Review of Tombstone (1993) by Stuart K — 05 Aug 2013

Directed by George P. Cosmatos (Escape to Athena (1979), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985) and Cobra (1986)), this western tells one tale in the life of Wyatt Earp, unlike Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp (1994), which told his whole life story, this is a focused western with a massive cast, and this focuses on the Gunfight at the O.

K. Corral, which was a footnote in the Kasdan film, but this is more to the point and a slightly better film as well. Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his brothers Virgil (Sam Elliott) and Morgan (Bill Paxton) move to the Arizona town of Tombstone to settle down and live out their lives, it's here where they meet Wyatt's old friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), who has also moved to the town, as the climate is good for his TB.

In Tombstone, Wyatt becomes attracted to Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany), even though he's already married to Mattie Blaylock (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson), but the Earps and Holliday find a threat in Tombstone in the form of "Curly Bill" Brocius (Powers Boothe), who has a gang of outlaws known as The Cowboys.

Even though Earp has retired as a lawman, he's soon called back into the fold one more time to help protect Tombstone from these murderous thugs. There has been a lot of debate as to who directed what in this film, (Russell claimed he ghost-directed the film), but it doesn't matter, as this is a very well made western, with a brilliant supporting cast including Stephen Lang, Michael Biehn, Billy Bob Thornton, Thomas Haden Church, Billy Zane and Charlton Heston.

It's well worth a look, especially now as the western is back in vogue again.