George P. Cosmatos directs Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer and Sam Elliott in this western that tries to expand on the much filmed Gunfight At The O.K. Corral by following the aftermath with equal brutal and chaotic detail.

Maybe because an elderly Wyatt Earp ended his days in Hollywood in the early days of the silent western that the myth surrounding him is eternally cinematic? An infamously troubled production Tombstone sits in the gut better than it plays in the eye. A few days after a view and the fantastic deep cut machismo of the casting and the downright walloping set pieces remain in the memory. The film itself is uneven over two plus hours. Both somehow rushed and slow. Epic yet choppy. I’ve never been the biggest Val Kilmer fan but his Doc Holliday is definitive. And the always welcome Russell bellows out the line “You tell ’em I’m coming! And Hell’s coming with me you hear! Hell’s coming with me!” as if it were the grandest line in western history. And it just may be. Shit, Bruce Broughton score is damn definitive too! See… only a few days later and I’m revising my opinion all over again

7

Perfect Double Bill: The Quick And The Dead (1995)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/