"You fellers gonna draw them guns, or you gonna whistle 'Dixie'?"
"You fellers gonna draw them guns, or you gonna whistle 'Dixie'?"
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The latter half of the 19th century is one of the most fascinating periods of American history, and this fascination has been reflected by the plethora of Hollywood movies portraying these times. The Western is an American institution, and it’s not hard to fathom the reasons why. The growth of the boomtowns, fuelled by beef, gold and oil coincided with the introduction of new technology, particularly the telegraph and the camera. News could be brought to the big cities almost instantly, and stories could be illustrated with real pictures. This in itself created a need for drama, for heroes and villains and although the reality was dramatic enough, there was no story that couldn’t suffer a little embellishment. The legends grew.
The gunslinger, the sharpshooter or the lone lawman cleaning up the town with his trusty six-shooter all had a basis of truth but were wildly inaccurate, as were the firearms themselves. A cowboy armed with nothing but a handgun would be advised to be within ten feet of his intended target, beyond that and the lead could go anywhere. The preferred weapons were the rifle and the shotgun.
Jesse James, the most successful bank robber in American history, was reputed to have supernatural powers. Billy the Kid, aka ‘The Left-Handed Gun’ on the basis of a photograph printed back to front, was said to have killed twenty men; he was accused of killing twelve but there is only evidence for four. Butch and Sundance survived the massacre in Bolivia, returned to the States
and died at a comfortable old age. Wyatt Earp, with the help of his brothers and his ‘Colt Peacemaker’, cleaned up the West.
These, and other rumours, grew from a combination of cheap, sensationalistic journalism and the willingness of the protagonists to promote their own growing reputations. The film industry, with the benefit of the passing years, took greater and greater liberties, until the truth has been buried under a mountain of white hatted, square jawed, eagle eyed dead shot lawmen.
It is nice, therefore, when a film gets it right and portrays events (more or less) as they happened. ‘Tombstone’ is such a film. Not for the purist or the historian, it has too many small errors for them, but it makes up for this with an excellent script and some high class acting performances.
#~ The Story ~#
Wyatt Earp, ex lawman, arrives in Tombstone, Arizona, with his brothers Virgil and Morgan, intending to settle down and make some money. They buy a half share in a gaming house and meet up with an old friend, Doc Holliday. Doc is a degenerate gambler and drunkard with a hot temper and a reputation as a killer with knife or gun, but is also very loyal to his friends. A strange acquaintance for a lawman.
The town is virtually lawless, and the lawlessness is epitomised by a group of cattlemen come rustlers known as ‘The Cowboys’. Led by Ike and Bill Clanton and with Curly Bill Brocious and Johnny Ringo, they come up against the Earps on more than one occasion; threats are exchanged, tempers rise and it all culminates in the famous showdown at the O.K. Corral. When the smoke clears, three Cowboys are dead, Virgil and Morgan Earp and Doc Holliday are wounded and Wyatt is unscathed.
This begins a feud that will see Virgil crippled, Morgan shot dead and Wyatt and Doc exact deadly revenge.
#~ The Truth ~#
The truth is pretty much as portrayed in the film, although perhaps the line between good and bad is a little too clear-cut. Wyatt Earp was a respected lawman. He was also a professional gambler at a time when gambling was just another career, but he wasn’t above a little cheating when necessary. He also had a few skeletons in his cupboard relating to some past, rather dodgy, business deals. Wyatt wasn’t even a lawman in Tombstone until deputised by his brother Virgil, just before the gunfight. Virgil was the Marshall who wanted to clean up the town and instigated the incident at the O.K. Corral.
Doc Holliday, a former dentist, was a man who lived up to his reputation as a triggerman. Dying from tuberculosis, he was an authentic bad guy. Wanted for murder in several towns and states, he would back down to no one and settled arguments with speed and resolution. Having saved Wyatt’s life on a previous occasion, he was loyal to the end. At the O.K. Corral he was suspected of firing the first shot.
The Cowboys were, in the main, legitimate ranchers with a sideline of rustling. Some of the people who attached themselves to them, such as Bill Brocious and John Ringo were known killers.
#~ The Cast ~#
Kurt Russell plays Wyatt Earp, and does so with style. Russell can act when he wants to, when he doesn’t want to he makes another ‘Escape From N.Y.’, but in truth he doesn’t need to stretch himself. Looking mean and moody he gets to deliver some wonderful lines such as, “You have called down the thunder, I’m coming after you and Hell is riding behind me.”
Val Kilmer gets the plum part of Doc Holliday. Val Kilmer is cool. It’s what he does, from Iceman in ‘Top Gun’, through Jim Morrison in ‘The Doors’ to the Caped Crusader in ‘Batman Forever’. He plays Doc Holliday with a nice mixture of menace, pathos and black humour, and the scene where he faces down Johnny Ringo is a classic.
Johnny Ringo is a complex character, played with enthusiasm by Michael Biehn, and there are some other strong performances by Powers Boothe as Curly Bill Brocious and Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp.
Special mention must go to the moustaches in this film. Facial hair abounds in luxuriant growth. The men have every form of moustache known, sweeping Zapata’s, trim Errol Flynn’s, wispy Che Guevara’s and regimental Sergeant Major’s. The women have moustaches, babies have moustaches and the horses have moustaches. Director George P. Cosmatos uses the moustache as a metaphor. In one of the opening scenes we are shown a Mexican peasant with hair on each side of his upper lip, but nothing in between. This man is so poor he has had to sell the middle of his moustache to feed his family! Virgil Earp’s moustache was given it’s own dressing room and poor Sam Elliott is the only man to be nominated for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ to his own face fungus.
#~ Conclusion ~#
Excellent film, well cast and competently directed if a little slow in parts. It goes a long way to redress the balance of previous myths. Released in 1993, it does suffer in comparison with the Kevin Costner epic, ‘Wyatt Earp’ which was to follow a year later. The Costner film was a darker and more in depth look at the history of the Earp’s, whereas ‘Tombstone’ concentrates on the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and its aftermath. Both are superb films with excellent all round performances. Pay your money and take your choice.
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An excellent review, although some of the points you raised I beg to differ. The screenplay rearranged several of the actual minute details to make a good action story (for instance, it was actually Big Nose Kate, Doc's girlfriend, who witnessed the gunfight and not Josie), but I don't fault them for that because this is supposed to be entertainment. Mustaches were what was fashionable in 1881 and the make-up crew did an excellent job of the matching the actors to the actual people they were portraying. Having visited the actual town of Tombstone myself, I was most impressed by the art direction in this movie. It did an amazing job of recreating what it looked like during its heyday. It's too bad the Bird Cage Theatre still doesn't look like that.
Kevin Costner's interpretation just doesn't compare to Kurt Russell's. Costner may be a superior producer, but he's a miserable actor. He neither shows energy in his dialog nor appears in the moment. --AJF
paulc20001 26.12.2001 18:17
great op for a freat film ... although not a great wild west fan this was marvellous and have watched it several times ... definitely a classic
alexandrapontecaille 17.10.2001 09:49
seen the film recently and all u described is certainly present.
very good op
Alex
This Western has become a modest cult favourite since its release in 1993, when the film ... more
was met with mixed reviews but the performances of Kurt Russell (as Wyatt Earp) and especially Val Kilmer, for his memorably eccentric performance as the dying gun...
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Advantages: Entertaining, 9 hours of footage, 21 of The Undertakers greatest matches Disadvantages: I dont think that all of his greatest matches made it on to the DVD
![Tombstone [DVD] [1993]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78533505.jpg "Tombstone [DVD] [1993]")
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