Tombstone
As movie genres go, none have been as fascinating and exciting as the western. Until the late eighties, the western was always seen as box office gold. Even more so if big stars such as Clint Eastwood had starring roles.
In mid 1992, rumours where spreading around that Kurt Russel was trying make and star in a western of his own. A few months after that the rumour mill started again when Val Kilmer, at the time a big name himself, had said he would like to star in a western.
Those rumours where officially transformed into fact when in 1993 Tombstone hit the big screen. Produced by Hollywood studios and starring a cast of big names such as Sam Elliot, Robert Mitchum, and of course Kurt Russel, it seemed the western was back and with a bang.
The story revolves around Russel’s character, Wyatt Earp, a retired peace officer looking to settle down in a small mining town called Tombstone in Arizona.
After years of dishing out justice to outlaws, he decides a more peaceful life is for him and he thinks he will get just that in the small town.
However, it doesn’t take long before the very fugitives he put away, find him in his new retirement home, and it’s then down to the stunted lawman to do what he does best.
Thankfully, in this adventure, he has some help in the form of his brothers Virgil and Morgan as well as a new friend, and gunslinger extraordinaire, Doc Holiday.
After arriving in the town, Wyatt and his brothers begin to make a good life for themselves. They bring peace to the city and prosper thanks to a stake in a gambling casino.
However, life begins to turn sour when a band of outlaws known as the cowboys show up in the city. After the death of one brother and the maiming of another it’s left to Wyatt and his friend Doc Holiday to clean up.
The problem is though, Doc’s health is failing, and it becomes a race against time to not only save his beloved Tombstone, but also his friend.
After several epic gun battles, Wyatt finally finishes off the cowboys for good. As the movie comes to an end, Doc losses his battle with tuberculosis. He passes away in a sanatorium, leaving Wyatt to head to Los Angeles with his wife Josephine and start a new life.
Although the movie was never hailed as a critical success Tombstone did provide enough action, story and grit to keep audiences coming. At the end of its cinema release, it was said that the movie grossed over 56 million dollars.
Not a great sum of money by today’s standards but nothing the studios would sneer at either, and of course there was talk of another western starring our favourite action men Russel and Kilmer, however it never materialized and to this day neither one seems likely to commit to such a project.
All in all, if you like your westerns to be fun and action packed then Tombstone is certainly the movie for you. It is not on the same level of grittiness as say, Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven, or the current remake of True Grit, but it does pack enough punch to keep even the most hardened cowboy and cowgirl entertained.
