Exciting AND Historically Accurate ? See the Director's Cut

Rating: 9/10 (3 April 2002)

In either the theatrical version or the director's cut (VISTA series), "Tombstone" is an exciting and historically accurate account of the Earp brothers vs. "the Clanton's". Unlike "My Darling Clementine," "Gunfight at the OK Corral" and "Hour of the Gun," we get a true pictures of the relationships and fates of the Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, Josephine Marcus, Katie Elder, Curly Bill Brocius, Johnny Ringo (probably) and Ike Clanton. Moreover, unlike the atrocious "Wyatt Earp," we get a suspenseful, actionpacked and COHERENT storyline. We discover "the Clanton gang" of earlier films was actually a huge gang (over 100) of outlaws known as "the cowboys." We learn that Virgil, not Wyatt is the real instigator behind the "gunfight at the OK Corral and Wyatt a reluctant participant." That gunfight is given its proper perspective rather than being the dominant event in "Tombstone." The male cast is mostly extremely good, particularly Val Kilmer (Holliday), Sam Elliot (Virgil Earp), Powers Boothe (Brocius) and Michael Biehn (Johnny Ringo). Unfortunately, with the notable exception of Joanna Pacula (Kate Elder), the female cast is pretty colorless. Especially disappointing is Dana Delaney as Josephine Marcus. There's nothing flat about Delaney, except her acting here. One wishes, Joanna Going ("Wyatt Earp") had performed the role in this movie. Nevertheless, it's a mild disappointment in a mostly terrific movie.
George P. Cosmatos' director's cut is a BIG improvement over the original theatrical release. Although only four minutes longer, his version provides much better context and continuity, particularly during the "reckoning " portion. of the movie. I would give the theatrical version a "high 7", while the director's cut is clearly a "9".
The VISTA series DVDs comes with a bonus disk with lots of great features and a reproduction map of the OK corral drawn by Wyatt Earp in 1919. The VISTA series disk is only a couple of dollars more than
the theatrical version. It's a must for any collector of great and near great westerns.