Episode 305
Tombstone (1993)
What happens when Hollywood egos, sabotage campaigns, and directorial chaos collide in the Arizona desert? Tombstone is a film that survived one of the most tumultuous productions in Western movie history to become a beloved cult classic.
You think the gunfight at the O.K. Corral was dramatic? That's nothing compared to Kevin Costner's alleged studio sabotage campaign, the director who got fired just one month into filming, and how Kurt Russell allegedly secretly took over directing duties while refusing to put his name on the film.
A bitter rivalry with Costner's competing Wyatt Earp nearly killed Tombstone before it reached cinemas, and Val Kilmer's career-defining performance as Doc Holliday only really happened because of studio interference, which came from Costner's attempt to derail the production.
From the scorching Arizona heat, to the replacement director brought in with just three days of preparation; a director who made the cinematographer quit three times, as well as various other crew members, Tombstone is a masterclass in how great movies can emerge from absolute production disasters.
It's a tale of Hollywood hardball, Western justice, and that sometimes your worst enemy can accidentally become your greatest asset.
I would love to hear your thoughts on Tombstone (1993) !
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Transcript
Hi, everyone. I'm Em, and welcome to bubble diorama, episode 305, tombstone.
This is the podcast that's all about the history and legacy of movies you know and movies you don't. And it's true. I am a good woman. Then again, I may be the Antichrist. Welcome to Verbal Diorama.
Whether you're a brand-new listener, whether you're a regular returning listener, whether you're just a huge fan of Westerns, thank you for being here. Thank you for choosing to listen to this podcast. I am so happy to have you here for the history and legacy of Tombstone.
And as always, a huge thanks to everyone who listens and supports this podcast and has continued to over the lifetime of this podcast, which is over 300 episodes now. So thank you so much for your support. It genuinely means so much.
And this is the first Western that I've ever done on Verbal Diorama, and it really has been a long time coming, I guess, as so many episodes seem to be of this podcast, and there's no real reason why this is the first Western, other than I've only seen two in my entire life. So this is only the second Western that I've actually seen. It's not really a genre that clearly I watch very much of.
As a British person, I think maybe Americans are more predisposed to watching westerns. But, yeah, it's really not been a genre that I've done that much on.
So I'm really, really happy to actually be doing an episode on Tombstone finally, because I have wanted to do an episode on Tombstone for some time, and the last episode was on Cutthroat island, and there are so many links between this movie and that one. And also the Mummy as well, which is the greatest movie ever made.
Last episode I talked about Cutthroat island being the patsy for a sinking studio, not the reason for the studio's demise.
Well, while Tombstone did great business for Hollywood Pictures and indeed Disney, it had its fair share of production problems and had a miraculous journey to the big screen, including getting made and released in just seven months. Losing its director a month into production and finding its very own cowboy antagonist who tried several things to stop this movie even being made.
Here's the trailer for Tombstone.
Em:After successfully cleaning up Dodge City, Kansas, ex lawman Wyatt Earp moves to the silver mining town of Tombstone, Arizona and wants to get rich in obscurity and retirement. He meets his brothers Virgil and Morgan there, as well as his old friend Doc Holliday.
A band of outlaws that call themselves the Cowboys are causing problems with various acts of of random violence and inevitably come into confrontation with Holiday and the Earps. Which leads to a shootout at the OK Corral and the infamous Earp Vendetta ride.
Let's quickly run through this cast, although it's not going to be quick because there's a lot of people in this movie.
We have Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp, Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday, Sam Elliott as Virgil Earp Bill Paxton as Morgan Earp Powers Booth as Curly Bill Brocius Michael Biehn as Johnny Ringo Charlton Heston as Henry Hooker Jason Priestley as Billy Breckenridge John Tenney as Sheriff Johnny Behan Stephen Lang as Ike Clanton Thomas Hayden Church as Billy Clanton Dana Delaney as Josephine Marcus. Also in there, Michael Rooker, Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Zane, John Corbett, Terry o' Quinn.
This cast is stacked and many of them I didn't actually recognize. Also in the cast, in a small role is Wyatt Earp III as Billy Claiborne. More on him later. Robert Mitchum also narrates.
