Western RoundUp: Tombstone (1993)
Was the 1881 gunfight at the OK Corral the most-filmed true incident in Western film history?
I’ve never tried counting how many movies the gunfight appears in, but it’s a significant number. I’ve previously written here about four different films in which the gunfight (or Wyatt Earp) features; in a 2018 column I covered Frontier Marshal (1939), Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942), and Wichita (1955), and I also wrote a 2021 review of Hour of the Gun (1967).
This month we’ll return to the subject of the Earps and the Clantons with a look at Tombstone (1993) starring Kurt Russell as the famed lawman Wyatt Earp.
Wyatt’s brothers, Virgil and Morgan, are played by Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton, with Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.
This was my first viewing of Tombstone, which I’d frankly avoided in part due to my concern about the level of violence, given the R rating. And truth to tell, based on the advice of those who know my tastes, I didn’t watch the first few opening minutes of mayhem; instead I began the film at the point when Wyatt Earp arrives in Tombstone, Arizona. I’m glad my curiosity finally got the better of me, as I enjoyed the movie.
Tombstone covers much of the same ground as other films on Wyatt Earp and his brothers, including not only the famous gunfight but key events which follow. Part of what’s interesting about the Earp movies is what the individual films choose to include and their varied styles; each film has unique aspects while covering familiar ground.
The placement of the OK Corral gunfight in various narratives is especially interesting. In John Ford‘s My Darling Clementine (1946), the gun battle provides the climax of the movie, while Hour of the Gun takes a completely different approach: It’s how the movie begins!
In Tombstone the movie splits the difference and places the gunfight roughly halfway through the film’s 130-minute running time.
I found Tombstone a strong and memorable film which has numerous classic moments. I would not call the film itself a classic, for reasons I’ll go into below, but it’s a well-made film with much to recommend it.
Tombstone begins with the Earp brothers and their wives reuniting in Tombstone. Wyatt has retired from being a lawman, and the brothers intend to live quieter lives. But despite Wyatt’s protestations that he’s done with the law, he can’t resist the challenge of helping a saloon owner eject an unwanted faro dealer from his business.
The Earps make money in Tombstone, and in their free time they also enjoy watching a theatrical troupe whose players include Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany) and Fabian (Billy Zane). However, Tombstone is a wild town, and the murder of the town marshal (Harry Carey Jr.) by Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe) is but one reminder.
Eventually Virgil feels guilty about ignoring the plight of the townspeople at the hands of the Cowboys, a violent gang which includes the Clanton family; he accepts a job as marshal, which ultimately leads all three brothers and Wyatt’s good friend Doc Holliday to the gunfight.
As depicted in some of the other films on Earp lore which continue past the OK Corral, there is later retribution by the Cowboys against Wyatt’s brothers, followed by Wyatt and Doc hunting down the remaining members of the gang.
One of the things I liked best about Tombstone is the way it pulls together different bits and pieces of lore from past films; it’s natural that there’s repetition of story elements, but some of the moments almost seem like tributes to films which have gone before.
In particular, there’s a dancing theme with Wyatt and Josephine which of course calls to mind Henry Fonda and Cathy Downs‘ dance in My Darling Clementine; the Shakespearean actor and even one of the Earps sitting with his boots up on a fence also conjure up memories of the Ford classic.
The depiction of the point-blank shootout made me think of Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die, while the dead men in glassed-in caskets called to mind a scene Samuel Fuller‘s Earp-inspired Forty Guns (1957), which I wrote about here last year. Wyatt’s visits to the ill Doc at the sanitarium near movie’s end were strongly reminiscent of Hour of the Gun.
The film’s atmosphere is also greatly aided by its use of some of the great “faces” of Westerns past, including the previously mentioned Carey. Names like Pedro Armendariz Jr., Chris Mitchum, Don Collier, Buck Taylor, and Gary Clarke are threaded throughout the film in tiny roles, with the film itself narrated by Robert Mitchum.
Even Charlton Heston randomly shows up in a couple of scenes, though while he’s great, his appearance is a bit inexplicable. Heston’s memoir In the Arena, published shortly after Tombstone‘s release, offers no insight. I suspect there’s a story there worthy of future research having to do with the film changing directors while in production.
Kilmer rightly receives acclaim for his off-kilter performance as Doc Holliday; indeed, the fateful moment where he winks his eye at the OK Corral is perhaps the movie’s greatest moment, as Wyatt sees the resulting change in expression of their opponents and realizes what’s about to go down. It’s a real “Whoaaaa!” moment which makes the viewer sit up and take notice.
Russell is excellent playing a conflicted Wyatt, who warns his brothers killing someone won’t feel like they expect. And as a Sam Elliott fan from way back, I also loved him in a fairly large role as Virgil, though sadly a bit of the light goes out of the movie when he gets on the train for California about two-thirds of the way into the film.
