A significant Western

Rating: 8/10 (27 March 2006)

The legendary O.K. Corral incident in Tombstone, Arizona has been told previously in Edward L. Cahn's Law and Order (1932), Lewis Seiler's Frontier Marshal (1934), Allan Dwan's Frontier Marshal (1939), William C. McGann's Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942), John Sturges' Gunfight at O.K. Corral (1957), John Sturges' Hour of the Gun (1967), and Frank Perry's Doc (1971). It was also filmed by Lawrence Kasdan in Wyatt Earp (1994), a year after George P. Cosmatos' "Tombstone."
Cosmatos visualizes "Tombstone" in a new different way He introduces Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) leaving Dodge City for the silver mining town of Tombstone to seek peaceful and profitable life There, he is joined by his brothers Virgil (Sam Elliot), and Morgan (Bill Paxton), and their wives Once arrived, they catch up with Wyatt's highly cultured friend, the flashy gambler and gunman, John Henry 'Doc' Holliday (Val Kilmer), accompanied by his voluptuous Hungarian consort Kate Horony (Joanna Pacula).
In Tombstone the Earps found that the wild town is controlled by an elite body of gunmen (the vile Clantons as well as their ally) known by the red silk sashes they wore around their waistsThey call themselves the "Cowboys."
All the elements of entertaining cinema are herethe upstanding hero figure and his unyielding nature (Earp); the eccentric, tragic sidekick (Doc Holliday); the lawless gang of villains led by the roughneck Curly Bill (Powers Boothe) and the testy Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn); and the terrific action, which is, by its very nature, the classic elements of the Western... We also have good romance, funny lines and gun fighting skills
Cosmatos chooses to focus the attention on Wyatt's bloodiest days in Tombstone With Russell and Kilmer, he creates two characters that are both human and heroic The shootout at the O.K. Corral sparks with real excitement As the Earps with Doc Holliday step into the street and head down for their ultimate approach, they unexpectedly do look like their myth Four tall figures in long black coats advancing in a line, stern and unstoppable, a transient moment in time congealed eternally in our minds