# Tombstone (film)

Tombstone is a 1993 film about a successful lawman's plans to retire anonymously in Tombstone, Arizona that are disrupted by the kind of outlaws he was famous for eliminating, resulting in the famous Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
    Directed by George P. Cosmatos. Written by Kevin Jarre.

## Doc Holliday

* Ed, what an ugly thing to say... does this mean we're not friends anymore? You know, Ed, if I thought you weren't my friend, I just don't think I could bear it. [Pulls his guns out of his holsters, initially in a threatening manner, then places them down on the poker table] There. Now we can be friends again.
* I have not yet begun to defile myself.
* I'm your huckleberry.
* It appears my hypocrisy knows no bounds.
* [On his deathbed, he notices he has bare feet, despite saying he wanted to die with his boots on] Well, I'll be damned. Oh, this is funny.
* Oh, Johnny, I forgot you were there. You may go now.
* Why, Kate, you're not wearing a bustle. How lewd.
* You're no daisy, you're no daisy at all.
* Say When

## Wyatt Earp

* I spent my whole life not knowing what I want out of it, just chasing my tail. Now for the first time I know exactly what I want... and who... and that's the damnable misery of it.
* Go ahead, skin it. Skin that smokewagon and see what happens.
* In all that time workin' those cow towns, I was only ever mixed up in one shooting, just one. But a man lost his life and I took it! You don't know how that feels, Morg, and believe me boy, you don't ever want to know. Not ever!
* All right, Clanton. You called down the thunder, well, now you've got it! You see that? (shows badge) It says "United States Marshal." (gestures to Stilwell) Take a good look at him, Ike, because that's how you're gonna end up! The Cowboys are finished, you understand me? I see a red sash, I kill the man wearin' it! So run, you cur! Run! Tell all the other curs the law's coming! You tell 'em I'm coming and Hell's coming with me, you hear? Hell's coming with me!
* I don't think I'll let you arrest us today, Behan.

## Morgan Earp

* Look at all the stars. You look up and you think, "God made all this and He remembered to make a little speck like me." It's kind of flattering, really.
* [Last lines] Remember what I said about dying people seeing a white light? It ain't true! I can't see a damn thing! [Dies]

## Narrator

* 1879 - the Civil War is over, and the resulting economic explosion spurs the great migration west. Farmers, ranchers, prospectors, killers, and thieves seek their fortune. Cattle growers turn cow towns into armed camps, with murder rates higher than than those of modern-day New York or Los Angeles. Out of this chaos comes legendary lawman Wyatt Earp, retiring his badge and gun to start a peaceful life for his family. Earp's friend, John "Doc" Holliday, a southern gentlemen turned gunman and gambler, also travels west, hoping the dry climate will relieve his tuberculosis. Silver is discovered in Arizona. Tombstone becomes queen of the boom towns where the latest Paris fashions are sold from the backs of wagons. Attracted to this atmosphere of greed, over 100 exiled Texas outlaws band together to form the ruthless gang recognized by the red sashes they wear. They emerge as the earliest example of organized crime in America. They call themselves The Cowboys.
* The power of the Cowboy Gang was broken forever. Ike Clanton was shot and killed two years later during an attempted robbery. Mattie died of a drug overdose shortly after she left Tombstone. Virgil and Allie Earp moved to California where Virgil, despite the use of only one arm, became a town sheriff. Wyatt and Josephine embarked on a series of adventures. Up or down, thin or flush, in 47 years they never left each other's side. Wyatt Earp died in Los Angeles in 1929. Among the pallbearers at his funeral were early western stars William S. Hart and Tom Mix. Tom Mix wept.

