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Western August III: Tombstone (1993) - Recap and Review

We’ve talked about the Gunfight; so what happened after?

Well, the Earps and Holliday won, and Wyatt Earp was made extremely famous afterwards. The dead members of the Cochise County Cowboys were Billy Clanton, and the McLaury brothers. Yeah, they were COMPLETELY omitted from My Darling Clementine, but Tom and Frank McLaury were each a major part of the conflict that led to the gunfight. Outlaws and cattle rustlers, it was the hunt for the McLaury brothers that began the conflicts between the Earps and the CCC in the first place.

After Bill and the brothers were killed, their bodies were displayed in an undertaker’s window, and they received quite a bit of sympathy from some. Virgil lost his job as marshal, and public opinion turned against the Earps. Some of the rhetoric is literally shit I’ve heard today about conflicts between the cops and people who’ve been gunned down. Literally, there was a “hands up” debate about Billy Clanton. It’s eerie how similar things are, just sayin’. And to be fair, nobody in this battle was great. But anyway...

Anyway, Virgil was tried for murder, but found innocent as he had acted within his office as Marshal. And since then, the gunfight has gone down in history as one of the most iconic in the Wild West. And hoo boy, people immediately capitalized on it. Started with sketches and paintings, and then was written about for decades.

Meanwhile, things weren’t going great for the Earps. The CCC wasn’t planning on letting this sit, and they went after the Earps. Virgil was ambushed and nearly killed by a shotgun shot, fired by Ike Clanton. Then, a few months later, Morgan was killed while playing pool, assassinated by the CCC and shot through a window. Thus began the Vendetta Ride, as Wyatt, James and Warren Earp rode alongside Doc Holliday and a few others to destroy the CCC. They killed three more of them, and Wyatt nearly died in the process. But the posse won, and fun fact! One of the guys they killed was “Indian Charlie”! Yeah, from My Darling Clementine! Credit for at least some accuracy there.

In the end, though, Tombstone defined Earp’s life. The fight itself only last half-a-minute, but it was the most important 30 seconds of the West. He went back to California and married a woman named Josephine. His previous wife...yeah, that’s a sad story, I’ll leave it at that. Wyatt and Josie moved around, and a falling out between Holliday and Earp caused them to part ways for a little bit. They still remained friends, though.

Speaking of Holliday...well, he moved to Colorado as the consumption took over his lungs. In 1887, at the age of 36, Holliday had wasted away from tuberculosis, as it tends to do. He would die that year, having just recently fully met Wyatt for the last time. He actually accomplished a lot after Tombstone, but his last few years were horrible.

Wyatt began a successful mining venture, and remained quite famous as the Wild West died off. He opened a saloon in Seattle, Washington, and headed north to Alaska to participate in the gold rush there. It was there that he met writer Jack London (yeah, The Call of the Wild, that guy), and they became friends. After coming back to California, Earp briefly resumed law enforcement work in Los Angeles, going through one last shootout in 1910. He also may have started a set of disputes called the “Potash Wars”. Whoops.

Now quite old, he began a completely different career: film consultant. Yes, really! Earp became a consultant for silent cowboy films, and hung around sets to comment on the action. In this role, he met football coach and famous cowboy actor Tom Mix, with whom he became friends as well! He linked up Earp with John Ford, and they ALSO became friends! Dude must have been EXTREMELY personable, holy God. And that’s not the only friend he made...

Yeah. Personable as HELL.

Earp eventually started getting his stories written in an authorized biography, and was appointed an honorary deputy sheriff in California. His stories were spread into a new century and...wildly exaggerated. Yeah, he and Josephine tried to get that under control, but it was way too late at that point. Eventually, that exaggeration would result in, well...My Darling Clementine. Whoops.

Finally, after years of fame and surprising success, Earp died on January 13, 1929, at the age of 80. He survived into the new century and thrived there. Today, a headstone stands in the Eternity Cemetery in Colma, California to honor him. And yeah, he’s a legend still. Even when he was alive, films were made about him, although he only lived to watch one of them. Two films about the gunfight itself were made BEFORE MDC, and countless films and TV series have been made since. And all of that culminated in 1993, with the rebirth of the Western into modern cinema. And THAT is where we find ourselves now.

So...shall we?

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Recap

Before I start, you can watch this on Amazon Prime! It comes with the service if you’ve got it! OK, on with the show.

