Death in Tombstone

Rating: 9/10 (24 September 2007)

And behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.-- Rev. 6:8
In a time when rumors of gold and silver swept across the nation, adventurers, entrepreneurs, and criminals packed up their belongings and left home. It was the idea of striking it rich that drove these prospectors to head west. Eventually many would settle down in mining camps like Tombstone, Arizona. Liquor, gambling, and hostesses all twenty four hours a day, Tombstone had it all.
Wyatt Earp (Wyatt Berry Stapp), who had made a name for himself as a peace officer in Dodge City, Kansas, was now ready to retire and try his hand in gambling. Wyatt, his younger brother Morgan (Morgan Seth Earp), older brother Virgil (Virgil Walter Earp), and their wives were going to Tombstone. One thing that the Earps hadn't counted on was trouble from the "Cow-Boys," an ever-growing clan of outlaws. As Town Marshall Fred White (Harry Carey Jr.) put it, "they're it, nobody does anything with 'em or without 'em." The turning point is when the "Cow-Boys" leader Curly Bill Brocius shoots Fred White. Overwhelmed with guilt, the Earps step up to the task of keeping law and order in Tombstone. Virgil, Morgan, Wyatt, and Doc Holiday (John Henry Holiday) went to disarm five of the most dangerous Cow-Boys in what became known as the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral." Virgil and Morgan are both wounded, but two Cow-Boys are dead. This sparks even more violence and this time the Cow-Boys strike, under the cover of darkness, and Shoot Morgan in the back and Virgil in the arm. Virgil suffers shotgun blast to the arm, while Morgan is shot in the back with a pistol. Morgan dies less that an hour later.
The enraged Wyatt has had enough, and he and his posse are out to rid the west of all who wear the Cow-Boys' red sash. Now this movie, this story, is all about one man's determination to avenge the lives cut short at the hands of the Cow-Boys. At times he seems nothing short of invincible as he travels the countryside destroying them with severe prejudice.
This movie does an impeccable job of depicting what it would have been like to be in Tombstone in the early 1880s. I feel that the mindset and mentality of the frontiersman was truly captured. When I watch this movie I never feel like I'm watching actors, but rather seeing what happened as though it was recorded in some way. To me that makes a truly enjoyable movie.