## Dialogue

    [Wyatt and Behan are discussing the possibility of a racetrack in Tombstone]
    Doc Holliday: Way ahead of yourselves, aren't you, boys? This is just another mining camp.
    Behan: Have you seen how everyone dresses? Awful tony for a mining camp. No, sir, the die is cast. We are growing. Be as big as San Francisco in a few years and just as sophisticated.
    [He's interrupted by gunshots, men yelling, and a brief, but fatal, gunfight in the street mere feet from where they stand]
    Doc Holliday: [smirking] Very cosmopolitan.
    [Behan glares at him]
    Josephine Marcus: [looking at Wyatt] This is a remarkable scene. I wonder who that tall drink of water is.
    Mr. Fabian: My darling, you've cast your gaze upon the quintessential frontier type. Note the lean silhouette. Eyes closed by the sun, yet sharp as a hawk. He has the look of both predator and prey.
    Josephine Marcus: I want one.
    Mr. Fabian: Happy hunting.
    [Johnny Tyler stalks after Wyatt with a shotgun. Just as he's about to pull the trigger...]
    Doc Holliday: Why, Johnny Tyler! You madcap.
    Johnny Tyler: [Freezes]...Doc?
    Doc Holliday: Where do you think you're going with that shotgun?
    Johnny Tyler: ...I-I didn't know you was back in town!
    Curly Bill: Wyatt Earp, huh? Heard of you.
    Ike Clanton: Listen now, Kansas Law Dog. Law don't go around here, savvy?
    Wyatt Earp: I'm retired.
    Curly Bill: Good. That's real good.
    Ike Clanton: Yeah, yeah, that's real good, law dog. 'Cause the law just don't go around here.
    Wyatt Earp: Yeah, I heard you the first time. [draws a card, to Curly Bill] Winner to the king. $500. [Morgan pays Curly Bill out]
    Curly Bill: Shut up, Ike.
    Johnny Ringo: [steps up to Doc] And you must be Doc Holliday.
    Doc Holliday: That's the rumor.
    Johnny Ringo: You retired too?
    Doc Holliday: Not me. I'm in my prime.
    Johnny Ringo: Yeah, you look it.
    Doc Holliday: And you must be Ringo. Look, darling, Johnny Ringo. The deadliest pistoleer since Wild Bill, they say. What do you think, darling? Should I hate him?
    Kate: You don't even know him.
    Doc Holliday: Yes, but there's just something about him. Something around the eyes, I don't know, reminds me of... me. No. I'm sure of it, I hate him.
    Wyatt Earp: [to Ringo] He's drunk.
    Doc Holliday: In vino veritas. [When I drink, I say the truth]
    Johnny Ringo: Age quod agis. [Do what you do best]
    Doc Holliday: Credat Judaeus apella, non ego. [I don't believe drinking is what I do best]
    Johnny Ringo: [pats his gun] Eventus stultorum magister. [Fools must learn from experience]
    Doc Holliday: [smiles] In pace requiescat. [It's your funeral]
    Note: The above translations are not the actual Latin to English translations. They are American vernacular, showing what Doc Holliday and Johnny Ringo are really saying to each other.
    Fred White: Come on boys. We don't want any trouble in here. Not in any language.
    Doc Holliday: [to Kate] That's Latin, darlin'. Evidently Mr. Ringo's an educated man. Now I really hate him.
    Billy Clanton: Is that "Old Dog Tray?" It sounds to me like "Old Dog Tray." You know, Stephen Foster. "Oh, Susannah," "Camptown Races." Stephen stinking Foster!
    Doc: Ah, yes. Well, this happens to be a nocturne.
    Billy Clanton: A which?
    Doc: You know, Frederic fucking Chopin.
    Ike Clanton: What is that now? Twelve hands in a row? Holliday, son of a bitch, nobody's that lucky.
    Doc Holliday: Why Ike, whatever do you mean? Maybe poker's just not your game Ike. I know! Let's have a spelling contest!
    Billy Clanton: [to Holliday] It's the drunk piano player. You're so drunk, you couldn't hit nothin.' [draws a knife.] In fact, you're probably seeing double.
    Doc: [draws a second gun] I have two guns; one for each of ya.
    [Doc Holliday joins the Earps just before the gunfight at the OK Corrall]
    Wyatt Earp: It's not your problem, Doc. You don't have to mix up in this.
    Doc Holliday: [Glares at Wyatt] That is a hell of a thing for you to say to me!
    Virgil Earp: What do you want, Ringo?
    Johnny Ringo: I want your blood...and I want your souls. And I want 'em both right now.
    Wyatt Earp: We don't want any more trouble.
    Johnny Ringo: Well, you've got trouble! And it starts with you. [points to Wyatt]
    Wyatt Earp: [opens his coat, showing he's not armed] I'm not gonna fight you, Ringo, there's no money in it. Sober up. C'mon boys. [Earp brothers start to walk away]
    Johnny Ringo: Wretched slugs. Don't any of you have the guts to play for blood?!
    Doc Holliday: [steps forward, one gun in a shoulder holster in full view, holding his other behind his back] I'm your huckleberry. That's just my game.
