Tombstone (1993)

[bgmnts]

What a top film eh? There was a few good revisionist westerns in this period I feel; Unforgiven, Quick and the Dead, and Dances with Wolves, but Tombstone is most definitely my favourite.

It feels sort of traditional but attempts some level of moral ambiguity, seems historically detailed in terms of set design and costume design, and overall just some great characters (in a film with Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Michael Rooker, and of course Val Kilmer, that's inevitable).

Val Kilmer steals the show as Doc Holliday: a larger than life almost mythological portrayal of this Byronic hero. He perfectly delivers one of my favourite OOMF lines in any film:

Jack Johnson: Doc, you ought to be in bed. What the hell you doin' this for, anyway?

Doc Holliday:Wyatt Earp is my friend.

Jack Johnson: Hell, I've got lots of friends.

Doc Holliday:I don't.

The love story in it feels a bit naff but the main story involving the ambiguous feud between the Earps and the Cowboys is still quite engaging.

Anyone else love this film?

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

It's a great movie, but can it really be called revisionist? It's a few years since I last watched it, so my memory is a little hazy, but it felt very much like a case of "print the legend". The Cowboys are a bunch of cowardly degenerates, while the Earps and Holiday are the most badass posse that ever lived. Not surprising, given that Kurt Russell named his own son Wyatt.

[Mister Six]

Haven't seen it for yonks, but I recall the events of the film (though perhaps not the characterisation?) being surprisingly accurate, up until they kill 10 billion people in a huge montage.

[bgmnts]

It's a great movie, but can it really be called revisionist? It's a few years since I last watched it, so my memory is a little hazy, but it felt very much like a case of "print the legend". The Cowboys are a bunch of cowardly degenerates, while the Earps and Holiday are the most badass posse that ever lived. Not surprising, given that Kurt Russell named his own son Wyatt.

Yeah probably not in the same league as the others in those terms, but I feel there is just enough in terms of the ambiguity of the law to make you think.

Russell doesn't come across like a John Wayne type to me in the film.

[shoulders]

It's camp hysterical trash but highly entertaining like a lot of Kurt Russell films.

[Dex Sawash]

I like this film quite a lot.

Thanks for reading my thoughts about Tombstone (1993)

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

1994's Wyatt Earp was on telly yesterday. I only saw a bit of it, so the comparison is as unfair as it is unavoidable, but it doesn't come out well. That Kevin Costner isn't a patch on Kurt Russell is no surprise, but I would have at least hoped Dennis Quaid would have acquired himself well as Doc Holliday. He doesn't even cough as well as Val Kilmer.

[Dex Sawash]

You'll want to get straight onto Wynnona Earp next