I Am Your Huckleberry
 Mar 7th, 2001
Advantages:
Kilmer's And Russell's Performances
Disadvantages:
Badly Directed
Recommendable:
Yes
Detailed rating:
Did you enjoy it?
Story
Characters / Performances
Special Effects
How does it compare to similar films?
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  Sid76
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Member since:31.01.2001
Reviews:59
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Review rated by 8 Ciao members on average: very helpful 
There are a lot of factors that, sometimes can make a great Western -- director, actors and script are the most obvious. More often than not, it has to be the combination of those three. Tombstone combines two of these three elements, brilliant acting and an interesting script, part mythical and part updated realism. Unfortunately, in the hands of director Cosmatos, this combination produces not magic but, against the odds and Val Kilmer's best acting efforts, a mediocrity. The film begins rather ignoring history. The Tombstone area is controlled by a red scarf-wearing band of 100 outlaws called the Cowboys. Into town ride the Earp brothers and family, where they meet up with Wyatt's long time friend Doc Holiday (Val Kilmer). Wyatt (Kurt Russell) and Virgil (Sam Elliott) are retired lawmen determined to turn their energies towards commerce. But the continued violence of the Cowboys finally drives them back into the arms of the law.
The narrative is random but punctuated by brilliant action scenes, rather than constructed of them. In the face of all logic, the focus is constantly on one man and the indignities he suffers until, finally, he has been so wronged that any vengeance is warranted. We are constantly moved from exposition to romance to some great action scenes, lacking both good storytelling and poetry. This is not an evolving story, this is a rather poorly put together, badly explained and tied together story, that just goes on for way too long. This said, Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday and Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp almost win over the 'off the point' narrative and unnecessary slow paced drama.
As the jaded poetry writing killer, Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday is amazing, truly an outlaw of legend. Kurt Russell is so much better than the film is potraying him, you almost feel sorry for him. In general, the cast is splendid and there are some truly classic scenes here -- especially a confrontation between Doc Holliday and leader of the Cowboys - Johnny Ringo. But the film is inconsistent, there are two or three peaks but no climax. It focuses more on modernising the action scenes than on historical accuracy. Worse than that, for every scene Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell excel themselves and keep the film moving along, the director Cosmatos, seemingly hacks their ground work apart by his ludicrous slow paced drama fetish. But if you really love Westerns, despite its faults, it's got to be a must for Val Kilmer and Kurt Russell's performances alone.
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![Tombstone [DVD] [1993]](http://images.ciao.com/ide/images/icons/no_pic_generic_S1.gif)
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Tombstone [DVD] [1993]
This Western has become a modest cult favourite since its release in 1993, when ...
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£ 14.91
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 719 Ratings
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18.01.2004 22:19
I sorely disagree with your assessment of this movie, but you explained your reasons for downrating this excellent movie well. No one can please everyone. I just can't help thinking that you're confusing this with Kevin Costner's WYATT EARP, which--running over three hours--really was tediously slow and bogged down with details a general audience could care less about. --AJF