And that’s really part of the movie’s overall problem, as the strong narrative structure falls apart a little in the last third or so of the film. At that juncture, Wyatt’s brothers are dead or gone, and, like Hour of the Gun, Wyatt and Doc spend the rest of the film hunting down the villains, periodically interrupted by moving scenes with the dying Doc.
Frankly it gets a bit tedious watching men riding around having gun battles, and the movie is a good ten minutes too long, punctuated with the occasional moments of brilliance, such as “Thanks for always being there, Doc.”
The film is quite modern in its “elliptical” storytelling, where we join the film mid-story and not everything is spelled out. Though it’s the current style, it’s also a bit problematic, as we’re left to ponder many questions for ourselves, such as why the brothers, as would-be settlers, don’t have a child among them, and there’s also a curious comment about where they “found” their wives.
Indeed, the brothers seem “betwixt and between” two worlds, often representing the law yet working in a rowdy gambling house; they’re married yet not precisely “family” men, and their wives are of questionable backgrounds.
We also wonder about the disappearance of Doc’s girlfriend Kate (Joanna Pacula), and Wyatt’s abandonment of his laudanum-addicted wife Mattie (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) also receives short shrift. He puts Mattie on the train to California with Virgil, Allie (Paula Malcomson), and Louisa (Lisa Collins), and that’s the end of that.
An end card mentions Mattie’s fate, though it doesn’t clarify exactly when it happens in conjunction to Wyatt beginning his relationship with Josephine.
Let’s just say I spent quite a while on Google after movie’s end trying to fill in the blanks. Again, that’s both a blessing and a curse, as I love when a film causes me to delve deeper into history, but there was an awful lot of time focused on men riding around shooting guns that could have instead been better spent on more character development.
That said, it was fascinating to learn of some unexpected things in the film which were actual history, rather than screenwriter Kevin Jarre’s creation, including the wounded Virgil telling his wife Allie not to worry, that he still had a good arm to hold her.
The film was directed by George P. Cosmatos, with writer Jarre doing uncredited direction of Heston’s scenes. The movie was filmed by William A. Fraker and scored by Bruce Broughton (Silverado).
The excellent cast also includes Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Priestley, John Corbett, Jon Tenney, Michael Biehn, Thomas Haden Church, Stephen Lang, and Frank Stallone.
The year after Tombstone was released, Kevin Costner starred in the title role in Wyatt Earp (1994), which I plan to review here at a future date along with Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957).
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– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub
Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns. She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals. Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.
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Jarre was the original director, but was fired after several weeks, as he was taking too long. His script was pared down by Russell, who actually directed, Cosmatos, serving as his ‘ghost director, Russell giving him hand signals after they’d conversed the night before.
This actually to me is like a gangster film in the West.
Good review, Laura. Coincidentally, last night I read a quote by John Ford in the book “Forties Film Talk.”
He said he knew Wyatt Earp. Back in the silent film days, Ford was a prop boy, and Earp would come to the sets to visit his cowboy pals. He told Ford about the fight at the O.K. Corral. “So in My Darling Clementine we did it exactly the way it had been,” said Ford. “They didn’t just walk up the street and starting banging away at each other; it was a clever military maneuver.”
I thought Topmbstoen was jsut shy of definitive in capturing the spirit of the time and character of Holliday and the Earps. I do know there were creative problems along the way, and probably in the editing, which left Dana Delaney’s Josie up in the air. On the other hand, a good actress-miscast, but at least they tried. I saw this twice on release and have owned the Blu ray for some time. Well worth seeing again. My question:
Where is Wyatt now, we need him again.
Laura, I really enjoyed your good write-up on TOMBSTONE(1993). I think you wrote a fair and balanced review of what I think is a really good handclapping Western Movie. I’m glad that your curiosity got the best of you, and you enjoyed the movie.
Yes, TOMBSTONE covered a lot of the same ground that previous Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday movies have, but this movie is more accurate to the real Historical story than any of the ones that came before. Although, it’s not completely accurate either, as we all know dramatic movies aren’t documentaries and we don’t ask them to be. We like to be entertained, but I think it’s nice when moviemakers attempt to be accurate for the most part. Anyway, I think the Earp/Holliday legend is still firmly in place and I think that is a good thing.
With you, I also like the way that TOMBSTONE pays tribute to earlier movies based on the same subject matter. Also, there’re tributes in the casting of the movie. The tribute in the casting of Harry Carey, Jr. as Tombstone Marshal Fred White. His father Harry Carey, Sr. portrayed the like Doc Holliday character of Ed Brandt in LAW AND ORDER(filmed 1931, released 1932). His mother Olive Carey portrayed Mrs. Clanton, mother of the Clanton brothers, in GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL(filmed 1956, released 1957). Before Kurt Russell was cast as Wyatt Earp, his father Bing Russell was in the GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL as Harry the Fort Griffin, Texas saloon bartender. Wyatt Earp’s fifth Cousin Glenn Wyatt Earp, known as Wyatt Earp III, was cast as Billy Claiborne in TOMBSTONE.
