town of Tombstone of them once and for all.


With the release of Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" in 1992, and a resurgence in the demand for Cowboy movies, it came as no surprise, when in 1993 Tombstone was released, a Hollywood take on the legendary lives of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. In true Hollywood style, they threw bucket loads of money into the big production and lined up some big names to star. ...
...gun fighter, who moved to Tombstone to rest in the warmth which was more amiable to his ill health caused by Tuberculosis. We get to understand the bond between Wyatt and Doc, which is as strong as that between him and his brothers. Then there is the romantic tale between Wyatt and the leading lady from the travelling players, plus the problems which he has with his wife. Last but not least, is the storyline focusing on the brotherly love of the ... more

It's 1879, and after making his name as a revered law man in Dodge City, Wyatt Earp and his brothers, Virgil and Morgan, along with their wives, head for the town of Tombstone, Arizona in search of a fresh start. With the goal of making their fortunes in the prospering Tombstone, they soon come to realise that the town is under the control by a ruthless band of killers known as the Cowboys, leady by Curly Bill. Courted by the local authorities in an attempt to persuade the legendary law man to come out of retirement, Wyatt point blankly refuses to become involved as he longs to create a new life for himself. After taking over the gambling tables in a saloon, he seems to be getting his wishes, especially when old friend Doc Holliday roles into town, suffering from Tuberculosis but looking for somewhere to rest.

Shortly after their arrival in Tombstone, a group of touring theatrical player's role into town, whose stunning leading lady catches the eye of the married Wyatt. A friendship grows between them, as Wyatt enjoys her fun loving company as well as her beautiful looks. Plus he despairs at his wife, who is heavily addicted to over the counter drugs.

When the town's Marshall is killed by Curly Bill, Virgil and Morgan feel it is their duty to step into the fray and take over as the law of Tombstone. Not only does their new policies on guns cause unrest with all the citizens, but also causes unrest between Wyatt and his brothers as he still refuses to go back to being a law man. But with the Cowboys on a mission to cause Virgil and Morgan as many problems as possible, Wyatt has no other option but to join them as a law man along with the help of Doc Holliday.

After a stormy night, where not only are the wives of the Earp brother's threatened by a masked gun man, but one of the Earp brother's is killed and another is seriously wounded. It is up to the remaining brother and Doc Holliday to take revenge against the Cowboys and rid the town of Tombstone of them once and for all.

With the release of Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven" in 1992, and a resurgence in the demand for Cowboy movies, it came as no surprise, when in 1993 Tombstone was released, a Hollywood take on the legendary lives of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. In true Hollywood style, they threw bucket loads of money into the big production and lined up some big names to star. The actual line up is very impressive, even by today's standards, with appearances from stars both new and old. The film itself, although a western, is unlike your typical Spaghetti Westerns, as the big budget has allowed for an extravaganza of sights and sounds. Although it is a highly entertaining film, and keeps your attention for its whole 2 hour duration, it lacks the depth and moodiness of other films from this genre.

The storyline itself is very good and uses multiple plots to build up the complete picture. The main element of the film is the trouble between the Cowboys and Wyatt Earp, which is worked brilliantly with an initial build up which leads to the tension between them and of course onto numerous shoot outs. Alongside this, you have the storyline of Doc Holliday, the legendary gun fighter, who moved to Tombstone to rest in the warmth which was more amiable to his ill health caused by Tuberculosis. We get to understand the bond between Wyatt and Doc, which is as strong as that between him and his brothers. Then there is the romantic tale between Wyatt and the leading lady from the travelling players, plus the problems which he has with his wife. Last but not least, is the storyline focusing on the brotherly love of the Earp brothers as they try to make a new start in Tombstone. This amount of different storylines maybe the reason why none of them are explored to great depths, but they all entwine brilliantly and provide a thoroughly entertaining movie for both fans of westerns as well as the general film loving public.

It is no surprise that there are numerous gun fight and brawling scenes, and in typical western tradition, the film's opening sequence includes one which sets the mood and pace of the film. All of the shootouts are brilliantly choreographed, although occasionally let down by some ridiculous posing by the leading stars. The gruesomeness of the shootouts is usually left to your imagination, but there is just the right amount of blood and guts to make the film realistic and when you do see the splatter of blood it is extremely effective. One of the best choreographed scenes, which is boiling with tension, is in fact not a shootout scene. It involves the Cowboys chief guns man, Johnny Ringo, trying to intimidate Doc in a crowded saloon with his gun dexterity, as he spins his pistols round his hands. Doc Holliday responds by imitating him using his empty drinking mug, to the rapture of the crowd.