Tombstone was written by Kevin Jarr and was directed by George P. Cosmatos.
In: d find Tombstone and by March:When Tombstone started to experience rapid growth, Ed's brother Al built Schiffelin Inn hall as a theatre, recital hall and a meeting place for Tombstone citizens. Tombstone's population grew from 100 to around 14,000 in less than seven years.
Tombstone was only 30 miles from the US Mexico border and was an open market for cattle stolen from ranches in Sonora, Mexico by a loosely organized band of outlaws known as the Cowboys. Almost as quickly as it was established, Tombstone began known for being home of one of the most infamous showdowns in the west the Earp Brothers.
The gunfight at the O.K. corral and the Earp Vendetta ride became synonymous with the town of Tombstone.
And it made complete sense that Hollywood would take the story of a legendary lawman, Wyatt Earp, and ride with it. But it would take some time for Earp's story to resonate.
years old in:And this was the first film to feature Wyatt Earp as a character on screen, albeit briefly played by Bert Lindley.
Earp was interviewed for the: After Wyatt earp's death in:Of course, it also helped that his third wife, Josephine Marcus, would threaten legal action to suppress certain parts of Erb's life after his death, controlling the narrative of his life and how he was depicted, I. E.
Not as a hard drinker, gambler or pimp, including suppressing his prior relationship with Mattie Blaylock, her own addiction to gambling, as well as details of her past life as an alleged child prostitute.
After Marcus died in: unfight at the O.K. corral in:Earp has been a staple of Hollywood cinema in a long tradition of Westerns, with each adaptation boosting the reputation of Earp as an American hero.
west shows that began in the: dominated Hollywood from the: In: Shane In:Instead of the genre dying in the 60s, it evolved into the spaghetti Western produced by Italian filmmakers with a distinct visual style, extreme close ups and stylized violence. The heroes were often morally ambiguous and they were grittier in tone.
twood A Fistful of dollars in:The Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement led to Americans renouncing traditional American values and the Western started to fall out of favor in the 70s with the rise of science fiction, horror and contemporary drama. Kind of exactly what we saw last Episode with the pirate genre really.
s, not the society of the:And while a few Westerns in the 80s were modest successes like Young Guns and Silverado, the genre seemingly was considered box office poison.
And then in: uccessful. Which brings us to: movie ever made, the mummy in:His father was Academy Award winning French film composer Maurice Jarre, who worked several times with director David lean and Jaa Jr and Lean became friends. It was Lean who discouraged Kevin Jarre's acting career and encouraged his writing 1. This led to Kevin Jarre writing First Blood Part 2, a Carolco movie.
Yep, they're back again. This episode will have lots of links to Carolco Rambo. First Blood Part 2 was a phenomenal success and was directed by George P. Cosmatos.
am coming back to him too. In:He wrote what many deemed an incredible script and was set to direct an ensemble cast of some of the finest actors in Hollywood. Studio politics. Gonna studio politics though.
And Jarre's unceremonious removal and replacement as Tombstone should have been the end of the story of bringing Tombstone to life. But just like Earp himself, there's way more to the story. And the story starts with Kevin Costner.
att Earp to the big screen in:And Kevin Jarre's script for Tombstone had been originally written with Costner in mind and Costner was the first choice for the role of Wyatt Earp.
Costner was coming off the back of critical and commercial smashes like Dances With Wolves and the Bodyguard and was one of the biggest movie stars in the world. He eventually left the movie because he felt the story should focus on Earp, while Jarre's script was more of an ensemble.
But Costner's involvement, and I use that in air quotes, didn't end there.
After leaving Tombstone and starting work on his own adaptation, Costner allegedly used his influence in Hollywood to try to kill Tombstone by going to every major studio to convince them not to distribute Tombstone.
When that didn't work, and Tombstone got distribution at Hollywood Pictures via Disney's Buena Vista label, Costner bought all the available western costumes in Hollywood for his film. At least four Westerns were in simultaneous pre production at the time. Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, and both Geronimo and American Legend.
I'll come back to the costumes later, but it's safe to say that the alleged attempted sabotage backfired. Kevin Jarre's initial script was seen as a masterpiece.
