Plot
A successful lawman's plans to retire anonymously in Tombstone, Arizona, are disrupted by the kind of outlaws he was famous for eliminating.
Release Year: 1993
Rating: 7.7/10 (53,818 voted)
Director:
George P. Cosmatos
Stars: Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott
Storyline After success cleaning up Dodge City, Wyatt Earp moves to Tombstone, Arizona, and wishes to get rich in obscurity. He meets his brothers there, as well as his old friend Doc Holliday. A band of outlaws that call themselves The Cowboys are causing problems in the region with various acts of random violence, and inevitably come into confrontation with Holliday and the Earps, which leads to a shoot-out at the OK Corral.
Cast: Kurt Russell
-
Wyatt Earp
Val Kilmer
-
Doc Holliday
Sam Elliott
-
Virgil Earp
Bill Paxton
-
Morgan Earp
Powers Boothe
-
Curly Bill Brocius
Michael Biehn
-
Johnny Ringo
Charlton Heston
-
Henry Hooker
Jason Priestley
-
Billy Breckinridge
Jon Tenney
-
Behan
Stephen Lang
-
Ike Clanton
Thomas Haden Church
-
Billy Clanton
Dana Delany
-
Josephine Marcus
Paula Malcomson
-
Allie Earp
Lisa Collins
-
Louisa Earp
Dana Wheeler-Nicholson
-
Mattie Earp
Taglines:
Justice Is Coming
Release Date: 25 December 1993
Filming Locations: Arizona, USA
Box Office Details
Budget: $25,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $6,454,752
(USA)
(26 December 1993)
Gross: $56,505,065
(USA)
(1994)
Technical Specs
Runtime:|
USA:
(director's cut)
Did You Know?
Trivia:
When the Earps first enter Tombstone, a grave marker can be seen in the cemetery that reads "Here lies Lester Moore, Four slugs from a .44, No Les No more." There is an actual tombstone in Tombstone, Arizona that has that epitaph.
Goofs:
Anachronisms:
The first scene with Doc Holiday shows a mural on the back wall, which appears to be taken from images in Salvador Dali's Dream woken by the sting of a bayonet, painted in 1944.
Quotes:
[first lines]
Narrator:
1879 - the Civil War is over, and the resulting economic explosion spurs the great migration west. Farmers, ranchers, prospectors, killers, and thieves seek their fortune. Cattle growers turn cow towns into armed camps, with murder rates higher than than those of modern day New York or Los Angeles...
User Review
A Terrific Homage to Classic Westerns!
Rating:
TOMBSTONE, one of two epic westerns about Wyatt Earp released within a few
months of each other (1993-94) lacks the lyrical, 'warts-and-all' quality
of
Kevin Costner's WYATT EARP, but is a more successful film, with tighter
pacing, more clearly drawn characters, and a reverence to the genre that
has
made it the most popular Western of the last twenty years.
From the opening scene, narrated by the legendary Robert Mitchum, a nod to
the great Hollywood Westerns of the past is evident; a gang of outlaws
calling themselves 'The Cowboys' break up a Mexican wedding in a small
town,
ruthlessly killing nearly all the men, including village priest Pedro
Armendáriz Jr. (son of the legendary Western actor), in a scene
reminiscent
of ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN. Led by two of
Hollywood's flashiest character actors, swaggering Powers Boothe, and
coldly
psychotic Michael Biehn (playing Johnny Ringo), the presence of such pure
evil sets the stage for the Earps' arrival in Tombstone.
A powerful cast is essential for a great Western, and you couldn't find a
better group of actors as the Earp brothers; Kurt Russell, chiseled,
squinty-eyed, and razor-thin, is an ideal Wyatt; Sam Elliott, one of
Hollywood's best Western actors, plays Virgil with a growl but a twinkle
in
his eye; and Bill Paxton, soon to achieve stardom in APOLLO 13 and
TWISTER,
makes a terrific Morgan. Then there is Val Kilmer, as Doc Holliday...While
Dennis Quaid, in WYATT EARP, gave the most realistic portrayal of the
dying
dentist-turned-gambler/gunfighter ever recorded on film (he was superb),
Kilmer, relying on bloodshot eyes, an ambiguous sexuality, and a
Brando-esque line delivery, literally steals TOMBSTONE, and has become the
'Doc' everyone remembers. He is so charismatic that you nearly forget that
the Earps are the focus of the story! Watch for his early scene
confronting
a shotgun-wielding (and chubby!) Billy Bob Thornton (three years before
SLING BLADE), out to kill Wyatt, and you'll see my point.
The events leading up to the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral are
clearly
and decisively presented, from Wyatt's first meeting with future wife
Josie
(Dana Delany), to the murder of Tombstone's Marshal (Harry Carey, Jr., son
of another legendary Western star, and a staple of many John Ford films),
which leads to Virgil taking the badge and making his brothers (in Wyatt's
case, reluctantly) deputies, to the friction with Ike Clanton (GODS AND
GENERALS' Stephen Lang) that explodes into the short but bloody shootout
that became legendary.
Where TOMBSTONE and WYATT EARP both excel is in presenting the aftermath
of
the gunfight. Unlike MY DARLING CLEMENTINE or GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL,
the true story doesn't tie up neatly with a happy ending at the Corral,
but
becomes darker and bloodier. The Earps are placed under house arrest, and
after they are acquitted in court, friends of Clanton (in TOMBSTONE, Ringo
and other Cowboys), cold-bloodedly murder Morgan and cripple Virgil. Wyatt
explodes, and grimly sets about, with Holiday and a small band of gunmen,
to
execute every possible Clanton ally he can find ("You tell him I'm coming!
And hell's coming with me!"). Becoming a wanted fugitive himself, he only
stops his mission of vengeance long enough to take the ailing Holiday to a
friend's cabin (Charlton Heston has a brief but memorable cameo as the
rancher), but the gambler returns in time for the gunblazing climax of the
film.
TOMBSTONE is the kind of Western that critics love to say aren't made
anymore, a throwback to the golden days of Ford and Hawks, when Good and
Evil were clearly defined. Director George P. Cosmatos grew up on those
films, as well as those of Sergio Leone, and he said, of TOMBSTONE, that
it
was made to honor the Westerns he loved so much.
It is his love of the Western that makes TOMBSTONE a truly superior
film!
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