S M G
S M G
The Nineties were an interesting period for the Western genre. Kevin Costner’s “Dances With Wolves” had gone from being nicknamed “Kevin’s gate” to being an unexpectedly critical and commercial success in 1990, and Clint Eastwood delivered one of his most iconic unravelling of the Western mythology in 1991, with “Unforgiven”. On the heels of their success, one of history’s most famous (and maybe infamous, depending on the version of the tale you hear) lawman, Wyatt Earp, was picked up as the subject for not one, but two major motion pictures. Where 1994’s Wyatt Earp felt worthy but perhaps a bit dull and overwrought, Tombstone endured a troubled production, fired director and changes in script, to become a much loved classic. Not in the tradition of Unforgiven, reflective, and deconstructing the mythos of the West – but in large part glorifying it and making it a muscular cinematic spectacle. It was the anti – anti-Western of its time.
Figure 1: Wyatt Earp
It was a passion project for Kevin Jarre, best known for screenwriting Rambo: First Blood Part 2, and Glory. He crafted a script designed to tell the definitive story, with the intention of directing it himself. Densely scripted, historically detailed, and long, directing it was always going to be a challenge. But when Jarre found himself overwhelmed, falling behind schedule and failing to meet quotas for shots, it was the star which studios had brought in to make the project ‘bankable’ that ended up taking the reins… Kurt Russell. George P Cosmatos was brought in to be the director, but the reality was it was Russell who worked to pare back the script and find a few key elements to focus on, and deliver the shots to Cosmatos to direct. In fact, rumours swirled that it was in large part Russell himself who directed much of the movie. And make no mistake, the race was on. Kevin Costner, hot after Dances With Wolves, was making the rival Wyatt Earp movie – one which did aim for sweeping historical context and realism. That meant everything about the movie became leaner – shortened script, shortened running time, everything to get to theaters first. That’s where George P Cosmatos came in, a director known for efficiency and control and a veteran of action movies (The Cassandra Crossing, Escape to Athena, First Blood: Part II, Cobra, Leviathan), he did not endear himself to the whole of the cast.. especially Michael Biehn, who was a good friend of Kevin Jarre and reportedly came close to leaving the project when Jarre was fired.
Figure 2: original director Kevin Jarre
Figure 3: George P. Cosmatos directing Powers Boothe and Michael Rooker
Arguably though what came to define the movie was the performances. A movie full of memorable performances all setting out to hew closely to what was known historically about their characters, it was Val Kilmer who stole the show. His performance of Doc Holliday leaned into his upbringing from a wealthy Southern family, and the twin tragedies (losing his one true love, and his diagnosis with tuberculosis) which appeared to have set him off on his hedonistic and unrestrained lifestyle. Most of all though, it was the bond between Earp and Holliday which gave the movie a beating heart, making Holliday at once both mythic, and yet deeply human. Dana Delaney as Josephine Marcus, who ran away from her rich California based family to become an actress, imbues her role with what Stephen Holden described as “the most casually and comfortably liberated woman ever to set foot in 1880’s Arizona.”.
Figure 4: Filming the 'fortuitous' meeting of Earp and Marcus
Ultimately a movie saved in the edit after a tumultuous shoot, only kept afloat by Kurt Russell himself putting up a chunk of his own money, Tombstone didn’t win every critics heart, and didn’t get any Oscars, not even a nomination for Val Kilmer. The chief complaint was the second half of the movie – The gunfight at the OK Corral happens mid movie, and everything else was felt to be a series of anticlimaxes after that. The sprawling cast was also felt to have not allowed for depth of character or fleshed out relationships for many of them. That said, many critics did find it a ‘tough, guilty pleasure Western’. In fact, it was audiences that really found and fell in love with the movie, quoting it endlessly, and made it the cult classic it is today. It fits the bill for a cult classic to a ‘T’.. born from passion, shaped by conflict, and elevated by its performances.
So is Tombstone a glorious throwback to the classic Westerns, shot through with modern pace and sensibilities? Or is it a mish-mash of plots and styles which suffers from a lack of a climax, and too many characters? As always, only one way to find out – give the movie another watch.
Random Trivia:
• Cast includes 5th cousin to Wyatt Earp.. billed as Wyatt Earp III, playing Billy Claiborne
• Wyatt Earp died in 1929, having never been so much as scratched by a single bullet. The fact that his name is known above, for instance, Virgil's, the marshal of Tombstone at the time of the famous gunfight, is largely due to Wyatt's self-promotion. Before his death, he walked in Hollywood circles, and John Wayne once claimed to have met him, apparently modeling his famous walk on that of Wyatt Earp.
• Doc Holliday was a (several generations removed) cousin of Margaret Mitchell, author of “Gone with the wind”
• During the famous gunfight, members of the two opposing parties were initially only about 6 feet (1.8 m) apart, and about 30 shots were fired in 30 seconds.
• All moustaches are real! (except Marshall Behan).
• The line “I’m your huckleberry” became somewhat of a catchphrase, which followed Val Kilmer around – and in fact he used the line in other movies, though in ways you might not notice.. In “The Saint” he speaks it in Czech, in “Alexander”, he speaks it in Greek, and in “At First Sight” it is in braille in the book he is reading.
© Stephen's Movie Guide
Inverurie Website Design