The year is 1879! We get a little background on the world that we enter into, where we learn about both Earp and Holliday. Earp’s settling down with his family, while Holliday’s there to try and relieve his illness in the dry desert air. We also learn about the Cowboys (AKA the CCC), ruthless outlaws that roam the desert to steal, plunder, and kill anyone in their way. Digging it so far.

The Cowboys roll up on a small Mexican village. They’re led by “Curly Bill” Brocius (Powers Boothe), and they’ve arrived to take revenge on the town for killing two of their own. They interrupt a wedding and kill the bride and groom, before sitting down to the feast. A priest warns them that someone will come to take their revenge on them, quoting the Bible and referencing Death’s Pale Horse, at least according to Cowboy Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn).

That’s when we cut to Tucson, and the arrival of retired lawman Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell), with a killer mustache and a love for horses. He’s approached basically immediately with an offer to take a job, to which he replies “I’m retired.” You know, stereotypical ‘90s movie shit. He meets his brothers, Virgil Earp (Sam Elliott) and Morgan Earp (Bill Paxton), along with their wives Allie (Paula Malcomson) and Louisa (Lisa Collins). Wyatt’s brought along his own love, Mattie Blaylock (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson). And together, they’re all one happy family, and they’re headed to boomtown Tombstone.

Also headed to Tombstone is notorious gambler Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), along with his own sweetheart Kate Horony (Joanna Pacula). He’s winning in a game of poker, which gets the loser stabbed when he tries to attack him. Kate and Holliday quickly move to make their getaway from the situation, then immediately make out...which surprisingly wouldn’t give her tuberculosis. Huh. Go figure.

The Earps get to the town of Tombstone, where they’re immediately greeted by businessman and Sheriff Johnny Behan (Jon Tenney), who offers to find them a place to live, and is the leader of the town’s Anti-Chinese League. Which, yeah...that was disgustingly a thing. Aaaaaaaamerica. Anyway, they also meet town Marshal Fred White (Harry Carey, Jr.), who tells them of the troubles in the town.

Specifically, there’s the gambling house with an outdated name that I’m not gonna say. It’s currently dead, thanks to a rough customer who drove away all of the other customer base via force. Wyatt immediately strolls up to the man and stands up to him. e literally slaps the man into submission, hard enough to make him bleed from the mouth. Holy shit, dude’s terrifying, and I love it. Earp immediately kicks the dude out, and buys a 25% stake in the gambling house.

But that guy, Johnny Tyler (Billy Bob Thornton), doesn’t stay away for long, and comes back with shotgun in hand. But he’s interrupted by the arrival of Doc Holliday, who already knows the Earps! OK, good! I could comment on the whole “Holliday was there beforehand” thing, but eh. I’m enjoying this too much at the moment.

But the happy reunion is interrupted by the arrival of Creek Jack Johnson (Buck Taylor) and Texas Jack Vermillion (Peter Sherayko), who avenge a foul deal given to them in a local saloon. The two are ALSO old friends of the Earps and Holliday, and their use of guns is used to introduce the future restrictions of weapon use in the town, which is...cleverly done, honestly.

And YET ANOTHER set of players arrives in the form of Shakespearean actor Mr. Fabian (Billy Zane) and his companion, Josephine Marcus (Dana Delany), who has that stereotypical “Inevitable Love Interest” entrance. You know, the camera’s centered only upon her, she meets eyes with Wyatt for the first time, and it’s kismet blahblahblahyaddayaddayadda.

That night, Marcus and Fabian are part of the performing troupe that perform for the town, amongst gunshots from the Cowboys that are abated with the performance. Wyatt is pleased to see her again, and Mattie is...less pleased. As they leave, the group begins a conversation about God and the afterlife, then the group parts ways. Mattie is still upset, especially when Wyatt says he needs to go to work that night. Additionally, Mattie’s hitting the laudanum a little too hard. And laudanum, by the way, is powdered opium. Yeah...not great.

At work that night, in the gambling parlor, the actors come to call, causing Wyatt a bit of trouble. But even worse than that is the arrival of Curly Bill, Johnny Ringo, and Ike Clanton (Stephen Lang), who come to warn the notorious (retired) lawman not to interfere in their affairs in the town. In the process, Ringo and Holliday have their own discourse, and then have a FUCKIN’ LATIN-OFF! Which is dumb, pretentious, and awesome.

And by the way, all the people I’ve mentioned thus far actually did exist, and were a part of this whole situation! Which is awesome! However...yeah, there is no way that Ringo had enough education to do this. Hell, it’s doubtful that Holliday could do this, and he went to medical school! Well...OK, dentist school, BUT STILL. He was at least educated, but enough for conversational Latin? Doubtful.