    Johnny Ringo: Alright, lunger, you go to hell. I'll put you outta your misery!
    Doc Holliday: Say when!
    [Curly Bill and other Cowboys arrive and stop Ringo]
    Curly Bill: Johnny, don't!
    [Cowboys drag a raging Ringo away. Curly Bill smiles to the Earps and Holliday as he walks away]
    Curly Bill: Don't mind him. He's just drunk, that's all. [chuckles]
    [After a few moments, Ringo tries to pull away, but Curly Bill stops him]
    Johnny Ringo: No! I want them spitting blood!
    Curly Bill: Easy, son, easy. Now ain't the time! [Johnny staggers away and runs into some coffins at the funeral parlor, knocking them over] I tell you, boys, even I'm worried what's going to happen once Ringo runs this outfit. God have mercy!
    Kate: I don't understand. I'm your woman, you get killed, where's it leave me?
    Doc Holliday: Without a meal ticket I suppose.
    Kate: ... You bastard.
    Doc Holliday: I'm leaving now darling.
    Kate: You bastard!
    Doc Holliday: Have you no kind word to say to me before I ride away?
    [Kate turns around and says nothing]
    Doc Holliday: I calculate not.
    [Doc and Jack Johnson, weapons drawn, surprise some Cowboys in a brothel]
    Jack Johnson: Nobody move!
    Doc Holliday: Nonsense! By all means, move.
    [Doc begins coughing violently.]
    Jack Johnson: Doc, you ought to be in bed. What the hell you doin' this for, anyway?
    Doc Holliday: Wyatt Earp is my friend.
    Jack Johnson: Hell, I've got lots of friends.
    Doc Holliday: I don't.
    Wyatt Earp: What makes a man like Ringo, Doc? What makes him do the things he does?
    Doc Holliday: A man like Ringo has a great empty hole through the middle of him. He can never kill enough, or steal enough, or inflict enough pain to ever fill it.
    Wyatt Earp: What does he need?
    Doc Holliday: Revenge.
    Wyatt Earp: For what?
    Doc Holliday: Being born.
    [Johnny Ringo is awaiting Wyatt Earp's arrival in anticipation of a pistol duel.]
    Johnny Ringo: Well... I didn't think you had it in you.
    Doc Holliday: [reveals his face] I'm your huckleberry. [Ringo stops short, looking startled.] Why, Johnny Ringo. You look like somebody just walked over your grave.
    Johnny Ringo: Fight's not with you, Holliday.
    Doc Holliday: Oh, I beg to differ, sir. You and I started a game we never got to finish. Play for blood, remember?
    Johnny Ringo: I was just fooling about.
    Doc Holliday: [smiles] I wasn't. And this time...[opens his overcoat to reveal a badge] It's legal.
    Johnny Ringo: [grins] All right, lunger. Let's do it!
    Doc Holliday: Say when.
    [Ringo draws, but Doc draws faster and shoots Ringo in the head, killing him]
    Doc Holliday: Come on! Come on! Oh, Johnny, come on! You're no daisy, you're no daisy at all! Poor soul, you were just too high strung.
    [Wyatt comes running, a look of shock on his face as he sees Doc standing over Johnny's corpse]
    Doc Holliday: I'm afraid the strain was more than he could bear. Oh, I wasn't quite as sick as I made out.
    [Wyatt finds Doc's deputy badge on Ringo's corpse]
    Doc Holliday: My hypocrisy goes only so far.
    Wyatt Earp: Alright, let's finish it.
    Doc Holliday: Indeed, sir. The last charge of Wyatt Earp and his immortals.
    Wyatt Earp: How are you?
    Doc Holliday: I'm dying, how are you?
    Wyatt Earp: Pretty much the same.
    Doc Holliday: What did you ever want?
    Wyatt Earp: Just to live a normal life.
    Doc Holliday: There's no normal life, Wyatt, it's just life. Get on with it.
    Wyatt Earp: Don't know how.
    Doc Holliday: Sure you do. Say goodbye to me. Go grab that spirited actress and make her your own. Take that beauty and run, don't look back. Live every second. Live right up to the hilt. Live Wyatt. Live for me. Wyatt, if you were ever my friend, if you ever had even the slightest of feelin' for me, leave now. Leave now... Please.
    Wyatt Earp: [takes Doc's hand] Thanks for always being there, Doc.

## Taglines

* Justice is coming.
* Every town has a story. Tombstone has a legend.
* I'm your huckleberry!

## Cast

* Kurt Russell - Wyatt Earp
* Val Kilmer - Doc Holliday
* Dana Delaney - Josephine Marcus
* Powers Boothe - Curly Bill Brocius
* Michael Biehn - Johnny Ringo
* Sam Elliott - Virgil Earp
* Bill Paxton - Morgan Earp
* Billy Zane - Mr. Fabian
* Thomas Haden Church - Billy Clanton
* Jason Priestley - Billy Breckinridge
* Stephen Lang - Ike Clanton
* Billy Bob Thornton - Johnny Tyler
* Charlton Heston - Henry Hooker
* Joanna Pacula - Kate
* Robert Mitchum - The Narrator

## External links

* Tombstone quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Tombstone at Rotten Tomatoes
* Tombstone at Allmovie
* Tombstone at Mojo