Westerns were starting to come back into vogue in Hollywood, and the script was the reason many of the actors signed onto the project. It was the involvement of Kurt Russell, though, that shaped Tombstone into Tombstone.
Creative Artists Agency were backing Costner at the time, and the producers of Tombstone wanted a star big enough to satisfy any studio. When a William Morris agent clandestinely passed the script to CAA client Kurt Russell, he thought the script was incredible.
And through Russell is where Andrew Gwasna, previously of Carolco, now of Synergy Pictures, got involved. And Russell backed Jar to direct the movie because Jarre's vision was that of a true western aficionado, despite him having no directing experience.
But while Costner left to make his own Wyatt Earp story, which was initially a premium cable series which morphed into a three hour epic once writer director Lawrence Kasdan came aboard, he realized Tombstone as a movie about Wyatt Earp was further along in the pipeline due to synergy coming aboard, but it hadn't yet found a distributor. Meanwhile, Kurt Russell and Andrew G. Vajna had agreed that they would make Tombstone and they'd make it for $25 million.
And this is where, again, allegedly, Costner began using his considerable clout in Hollywood to turn off studios who might offer Tombstone distribution, lest they get on Costner's bad side.
He was one of the biggest actors of the late 80s and early 90s, after all, and on Tombstone's end they'd already started considering casting for the major roles, including that of Doc Holliday. And the first choice for that role was Willem Dafoe. Tombstone was shopped around for distribution and every studio was saying no.
The only studio who were willing to offer distribution for Tombstone was Disney's Hollywood Pictures. And with that option came certain stipulations, including not casting Dafoe.
This led to Tombstone having no option but to forget Dafoe, get distribution with Hollywood Pictures and go with their second choice, Val Kilmer. Now, some might say Kevin Costner forced them to make the best decision they could have possibly made.
And it was a welcome return to Disney for Kurt Russell, who'd started his career with the studio as a child. But ultimately, despite Costner's attempts to stop Tombstone, Jarre was ready to direct.
Producers James Jacks and Sean Daniel, who also produced the Mummy, were ready to shoot as long as they assembled a cast quickly.
And the cast did fall into place quickly, with many falling in love with Jarre's script, including Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton as Wyatt's brothers Virgil and Morgan. The other two Earp brothers, James and Warren, were left out of the script completely.
And this is an incredible castle of both Hollywood legends like Charlton Heston and Robert Mitchum, established stars like Michael Biehn and Powers Booth, as well as up and comers like Jason Priestley and Thomas Hayden Church. Jar wrote the role of Josephine Marcus for his girlfriend at the time, Lisa Zane.
The role would go to Dana Delaney, but Lisa's brother Billy Zane would get a role instead. The actors all grew period appropriate mustaches and waxed them according to historical photographs.
All except John Tennys, who had to be clean shaven for his previous project. And so he had the only fake mustache in the movie. But you can't have an authentic Western without authentic costumes.
And like everything else on Tombstone, the production was competing with other films, most notably Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp.
veau riche of the west in the:It would slightly increase the costume budget, but it also meant genuinely authentic period clothing in all colors, including lime greens and purples. Tombstone's production designer was Catherine Hardwicke.
She would go on to become a director herself and she wanted to eschew the traditional sepia tones of other Westerns. The costume designer was Joseph Porro, and he experienced this lack of authentic clothing in the U.S.
firsthand when he tried to rent hats within the U.S. but they were either all gone or the companies wouldn't do business with Tombstone. So his only option was to make stuff.
And to do that he enlisted a group of period authentic reenactors led by Peter Sherayko called the Buckaroos. The Buckaroos were a group of amateur historians and provided casting services as extras, either as cowboys, soldiers or townspeople.
They also provided wardrobe, guns, ammunition, technical advice, horses and special effects. Each member of the Buckaroos had their own authentic costumes and huge collections of artifacts and libraries full of books on Westerns.
They also owned huge collections of authentic weapons, including rifles, shotguns and pistols. And they were incredibly skilled marks people with well trained horses.
And it was their attention to detail that led to Joseph Porro manufacturing new costumes in downtown la, taking those designs from the Members of the Buckaroos hiring a Filipino shirt maker to make 300 detailed shirts with Stetson providing 100 hats. The Montana Boot Company provided 20 pairs of stovepipe and coffee bill boots.
