I have two guns, one for each of you! (Tombstone (DVD))

Member Name: ILoveJackDaniels

Product:	Tombstone (DVD)
Date:	07/07/01 (669 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A brilliant Western, Entertaining, Memorable

Disadvantages: None that matter

I love movies almost as much as I love Jack Daniels, and that's saying something. Good movies are becoming fewer and farther between these days, so there can be few better ways to spend an evening than renting a classic and relaxing with a bottle of wine (or JD if you're lucky).

Westerns are a strange genre. Most people will love and detest films in every genre with equal ferocity, but will decide whether they like them or not based on the merits of the film. Westerns are different. You either love or hate ALL of them, and that's a fact.

But as with every rule, there is an exception. For the 14 months (seems like 50 years) I have been with the missus, she has sworn blind that she would not watch Tombstone. Her hatred of westerns in general is such that when The Good, The Bad and The Ugly was on TV (a classic I think you'll agree), I had to leave my own house just to watch it.

However, in an attempt to change her mind (a challenge that should not be underestimated) I convinced her to watch Tombstone. So off to the vidoe store for me to rent it. I get home and relax for a couple of hours of top class entertainment.

The film starts off with a little history. I'll give you a potted version of the story and timeline here. Legendary lawman Wyatt Earp heads out west to Tombstone to start a new life, not as a Marshall, but in business with his brothers Virgil and Morgan. Tombstone, unfortunately, is controlled by a hundred and something strong gang known as the cowboys. Lead by Curly Bill Brocius and with the (allegedly) fastest gun in the west (Johnny Ringo), they are a formidable gang.

One thing leads to another naturally, and soon the 3 Earps and Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer in what remains in my opinion the performance of his life) are upholding the law. Battle is joined and what follows is pure action. A hero flick if ever I saw one. Lines like "The final charge of Wyatt Earp and his immortals" shou
ld give a good idea of just how much of a hero flick this is.

The actors are superb. Kurt Russell plays the invincible Wyatt, and Val Kilmer, as I have said, puts in his best performance so far as the gambling and superbly lovable Doc Holliday. Dana Delany lets the film down slightly as the love interest. Historically, her and Wyatt were involved before the Shootout at the OK Corale, and this was the reason Mattie committed suicide. She was also a hooker and didn't have a rich family.

There are scenes in this film that will make you want to cry (anyone who has seen it will know what I mean, especially the ending), scenes that will make you want to jump around happily and experience just about every other emotion known to man.

If you haven't yet seen this masterpiece (directed by George Cosmatos and written by Kevin Jarre by the way) you have missed out. I would highly recommend you either run (I mean RUN) to the video store now and rent it, or get writing a few more reviews and spend your next set of miles on the video at Blacksta.

That's it for the review. If you want to continue reading, I have posted a few interesting historical inaccuracies and the Epilogue (about the missus).

A fair bit of Artistic License was used in this film (from a purely historical point of view).

The cowboys never wore Red Sashes.
2 Earp brothers, James and Warren are not mentioned.
Doc Holliday preferred faro to poker.
Sherm McMasters made it to Colorado with Wyatt, and wasn't killed during the vendetta.
Doc died in a hotel.
Wyatt didn't visit Doc Holliday on his deathbead, and didn't even find out about his death until eight years afterwards.
Doc's real name was John Henry Holliday.
Wyatt was, for a while, a horsethief after his first wife died in childbirth.
Believe it or not, the bit with Curly Bill and Wyatt at the river actually took place, though not in a river!


That'll do for now - just a few bits and pieces that might interest fans of the film.

As for the missus - she loved the film. We've watched it together more times than I care to count. In fact, she loved it so much that I managed to convince her to watch The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Which she hated, and so now won't watch anything I recommend. But hey, that's life...

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