After the nerdiest confrontation I’ve seen in a western thus far, we cut to the next morning. Josephine is as enthralled by Wyatt as he is with her, and the two meet each other on the trail, where they begin to flirt and spend some time together. Josie notes that Wyatt doesn’t seem the type to want children, nor is she. And yeah, Wyatt never would have kids, nor would Josephine. Wyatt doesn’t believe that, but she hits that nail on the head. The two forge an important connection from this point.

Meanwhile, Mattie is...Mattie is BADLY addicted to the laudanum. Extremely high by the time Wyatt gets home to her, she’s clearly out of it. Wyatt proposes taking off from Tombstone, having made enough money from the gambling house. Mattie doesn’t understand, due to the whole opium thing, and Wyatt drops it. By the way, Mattie’s addiction to laudanum? Real! I’m impressed so far.

That night, Curly Bill gets a little too into the opium, and starts firing wildly in the street. Behan cowardly turns over the duties of stopping the Cowboy to the town marshal, and that unfortunately ends in Bill shooting and killing poor Fred White. Nice job, Behan. Wyatt takes him out and captures him, which grabs the attention of Ike Clanton and the other Cowboys, including his brother, Billy Clanton (Thomas Haden Church).

Doc Holliday, Virgil, and Morgan all show up to make sure nobody else gets hurt, and the Cowboys run off, as Curly Bill is taken into custody. And by the way...this actually happened. Damn, I am impressed indeed. The only inaccuracies are the presence of the other Cowboys, and the immediate death of Fred White. And even then, those changes are negligible in the grand scheme of things.

The next day, Behan attempts to recruit the brothers to serve as the new town marshals, but they quickly refuse. All that is except for Virgil. At first he refuses, but then notes a number of Cowboys coming through town and almost killing small child. This prompts two things: Virgil accepting the job as Town Marshal, and also instituting a gun control measure, outlawing anyone from carrying a gun in town. Morgan is also brought on as his Assistant Marshal. And again, all accurate to real life! Except that this is rather time compressed, so Inaccuracy No. 3 for the twisting of the time scale.

Wyatt is upset about this, especially as he’s not the biggest fan of being in gunfights, nor of killing a man. Remember, Wyatt and Morgan never did serve in the military, while Virgil did, so this makes sense! However, I will say this: Virgil probably didn’t do this purely out of the good of his heart. Marshal pays...REALLY well in this time period, and in the town itself. But regardless, Tombstone has a new Marshal.

That night, Morgan tries to get Doc Holliday to stop drinking and gambling, and gets Wyatt to try and stop him. Doc’s going up against Ike Clayton and the McLaury brothers, Tom (John Philbin) and Frank (Robert John Burke). Ike accuses Doc of cheating, and assaults him while drunk. Virgil tries to get him to stop, setting up further tensions between the Earps and the Cowboys.

Of course, Doc Holliday gets a horrible coughing fit, and needs to be helped up by the Earps. Ike acquires his rifles and threatens the Earps and Holliday, not realizing that Virgil was there to hear the entire thing. Virgil knocks him out and throws him in jail to sober up. He refuses to return the guns the next day, enraging Tom McAury as well. The feud between the Earps and the Cowboys is now set. And the collision course is going to be bad.

Doc Holliday is still recovering, and he’s not doing great, having lost the majority of his lung functionality. And all the while, the Cowboys are bringing in more men to fight against the Earps. Wyatt, recognizing the danger, now allows himself to be sworn in as a deputy by Virgil. That’s when he grabs his weapon: the Colt .45 known as Peacemaker.

Holliday, despite looking TERRIBLE, joins up with the Earps in order to defend themselves. Virgil decides to make the first move, going after the Cowboys that day...at the O.K. Corral.

YUP!

The gunfight takes place in the middle of the movie! Holy shit! That means that this movie must be mostly about the Earp Vengeance Ride! AWESOME! The posse corners Ike and Billy Clanton, as well as the McLaury brothers. The gunfight happens in earnest, and Billy is killed, alongside the McLaury brothers. And the way the whole thing goes down definitely makes this less of a mission of vengeance, and more of a slaughter.

In the process, Virgil is shot though the calf, while Morgan is hit square in the chest by a shotgun blast. Ike escapes the carnage and runs to go another day. After the fighting is done, Behan finally does his job as Sheriff, only to try and arrest the Earps and Holliday! Yeah, Behan is allied with the Cowboys historically, so it would appear that he’s the same here.