Nothing was made at any costume house, but some items, like the ladies dresses were rented from Europe.
cosmopolitan boom town in the:And although some claim that the red sashes of the cowboys are just gang colours or just to identify them and they're accurate, Joseph Poirot claims the sashes were period correct. The period trousers normally didn't contain belt loops and braces and galluses and suspenders always got in the way.
So sashes were often used as belts on high waisted trousers. They also protected fabric from gun oil. And they were also probably inspired by the sash worn by Kevin Jarre's hero, Wild Bill Hickok.
Once again, Costner's attempt to sabotage Tombstone backfired.
ing on Tombstone began in May:The date could not move, else they might as well create a Tombstone for Tombstone. And Kevin Jarre really wanted his directorial debut to be precise, inspired by the classic Westerns directed by John Ford.
He wanted his movie to have beautiful wide shots. He had a vision in his head to emulate the classic westerns of old. He didn't want to do close up shots.
Instead he would give precise line readings to his actors, explaining how the vision in his mind matched the script. But this also led to problems because he would ignore the advice of his experienced cinematographer, six time Oscar nominee William Fraker.
His actors were filming in wool costumes at 110 degree Fahrenheit heat in the shade, not even in the sunshine. 110 degree Fahrenheit heat. It's 43 degrees Celsius that the spritz and that was just in the shade.
We've just had a mini heat wave here in the UK with 32 degrees Celsius and trust me, that is hot enough for any British person. These issues would lead to take after take after take. Jaa was clearly overwhelmed and filming was falling behind schedule.
The pace was slow, the crew was frustrated and time was ticking. They needed a director who could deliver the goods quickly after just a few weeks on the job. Kevin Jarre was removed as director.
Now, some say a handful of his scenes do exist in the finished movie. Others say nothing exists. He directed the scenes with Charlton Heston.
Heston ends up only making a cameo appearance in the movie because jars shots of Heston as prominent rancher Henry Clay Hooker never actually made it into the final version. Jarre's original script had Hooker backing the Earps and all of that footage still exists, but more on that later.
But also the producers knew that Jarre was inexperienced and didn't really give him much time to learn the necessary craft. Just threw him in at the proverbial deep end of the swimming pool. Jaa was understandably devastated to lose Tombstone.
A year before, Universal had shelved his planned Dracula screenplay when Francis Ford Coppola announced his version, the sublime Bram Stoker's Dracula. But Jarre's unceremonious removal led to the need for a new director.
Quick, sharpish, and after considering John Milius and John McTiernan, among others, this is where George P. Cosmatos comes back into the story. He'd worked with Kevin Jarre before on Rambo First Blood Part 2, and he was recommended through Kurt Russell's friend Sylvester Stallone.
He arrived on set with only three days preparation. It was well documented that Cosmatus wasn't the easiest person to get on with, depending on who you were.
He was demanding and had conflicts with pretty much everyone, including cinematographer William Fraker, who quit three times and had to be persuaded to return by producer James Jacks.
Seventeen other crew members, including two script supervisors and half the art department left with the jobs, quit outright or were fired by Kosmatos.
Now, the legend is that Cosmatos was a ghost director at best and Kurt Russell really directed the movie, which has been all but confirmed by Russell since Cosmatos's death, as well as being backed up by Val Kilmer. Russell refused an official director's credit.
But since they needed an official director and they needed to get cracking on finishing this movie, Russell stepped up in more ways than a lead actor would, usually including trimming down the script extensively reducing some roles and stories, including his own lead role, in favor of a more narrow focus on the friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. And this decision, obviously boosted by Costner forcing their hands to end up hiring Val Kilmer, would actually lead to Tombstone becoming legendary.
While Russell was the one setting shot lists and editing the script, he also knew that by elevating Kilmer, who was more or less a method actor on this movie, he'd actually be elevating the movie with some cracking one liners and a constant appearance of pale, sweaty, tuberculosis ridden cool. Val Kilmer simply is Tombstone. And when Russell and Kilmer riff off each other, it's truly great.
Their partnership came at the cost of other roles and storylines which were dramatically cut.
