Tombstone easily makes for a handsome, entertaining western. It’s based off of the events in Tombstone, Arizona, from 1881-1882, and the story of the battle between the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday versus ‘the Cowboys’, a band of thugs and criminals. Here is an entertaining and yet somewhat shallow western that comes in with style and bravado.
When Tombstone was released to cinemas in 1993, it met competition in Wyatt Earp, a three-hour long epic directed by Lawrence Kasdan and starring Kevin Costner in the title role. Between the two, Wyatt Earp obviously focuses more on the titular character, while Tombstone focuses upon many, chiefly Earp and Doc Holliday, and the events surrounding the town of Tombstone.
Between the two, Tombstone is the better casted, the more focused and the better paced, though Wyatt Earp is slightly the more historically accurate. I think it’s safe to assume that Tombstone is a pure Hollywood film, as it contains all the ingredients a pure Hollywood film needs.
Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer star as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday respectively. Also joining their team are Virgil Earp (Sam Elliot) and Morgan Earp (Bill Paxton). Lining up against them are a band of ruthless thugs called ‘the Cowboys’, led by Curly Bill Brocious (Powers Booth), Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) and Ike Clanton (Stephen Lang).
Both movies, referring to Tombstone and Wyatt Earp, feature ensemble casts, though, like I just said, Tombstone is arguably the better casted between the two. Though Russell is almost miscast as Wyatt, he gives a fine though not memorable performance. Kilmer undoubtedly gives the best performance as Holliday, dying gunslinger who remains Wyatt’s true friend. Charlton Heston makes a special appearance as an aging ranch owner who helps the Earp, while Robert Mitchum narrates at the beginning and the end of the film.
I said above that Tombstone is a Hollywood film, a pure Hollywood film. The first half of the film makes for a very respectable western, but after the turning point at the Gunfight at the OK Corral, we pretty much get gunfight after gunfight, shootout after shootout. In other words, Tombstone can at times be a shoot em up type of western.
By the time the credits roll, Tombstone really belongs to its two leading stars Russell and Kilmer, not the director George P. Cosmatos, or the western history it’s portraying.
Nevertheless, I should add that Tombstone is still not overlong, evenly paced and quite entertaining, and definitely more so then its competitor.
*** ½ /5
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