Kurt Russell plays Wyatt Earp, retired U.S. Marshal just out to settle down and make his fortune, along with his brothers Virgil (Sam Elliott) and Morgan (Bill Paxton), in the silver mining town of Tombstone, AZ. Literally, as soon as the boys roll into town, trouble starts. I guess it just follows the Earps. It seems the town is strong-armed by a group of Texas outlaws that go by the name the "Cowboys" and can be easily spotted by the bright red sashes they wear around their waists. These guys take what they want and kill who they want and it's easy to do because the Sheriff and the Mayor (Terry O'Quinn) are little more than figureheads in the city. But all of that is about to change.
At first, Wyatt, Virgil and Morgan are single-minded in their quest for fortune and Wyatt manages to gain 25% interest in a local tavern/casino when he cleans out the rabble. Despite the fact that the local U.S. Marshals desperately want Wyatt to join them against the Cowboys, Wyatt forcefully declines. His old friend, John "Doc" Holliday (played brilliantly by Val Kilmer), expert gambler and gunman, has also recently come to Tombstone to recover from his battle with tuberculosis and has managed to raise the ire of a few of the Cowboys, especially their chief quick-draw gunslinger, Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn, Aliens, Terminator).
To complicate matters, Wyatt's wife, Mattie (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) is addicted to laudanum (opium) and is miserable in the small town, and it just so happens that a spirited actress named Josephine (Dana Delaney) has managed to catch Wyatt's eye. The last thing the man needs is a distraction like her.
The straw that breaks the camel's back for the brothers Earp is when the leader of the Cowboys, Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe), shoots down a law enforcer who was simply trying to disarm him as he was drunk in the street. From here on out, it's an all-out war leading to the dramatic and legendary "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," which leaves Virgil and Morgan both wounded. The Cowboys had better head to the hills, because justice is coming in the form of Wyatt Earp and he's bringing hell with him.
Tombstone has some great action scenes and terrific acting. My hands-down favorite has got to be Val Kilmer, who almost seemed to be channeling Johnny Depp at times, but everyone is great and there are so many faces to recognize here. Billy Zane (Titanic) plays the handsome actor in Josephine's acting troupe, Terry O'Quinn (John Locke, for all of you Losties out there) plays the Mayor, Jason Priestley (90210) plays a deputy, Charlton Heston plays a benevolent rancher, Billy Bob Thornton (Armageddon) plays the dealer who gets ousted from his job by Wyatt, Stephen Lang (Avatar) and Thomas Hayden Church (Sideways) play members of the Cowboys and the legendary Robert Mitchum narrates the film. I also found it interesting that Wyatt Earp III, a distant relative of the focus of the film, has a small role as does Robert Mitchum's son, Chris. With these guys, plus Charlton Heston, apparently the filmmakers wanted to throw a good bit of Western pedigree into the movie, which is cool.
The transfer to Blu-ray looks superb. Not a pixel is out of place and the grand vistas of the Wild West come through crisp and crystal clear. I really enjoyed the menu, which sounds silly, but they made it look like a really old Western flick with crackles and sepia tones and it was a nice effect. The surround sound works well for this film and you'll swear you're smack-dab in the middle of the fray when the shooting starts. As for special features, there's not much but what is there is good. There's a 3-part making-of on the movie that lasts about 30 minutes and delves into the various aspects of making an authentic Western film, plus there's the director's original storyboards for perusal and the obligatory trailers and such. I would have loved to have seen a retrospective on this film with Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton and Sam Elliott, but there's not one. However, the making-of is really good and has lots of interviews with the actors from the time, so it'll do.
If you don't already have Tombstone in your collection, this is the version to buy. It looks super and it's a really excellent movie that stands the test of time. Even if you aren't a fan of Westerns, I encourage you to see this film because it really is great and well worth seeing.
