Wyatt, Virgil, and Morgan Earp, arrive in Tombstone, Arizona with their wives, hoping to make it rich in boom-town business. There, they run into Doc Holliday, an old friend of Wyatt’s who is ill with tuberculosis. In town, Wyatt’s reputation as a police officer precedes him, but he tries desperately to leave that part of his life behind. But Tombstone is essentially run by the Cowboys, an outlaw gang, and Virgil Earp grows frustrated by the town’s lawlessness. Virgil signs up to be the town marshal and bans firearms in city limits. This, along with other escalating tensions, leads to the famous “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral”, in which two Cowboys are killed. Seeking revenge, the Cowboys ambush the Earps—Morgan is killed and Virgil loses an arm. This heavy blow drives Wyatt Earp back into law enforcement. He becomes U.S. marshal and, along with Holliday and a band of others, takes to the desert to systematically hunt down the Cowboys, like the biblical four horseman.
“Tombstone” was great. I think I expected a ‘90s, romanticized, historically-dubious western that over-played to Americans’ sense of manifest destiny and solving problems with guns. And maybe it was sorta that! But I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I think the film’s strengths include the characterizations, performances, and balance between authenticity and story. From Wyatt running from a past life in law enforcement, only to get lassoed back in, to Holliday’s search for connection and meaning amidst his declining health, the characters were real people on real journeys. Though by the end, the characters fell into western archetypes, they sort of earned that by establishing real motives and feelings. That balance allows the audience to have our cake and eat it too, indulging in a film that is both about human growth and good old fashioned gun-fighting. And the performances were excellent. The film is a who’s-who of white, male, middle-aged dramatic actors. Kurt Russell spent every second on screen proving he’s a deserved movie star and Val Kilmer’s southern aristocracy Holliday had real joy and pain. And last but not least, Sam Elliott’s Virgil Earp was the best, saddling the Earps with earnestness and integrity. Great flick.