As I mentioned before, the line up of stars in this film is truly staggering. In the lead role of Wyatt Earp is Kurt Russell (Overboard) and once you get passed his ridiculous moustache, he actually puts in a very good performance as the legendary law man. He manages to mix moodiness with occasional light heartedness to create a very good modern interpretation of the legend. Although Russell had the lead role, Val Kilmer (Top Gun) steals the show, with his outstanding portrayal of the terminally ill Doc Holliday. Not only was Kilmer extremely effective at portraying the cold hearted killing side of Holliday's character but also was brilliant at demonstrating the ravages of Tuberculosis on his health. In my opinion, this is Val Kilmer's best performance to date, even surpassing his performance as Jim Morrison in "The Doors".

As well as Russell and Kilmer you have Sam Elliot (Roadhouse) as Virgil Earp and Bill Paxton (Apollo 13) as Morgan Earp. Both of which, put in solid performances, with Elliot looking amazingly at home as an old time law man. Then you have Powers Boothe (Sin City) as Curly Bill Brocious and Michael Biehn (The Terminator) as gun slinger, Johnny Ringo. In all honesty, Boothe is not as effective as Biehn as playing the villain and at times comes across as more of a joke than evil. Also making appearances in the film in lesser roles are Charlton Heston, Jason Priestley, Jon Tenney, Dana Delany, Billy Zane, Michael Rooker, Jon Corbett and Billy Bob Thornton as well as Wyatt Earp a distant relative of the original Wyatt Earp.

Tombstone was directed by George P. Cosmatos who had previously directed Rambo: First Blood Part II and Cobra. Amazingly, Cosmatos has taken the western theme and mixed in aspects of action movies to create a film which will appeal to modern audiences. This is the key to the general appeal of Tombstone as it is a very enjoyable action-western which doesn't overly dwell on the historical references. The film itself is actually reasonably historically accurate with its portrayal of Wyatt as a law man who had a penchant for gambling and in the illness which Doc Holliday was suffering. Where it does use poetic licence is in its portrayal of the Cowboys as purely a band of drunken killers, where in reality they were a large bunch of cattle rustlers.

The soundtrack to the film was composed by Bruce Broughton and like the film is a very big production, with many orchestral pieces which pay homage to the music of early western movies. At times the soundtrack is more inspiring than the film itself, but in general it is very well matched up and adds a significant amount to the telling of the story.

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The Cast
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Kurt Russell .... Wyatt Earp
Val Kilmer .... Doc Holliday
Sam Elliott .... Virgil Earp
Bill Paxton .... Morgan Earp
Powers Boothe .... Curly Bill Brocious
Michael Biehn .... Johnny Ringo
Charlton Heston .... Henry Hooker
Jason Priestley .... Deputy Billy Breckinridge
Jon Tenney .... John Behan
Dana Delany .... Josephine Marcus
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson .... Mattie Blaylock Earp
Michael Rooker .... Sherman McMasters
Harry Carey Jr. .... Tombstone Marshal Fred White
Billy Bob Thornton .... Johnny Tyler
Billy Zane .... Mr. Fabian
John Corbett .... Barnes
Frank Stallone .... Ed Bailey
Wyatt Earp .... Billy Claiborne

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Technical Details
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Genre: Western/ Action/ Drama
Certificate: 15
Length: 120 mins
Originally released: 1993
Language: English
Sub Titles: English
Ratio: Widescreen

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Conclusion

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Although Tombstone is in no way as good as the Spaghetti Westerns featuring Clint Eastwood, it is in it's own right a very good film and has got better with age. Through it's big budget style production and it's cavalcade of popular stars, it manages to make the cowboy theme more appealing to a much wider audience. In particular, the scene stealing performance by Val Kilmer makes this film very special and although Kevin Costner went on to release his version of the Wyatt Earp story the following year, Tombstone remains my favourite out of the two.

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Price and Availability
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Amazon - £5.97
Play.com - £6.99
Tesco.com - £14.24
Whsmith - £11.39
 

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