Saddle Up!

The story of legendary Kansas lawman Wyatt Earp and his good friend Doc Holliday has been the subject of countless books, TV shows and, not surprisingly, movies. Three of the best known examples were John Ford's 1946 film MY DARLING CLEMENTINE (with Henry Fonda as Wyatt), John Sturges' 1957 classic GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL (with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas), and Sturges' underrated 1967 follow-up HOUR OF THE GUN (with James Garner and Jason Robards). And in 1993, we added a new spin to this legend in the form of TOMBSTONE.

This superlative 1993 western stars Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp (and he looks like a dead ringer for the man), who has decided to retire from being a peace officer and settle down with his brothers (Sam Elliot, Bill Paxton) in Arizona's celebrated mining town of Tombstone. Once there, the three meet up once again with Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer). Life gets a little bit complicated for Wyatt because his wife (Joanna Pacula) is a bit of a drug user, and he has just been smitten by dance-hall singer Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany).

But it gets even more complicated when a group of hardened criminal outlaws known as the Cowboys begin to run roughshod over Tombstone's populace. Over Russell's strenuous objections, Elliott becomes the town's marshal after marshal Fred White (Harry Carey Jr.) is shot by Curly Bill (Powers Boothe), a member of the gang known by their red sashes. Beforehand, Russell had been involved in only one shooting, but he had to take a man's life for it, and this is why he initially does not want to risk his own life. But his lawman side soon puts him, his brothers, and Doc Holliday in the middle of the celebrated Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, in which a number of the Cowboys are decimated in a 45-second barrage of gunfire.

The Cowboys, and their notorious leaders Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) and Ike Clanton (Stephen Lang) plot revenge against the Earps. Elliott is badly wounded, and Paxton killed in two separate nighttime incidents. But the Cowboys have messed around with the wrong family. Russell, along with Kilmer and a couple of other men, goes on the warpath, eliminating the outlaws from the Arizona scene one by one. Kilmer helps out big-time, despite his advanced tuberculosis, by killing Biehn.

Years later, having lost his wife to a drug overdose and racked with guilt over his vengeful past, Russell meets back up with Delany, and, as the story goes, they lived happily ever after.

Though TOMBSTONE is perhaps no truer to the actual events of the Earp-Holliday saga than any of the previous films combined, this is a small price to pay for a western of this sort. It seems both reverential in the manner of Ford, and also up-to-date in the manner of Peckinpah. The violence and language mean that it has an 'R' rating, so some viewer discretion is in order. But you can't go wrong with high-voltage acting talent like Russell, Paxton, Elliott, and Kilmer as the ultimate Western gunfighting, law-dealing quartet. TOMBSTONE is also blessed with the excellent camerawork of veteran William A. Fraker, whose credits include BULLITT and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and a brilliant, full-bodied Americana score by Bruce Broughton, who also did SILVERADO.

Although George P. Cosmatos (RAMBO: FIRST BLOOD PART II) may not have been the perfect director for TOMBSTONE (the film might have been even better had someone like Steven Spielberg gotten his hands on it), he nevertheless does a lot with the screenplay by Kevin Jarre. The film also features a cameo role by Charlton Heston, and narration by the late, great Robert Mitchum.

For those who genuinely appreciate the uniquely American film genre known as the Western, TOMBSTONE is the ticket. In every way, it shows that this great form can be revived with critical, artistic, and commercial success in Hollywood if it were only given a chance.