The accuracy of the street fight near the O.K. Corral was the best since TOMBSTONE: THE TOWN TO TOUGH TO DIE(filmed 1941, released 1942), and this is because of historical consulate Jeff Forey, whose brain had been picked for historical accuracy by Kevin Jarre for his gem of a screenplay. Jarre’s screenplay was a large reason for this wonderful dream cast wanting to be in the movie. After Jarre was fired as the director, John Fasano as script doctor was brought in by the producers to cut and make revisions of what they thought was an unwieldy script. The beginning of the movie that was used wasn’t in Jarre’s script and a lot of the hurried horse riding and shooting during the vendetta was added. Even with many pages of Jarre’s script deleted and pared down the first cut of the movie still came in at almost three hours. So, more cuts were made. From what I’ve read a lot of the Earp wives and Kate Elder’s scenes were cut and Hugh O’Brian’s role as a wagon master offering to help Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday during the vendetta ride was completely cut. Hugh O’Brian’s role was another tribute to what had come before TOMBSTONE. To most of my generation because of ABC-TV’s THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP(1955-61) Hugh O’Brian was Wyatt Earp.
Laura, did you view the 130-minute version of TOMBSTONE or one of the longer versions? In 1994 there was a LaserDisc released which ran for 136 minutes and in 2002 the Vista Series DVD was released at 135 minutes. I know that you think the movie that you viewed was at least 10 minutes to long, but I think sometimes a movie can be too short. Makes me wonder about that almost three-hour version. Kurt Russell has been asked about that first cut, and he said that he still had all the film, and he might someday see what he could do with it. Who knows?
There is a detailed book titled THE MAKING OF TOMBSTONE: BEHIND THE SCENES OF THE CLASSIC MODERN WESTERN(2018) written by John Farkis. I think I would like to read it someday, because it sounds very interesting.
After all is said and done, I think TOMBSTONE is a near great Western Movie, especially if the first five minutes were deleted and the last 10-15 minutes were redone in a more fleshed out way. I think the movie has a lot going for it in the sets, costumes, the casting of so many talented actors, the photography of William A. Fraker, and I could go on. I would really like to see the almost three-hour version, and we might someday. In the field of Earpiana, I think that TOMBSTONE is the best visual telling of the story yet.
Laura, I realize that I’ve rambled on long enough, but I’ve been interested in this story most of my life, ever since I first viewed Hugh O’Brian in THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP in syndicated reruns during the 1960’s and reading the book WYATT EARP U.S. MARSHAL(1956) written by Stewart H. Holbrook when I was nine years old. Fact is, I recall looking at the book’s neat illustrations by Ernest Richardson before I learned how to read.
Here is what I think is a good and interesting article from the editors of TRUE WEST MAGAZINE(January 21, 2022.
https://truewestmagazine.com/article/tombstone-on-the-cutting-room-floor/
Good choice of film to concentrate on, Laura. I enjoy all the Earp movies you listed at the start of your review. Then, of course, there are the films obviously based on Earp and Holliday without using their names, such as “MARSHAL OF MESA CITY ” (1939) or “THE KANSAN” to name just two (quite a few more).
I shall be very interested to read your thoughts on the two films you will be covering next. Sturges’ 1957 “GUNFIGHT…..” was very successful and , I believe, rightly so even if less accurate than later versions.
Then we come to Lawrence Kasdan’s “WYATT EARP” with Kevin Costner. It is presumably pure coincidence that 2 Earp films were being made virtually concurrently but opinions generally always seem to give “TOMBSTONE” the edge whereas I favour Costner’s film personally (I like both a lot and have BluRays of both). “WYATT EARP” is broader in scope and I think that works very well. Plus, I like Costner who has given importance to the western genre several times in his film career.
I await the next instalment eagerly!
Tombstone is my favorite of all time, particularly the good doctor.j
Thanks for your review of ‘Tombstone’. It is one of my favorite modern westerns. I’ve read Kevin Jarre’s original script and it was an epic. A miniseries would have been great but at least we have this wonderful film with so many great performances.
My thought, exactly.
Thank you, Laura, for an interesting review. For an interesting read of the history of the gunfight, the economic and social history of the west with a focus on Tombstone, see “And Die in the West: the Story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” by Paula Mitchell Marks (University of Oklahoma Press 1996). There are several things from the book that I quote – one about the gunfight actually taking place at “the vacant lot next to Fly’s Photo Shop” and another about an attorney peripherally involved in the gunfight paying a contempt citation several days before the fight.
I thought Kilmer’s presentation of Doc Holiday was excellent – very much brought to life. Holliday died in his bed at the Hotel Glenwood Springs, in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The hotel burned to the ground in 1945; the location is now Bullocks, a western goods store. Bullocks preserved a portion of the foundation of the hotel and the basement area is where it maintains a museum decimated to Holiday.
Please edit the last line of the comment to replace “decimated” with “dedicated”.