August:They had less than four months to get this movie in the can and in the edit. The removal of key scenes from the script were apparent. The Earp vendetta ride was particularly affected.
As in Jarre's original script, the action scenes were anchored in an explicit context to make the movie more dramatically meaningful and informed the audience as to who exactly is being killed by the Earp party in the final cut. It's more a montage of random character deaths and this was never as Jaa intended.
Also removed was much of the love story between Wyatt Earp and Josephine Marcus, including a sex scene after their horse race, and much of Marcus's story completely including the love triangle between her Earp and Sheriff Behan, which led to much of the tension between the two men in real life. The women in this story are severely underserved and much of this was simply removal from the script after Jar left.
Before this, most of the wives had more to do, as did Big Nose Kate. Wyatt Earp III is credited in this movie as Billy Claiborne, and while it is a stage name, it has an authenticity to it.
Glen Wyatt Earp, AKA Wyatt Earp iii, shares a common ancestor with the Wyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp III is the fifth cousin of Wyatt Earp. None of the Earp brothers, Wyatt, Virgil or Morgan, had sons.
Virgil had one daughter, however, they had an older half brother, Newton Earp. And Wyatt Earp III is a direct descendant of Newton Earp. Back to the footage shot by Jar and all of the footage cut out of the finished movie.
It exists. It's referred to as the Western Godfather. And it exists in the most obvious place. A tape was given by Andrew G.
ings of George p. Cosmatos in:But when asked whether he'd do it, he replied in an interview with True west magazine that he has a life, and someday he might, but right now, living his life is more important.
And props to the guy for realizing that maybe he prefers to spend his 70s doing other stuff than making a director's cut Tombstone, as well as playing his cards close to his chest and not disrespecting the memories of the people who are credited for Tombstone.
And of course, now, with Val Kilmer having passed last year, MT25, it doesn't really make sense to give us a different tombstone because the original is so iconic because of Kilmer. Kilmer would go on to name his autobiography I'm your Huckleberry. He'd also confirm it means I'm your man. You've met your match.
While the majority of the story in Tombstone is true, including, miraculously, that Wyatt Earp was never hit once by any bullet fired at him, there are some things in this movie that aren't completely accurate. The main characters were real people.
Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, Doc Holliday, Johnny Ringo, and the various members of the Cowboys gang all existed and were involved in the historical events depicted. The line from Doc Holliday, you're a daisy if you do is pulled from real newspaper reports.
ently died by suicide in July:But what is pretty much always accurate is the obligatory Keanu reference.
And this is the part of the podcast where I'll try and link the movie that I'm featuring with Keanu Reeves for no reason other than he is the best of men. And who knows, in a different version of the timeline, he may have appeared in Tombstone.
And this is a really simple obligatory Keanu reference, because as I mentioned, Kevin Jarr never got to make his Dracula movie.
But instead we got Bram Stoker's Dracula by Francis Ford Coppola, which obviously starred Keanu Reeves in a role that a lot of people say is one of his worst. But I don't believe that. I actually think it's all right. It's just a dodgy accent. But you know, we forgive lots of people for dodgy accents.
Everyone forgave Dick Van Dyke for that dodgy accent in Mary Poppins a long time ago. I think it's time we all start to forgive and forget the dodgy accent Keanu Reeves gave us in Dracula.
But seriously, Bramstone, cause Dracula is a truly outstanding movie in every respect.
And while Kevin Jarre gave us the Mummy, which is the greatest movie ever made, and I would be interested to see what he would have done with a version of Dracula. I'm never going to take any version of Dracula that doesn't give us Keanu Reeves as Jonathan Harker.
Just quickly on the music for Tombstone, the School was composed and produced by Bruce Broughton and performed by the Symphonia of London. And because this was a non union production, it was actually David Snell who conducted most of the score. Patricia Carlin was the music editor.
December:This was at number one, the Pelican Brief was at number two. But Tombstone was nothing if not consistent and stayed at third for a total of three weeks. Still following Mrs.
Doubtfire and the Pelican Brief, Tombstone dropped to seventh in its fourth week before exiting the top 10 in its seventh week.
Most importantly, it beat Wyatt Earp to cinemas with a six month head start, and that would prove pretty crucial to the everlasting legacy of both movies.