The Cowboys, meanwhile, are preserved by the town undertaker and brought for display through the town, with the Cowboys carrying a banner behind them that claims that the three were murdered by the Earps. They will sue them for vengeance, but it won’t work in their favor. The boys are buried that night, and the Earps prepare for the battle to continue.

Soon after, a very drunk Johnny Ringo tries to start a fight with the group, only to be held back by Curly Bill. But this is a shadow of what’s to come, which Behan seems to know too much about. On a stormy night, the men are at the gambling hall, and Virgil leaves to go home. Josie goes to warn the wives, and correctly, as a gunman ambushes the house.

At the gambling house, Virgil comes back in unexpectedly, arm covered in blood and clearly injured. He’s been ambushed by shotgun shot, and will never have the full use of his arm again. He tells his wife that he’ll still have one arm left to hold her with, which is ACTUALLY what he said. Enraged by the attack, and dejected by Allie and Virgil for now, Wyatt walks out and is greeted by Cowboy Sherman McMasters (Michael Rooker). He, Texas Jack, and Creek Johnson denounce the others, and tell him that they’ll be on his side in the coming conflicts.

Good thing, too.

Morgan’s shot in the hall, far worse than Virgil was. He’s unable to be saved by the doctors, and dies in Wyatt’s arms, horribly and painfully. It’s tragic, real talk. And Wyatt is fucking DONE. He rebukes Josie when she comes to try and comfort him, then drives Morgan’s body away the next day. And by the way, these attacks happened, but MONTHS apart. So, yeah, Inaccuracy No. 3, but who cares?

Wyatt tells Curly Bill and some others watching that this fight is over, and he abdicates the battle. The Cowboys mock them, however, even in their hour of defeat. And once the brothers pass, Bill tells Ike to take Frank Stillwell (Thomas Arana) and kill them anyway. Which will NOT. GO. WELL. They go to ambush them at the trainstation, only to be ambushed themselves by Wyatt. Virgil and the wives leave town on a train, but Wyatt goes to kill Stillwell and Clanton. Time for some fucking PAYBACK. Because now, Wyatt’s a U.S. Marshal. And he’s coming for them. And HELL’S COMING WITH HIM OH MY GOD THIS MOVIE RULES

The Earp Vengeance Posse is formed, and the Vendetta Ride begins against every single Cowboy they can find. In real life, Earp’s brothers James and Warren were a part of this ride, along with a few others guys, but that’s OK. We still have Wyatt, Holliday, McMaster, Creek Johnson, and John Vermilliion. They corner the Cowboys all over the place, and find Curly Bill near a river, where a massive battle takes place.

And this movie is fantastic, and this scene is fantastic...but it also contains one of the silliest line deliveries I’ve ever seen. And yet...I love it.

Wyatt kills Curly Bill in the river, but the battle isn’t over yet. He also kills Billy Claiborne (Wyatt Earp III), who...WYATT EARP III? Holy fucking shit, that’s Wyatt Earp’s cousin! Goddamn! That’s a hell of a pull, and that’s an awesome little Easter Egg! Super neat! I mean he’s dead, and he only had the one scene, really, but still neat!

As the Earp posse rides through the land, we go back to Josie’s carriage. Robbed by a group of Cowboys, Mr. Fabian the actor has ended up dead in the end. And riding with the Johnny Ringo and the Cowboys now is Johnny Behan and Billy Breakenridge (Jason Preistley), a fan of the actors and a worldly young man. Saddened by this turn of events, he leaves Behan’s posse permanently. But it doesn’t matter, as Behan’s deputized the Cowboys to go after the Earps, like a PROPER DICK. And Josie...Josie’s leaving. She’s done with this bullshit.

Doc Holliday isn’t doing well in the meantime, and collapses on his horse. The posse brings him to the home of rancher Henry Hooker (Charlton fucking Heston), where he’s to heal up. And who should show up there but...oh! Josie’s staying? Huh. Well, that’s Inaccuracy No. 4, since she wouldn’t meet up with Wyatt until San Francisco, but again...sure, why not? They were both in Tombstone at the same time, so it’s possible that they’d met there are friends, as we see here. And after saying goodbye to Wyatt, she actually does leave for California.

The next day, at the Hooker Ranch, the group sees a Cowboy in the field, having brutally murdered McMasters. Inaccuracy No. 5 there, since he didn’t die as a result of this mission. Although, to be fair, he was killed by a Cowboy. This is a message to Earp from Ringo, who challenges them to meet that night for a duel, and sends out Clanton to kill the other two.