On its $25 million budget, Tombstone grossed $56.5 million domestically in the US and $16.7 million internationally, for a total worldwide gross of $73.2 million.
On rotter tomatoes, it has a score of 76% and its critical consensus reads if you're seeking a stylish modern western with a solid story and a well chosen ensemble cast, Tombstone is your Huckleberry. While Roger Ebert would recommend the movie, Gene Siskel would not.
The pair struggled to find a critic screening, but they kept hearing about this movie. Ebert would say, quote, a strange thing started to happen.
People started telling me they really liked Val Kilmer's performance in Tombstone and I heard this everywhere I went. When you hear this once or twice, it's interesting. When you hear it a couple of dozen times, it's a trend.
And when you read that Bill Clinton loved the performance, you figured you better catch up with the movie, unquote.
Ebert would continue to highlight the movie in other reviews of Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer movies, saying, quote, every time I see Russell or Val Kilmer in a role, I'm reminded of their Tombstone, which got lost in the year end holiday shuffle and never got the recognition it deserved. Unquote.
Tombstone was named one of the five Greatest Westerns Ever Made by True West Magazine, which has contained a wealth of information that I've been able to gain for this episode. So a huge thank you to True West Magazine. Now remarkably, no one got any Oscar nods for this movie, not even Val Kilmer's career Best Performance.
He had to make do with an MTV Award nomination for Best Male Performance and Most Desirable Male. Never has consumption looked so sexy. Kevin Jarre's original Tombstone script is almost as mythologized as the original events themselves.
You'll hear many historians and experts stating it was Shakespearean, the most historically accurate telling of the Tombstone tale and a lost masterpiece, and maybe we will see that version someday. But the truth of Jarre's original script is simply that in its existing form it was unfilmable.
Certainly how Jar chose to direct it, removing him from Tombstone was the only way they were going to save Tombstone. And they did indeed save Tombstone.
Tombstone aims to portray Wyatt Earp and his family as the heroes and the cowboys as the villains in a clearly black and white portrayal. The reality is that Wyatt Earp was not a pure hearted soul out to do the right thing. Wyatt Earp was not a great person.
His reputation in history is based on his own self promotion in early 20th century Hollywood, not from him actually being a good human. But that doesn't make for an interesting Hollywood story of good versus evil.
Maybe Billy Breakenridge's book actually had some truth to it, but Hollywood Westerns have always romanticized the Old west and the Gunfight at the OK Corral is legendary for good reason.
As I mentioned, this is the first Western I've ever done on this podcast and only the second Western I've ever seen after the Magnificent Seven, which I also really enjoyed.
I'm not really a fan of westerns, but so far it's two for two on the genre for me, and I do think it's important for a podcast to mix up the genres sometimes. I've never seen Costner and Kasdan's Wyatt Earp and to be honest I probably won't.
But it's safe to say that while Costner's movie is a three hour epic that focuses strictly on Wyatt Earp himself, it just didn't have the stamina or charisma of Tombstone. It was a box office failure and was compared unfavorably to Tombstone by critics.
It's a real shame because it has a stellar cast as well, including Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Michael Madsen, Catherine o' Hara, Bill Pullman and Isabella Rossellini it would also get an Oscar nomination for best cinematography.
But despite all of the issues surrounding Kevin Jarre and his original vision, we shouldn't take from what's actually here on screen a really great Western tombstone. Given its onset, issues shouldn't be cohesive. It shouldn't work.
The fact it succeeded not only in the early 90s, but still resonates 30 years later and is still winning over new audiences, myself included, is a remarkable testament to the strength of of Kevin Jarre's initial vision, the strong cast he pulled together and the desire of everyone involved to get this movie made. Even after Kevin Jarre was removed from the movie.
While the western resurgence of the early 90s eventually faded away, Tombstone has not only survived, but thrived. And I think it's worth pointing out we need to give the late Kevin Jarre his dues.
Many, many articles slate him for his inexperience and scapegoat him for being the sole source of the movie's problems. Really, the producers should have realized much, much sooner that he didn't have the experience to turn around a big Western in just a few months.
We have to properly recognize Kevin Jarre's accomplishments.
Like Cutthroat island last week, Kevin Jarre was set up to fail, but he was also ultimately responsible for the authenticity on screen and for assembling a truly terrific cast that have become synonymous with these real life characters. Kurt Russell simply is Wyatt Earp. Val Kilmer is Doc Holliday.
er, Colorado in the winter of: ings, California in September:So not only is it a miracle that Wyatt Earp was never struck by any bullet, it's also miraculous that none of the Earp brothers caught tuberculosis. Luckily, with the advent of antibiotics, TB is a rare bacterial disease nowadays in most of the developed world.
But back then it would have been so seriously, seriously infectious. This movie succeeds where it shouldn't, but also where it should. And that's on Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer.
In Kilmer's autobiography, he said, quote, one way or another, Americans have to deal with the west and its glorious, sordid, sadistic past. We fought lawlessness to create an even more lawless law. One that excused and perpetuated genocide.
Even today, this gun obsessed nation that we love remains mired in a dilemma centered on pistols and rifles with romantic toys to our murderous past. We love Westerns. We learn everything from Westerns and yet learn nothing from them. We continue killing ourselves in an unconscionable way.
That's why when I had the chance to play Doc Holliday, I grabbed it. Kilmer mentioned on his blog how much he loved the experience of working on Tombstone and working with Kurt Russell.
He also championed Russell constantly as the sole reason Tombstone was successful.
The pair would live together for a brief period, with Kilmer moving in with Russell and sleeping on his sofa while Goldie Hawn was out of town, just so they could work on the script or schedule for the next day. This has undoubtedly Russell's movie in so many ways, but also undoubtedly Kilmer's.
It's the movie that got him the underrated gig as Batman in Batman Forever. When he passed last year, everyone was talking about Tombstone, and now I know why.
While Kurt Russell is the man with the power to create a director's cut of Tombstone, I don't think we need it. Tombstone's legacy is as set as Wyatt Earps himself. Controlled, managed, somewhat staged, but with a reputation to match its badassery.
Tombstone is the classic modern Western, and that's a pretty good epitaph. Thank you for listening. As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on Tombstone.
And as always, thank you for your continued support of this podcast. If you want to get involved and help this podcast grow, that would be amazing and I would be so very grateful.
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Or you can simply just tell your friends and family about this podcast and about this episode. So the next episode of this podcast is actually another movie that has been a long time coming for this podcast. This month.
I kind of dubbed it It's About Time Month, because these are movies that I've wanted to feature on the podcast for a while. They may have been put into the schedule kind of temporarily. They may have been moved out and replaced by something else.
And the Next Movie is a prime example of a movie that's been put on the schedule so many times and then removed in favor of something else. And I thought to myself, do you know what? I actually really enjoy this movie. It's got so many plot holes, it's kind of frustrating to watch in a way.
gest celebrity couples of the:And it has been a long time coming to this podcast. So please join me next week for the history and legacy of Mr. And Mrs. Smith.
Now, if you enjoy what I do for this podcast and you simply want to support an indie podcaster who does everything herself, if you have some spare change, you can financially contribute to the upkeep of this podcast. Now, you're under no obligation because this podcast is free and it always will be free.
However, if you do get value out of what I do, there are a couple of ways you can help.
You can make a one off donation@verbaldiorama.com tips or you can go to the Patreon and you can subscribe@verbaldiorama.com Patreon and all money made goes back into this podcast by paying for subscriptions, hosting and new equipment. Huge thank you to the amazing patrons of this podcast.
They are Simon, Laurel, Derek, Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Dave, Stuart, Nicholas, so Kev, Heather, Danny, Stu, Brett, Philip, M. Xenos, Sean, Rhino, Philip K, Adam, Elaine, Kyle, and Aaron.
If you want to get in touch, you can email verbal dioramail.com you can also go to verbaldiorama.com and you can fill out the little contact form and you can basically say hello. You can give me feedback or suggestions.
And like I say, please feel free to get in touch and talk about this movie or literally any other movie that I've ever featured. I'm definitely going to have something to say about every movie that I've ever featured on this podcast.
And like I say, there's over 300 of them, so plenty of opportunities to talk. And finally.
Em:Bye.