By the way, Johnny Ringo. While Wyatt and Doc talk about the coming fight, and how Ringo is basically a soulless mockery of a human being, lemme just talk about this dude a bit. He really was kind of a fucking monster, and was responsible for quite a bit of mayhem and murder in his day. He was directly responsible for the murder of Morgan and the attempt against Virgil, and also joined the posse to go after the Earps. And then...well, nobody knows.

See, in the movie, Ringo’s waiting by a big oak tree, as he’d agreed to do. He’s waiting there to kill Wyatt, only to be greeted by somebody else entirely.

Doc Holliday stumbles out of bed and kills Ringo by the oak tree. And here’s the thing...nobody knows who exactly did this in real life. Most believe that it’s Wyatt Earp, but Doc Holliday is also a possibility. But all we know is that, one day, Johnny Ringo was found dead near a tree, after a single gunshot was heard from the distance. It’s one of the West’s greatest mysteries, never to be solved.

But this leaves only one loose end to tie: Ike Clanton. The Earp Vendetta Rise finds him, only for Clanton to denounce the Cowboys and take off, effectively ending the conflict. From there, we go to a hospital bed, in which Holliday lies, dying finally of tuberculosis. And yeah...Inaccuracy No. 5. As nice as this scene is, it DEFINITELY never happened.

Holliday bids a fond and tearful farewell to his friend Wyatt Earp, and it’s genuinely heartbreaking. Wyatt, in tears himself, gives Earp a copy of a book called My Friend, Doc Holliday, written by him. He leaves, and Doc dies right afterwards.

In San Francisco, Wyatt goes and finds Josie in a theatre, and the two finally culminate their relationship with a kiss. The two go to a hotel, and begin a relationship that’ll last over 40 years. The narrator fills us in on the future of our characters: Josie and Wyatt lived together for many years, but never actually got married (true); Ike Clanton was killed trying to steal cattle (true, the idiot); Mattie died of a drug overdose (yup, that’s also true); and Virgil became a town sheriff (indeed!). Also, when Earp died, Tom Mix was a pall bearer at his funeral, and he wept. They say that in the movie...but why? The hell did Mix do to the narrator? I mean, male crying is needed and important emotionally, but...why bring that up? It feels personal!

Anyway, that’s Tombstone! I love it! It’s genuinely a BADASS film, and I loved every moment of it, honestly. Time for the analysis!

Cast and Acting - 8/10: Kilmer and Russell...wow. This was the defining role of their careers in the early ‘90s, ESPECIALLY Kilmer. They’re doth amazing as these iconic gentlemen. But, hey, why not spread the love? Elliott, Paxton, Delany, Boothe, Biehn, Rooker, and Lang are absolutely brilliant in their roles, disappearing into these real-life people effortlessly. If I have anything negative to say...well, Zane, Church, Priestley, and Pacula are only OK. Not bad by any means, but only OK. And, to be fair, a few moments are a little over-dramatized all around. But still, no real compaints!

Plot and Writing - 9/10: Damn, Kevin Jarre really, really wanted to inject accuracy in this story, while still making it extremely engaging! Now, granted, it’s not perfect, and our heroes are made a little too heroic at times, but it’s still an excellently written film, and well-plotted!

Directing and Cinematography - 8/10: Cosmatos does his job quite well in this movie! Is her perfect? Eh...there are some weird scenes. You know, like, “NOOOOOOOOOO” and all that. Great shots by him and cinematographer William A. Fraker, but not absolutely perfect. Not bad AT ALL, just not perfect.

Production and Art Design - 10/10: But this...goddamn, this movie looks fantastic. Costumes, setting, props, just...HOT DAMN, this film looks amazing.

Music and Editing - 9/10: The score by Bruce Broughton is fantastic, and I’m genuinely considering one of the tracks for my playlist. At the very least, I’ll use it as a track for a tabletop RPG battle sequence at some point. It’s great, it what I’m saying. The editing by Frank Urioste, Roberto Silvi, and Harvey Rosenstock is also great, and the pacing of this movie is TIGHT. Very good!

88% for quality, 100% in my heart!

No way I’m not watching this one again! Had a hell of a lot of fun here, and I’m happy to see such an accurate film be as well-known as this one is! That said, though, I’m under NO delusion that this is the same for the other Westerns this month. The next one is another classic Western, by another classic director, and loosely based on another true story. And once again...it’s considered one of the greatest Westerns of all time.

Just like Stagecoach.

And just like My Darling Clementine.

...You guys gotta make up your minds. Let’s see if this cracks it.