Tombstone (1993)

Episode Transcript
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(02:11):
Hi, everyone. I'm Em, andwelcome to bubble diorama, episode
305, tombstone. This is thepodcast that's all about the history
and legacy of movies you knowand movies you don't. And it's true.
I am a good woman. Then again,I may be the Antichrist. Welcome
to Verbal Diorama. Whetheryou're a brandbrand-newnewlistener,whetheryou'rearegularreturninglistener,whether

(02:32):
you're just a huge fan ofWesterns, thank you for being here.
Thank you for choosing tolisten to this podcast. I am so happy
to have you here for thehistory and legacy of Tombstone.
And as always, a huge thanksto everyone who listens and supports
this podcast and has continuedto over the lifetime of this podcast,
which is over 300 episodesnow. So thank you so much for your

(02:53):
support. It genuinely means somuch. And this is the first Western
that I've ever done on VerbalDiorama, and it really has been a
long time coming, I guess, asso many episodes seem to be of this
podcast, and there's no realreason why this is the first Western,

(03:14):
other than I've only seen twoin my entire life. So this is only
the second Western that I'veactually seen. It's not really a
genre that clearly I watchvery much of. As a British person,
I think maybe Americans aremore predisposed to watching westerns.

(03:34):
But, yeah, it's really notbeen a genre that I've done that
much on. So I'm really, reallyhappy to actually be doing an episode
on Tombstone finally, becauseI have wanted to do an episode on
Tombstone for some time, andthe last episode was on Cutthroat
island, and there are so manylinks between this movie and that
one. And also the Mummy aswell, which is the greatest movie

(03:56):
ever made. Last episode Italked about Cutthroat island being
the patsy for a sinkingstudio, not the reason for the studio's
demise. Well, while Tombstonedid great business for Hollywood
Pictures and indeed Disney, ithad its fair share of production
problems and had a miraculousjourney to the big screen, including
getting made and released injust seven months. Losing its director

(04:20):
a month into production andfinding its very own cowboy antagonist
who tried several things tostop this movie even being made.
Here's the trailer for Tombstone.

(06:58):
After successfully cleaning upDodge City, Kansas, ex lawman Wyatt
Earp moves to the silvermining town of Tombstone, Arizona
and wants to get rich inobscurity and retirement. He meets
his brothers Virgil and Morganthere, as well as his old friend
Doc Holliday. A band ofoutlaws that call themselves the
Cowboys are causing problemswith various acts of of random violence

(07:20):
and inevitably come intoconfrontation with Holiday and the
Earps. Which leads to ashootout at the OK Corral and the
infamous Earp Vendetta ride.Let's quickly run through this cast,
although it's not going to bequick because there's a lot of people
in this movie. We have KurtRussell as Wyatt Earp, Val Kilmer
as Doc Holliday, Sam Elliottas Virgil Earp Bill Paxton as Morgan

(07:45):
Earp Powers Booth as CurlyBill Brocius Michael Biehn as Johnny
Ringo Charlton Heston as HenryHooker Jason Priestley as Billy Breckenridge
John Tenney as Sheriff JohnnyBehan Stephen Lang as Ike Clanton
Thomas Hayden Church as BillyClanton Dana Delaney as Josephine

(08:06):
Marcus. Also in there, MichaelRooker, Billy Bob Thornton, Billy
Zane, John Corbett, Terry o'Quinn. This cast is stacked and many
of them I didn't actuallyrecognize. Also in the cast, in a
small role is Wyatt Earp IIIas Billy Claiborne. More on him later.
Robert Mitchum also narrates.Tombstone was written by Kevin Jarr

(08:30):
and was directed by George P.Cosmatos. In 1877, the 30 year old
prospector, Ed Schiffelin wasworking the hills east of the San
Pedro river on land previouslyinhabited by the native Hoboken when
he found pieces of silver orein a dry wash. His friends had told
him that the only rock hewould find in the barren Arizona

(08:51):
desert land would be histombstone. Ed Schiffelin did indeed
find Tombstone and by March1897, 100 residents occupied tents
and shacks as two mines and astamping mill were built. When Cochise
county was formed in February1881, Tombstone became the county
seat. When Tombstone startedto experience rapid growth, Ed's

(09:15):
brother Al built SchiffelinInn hall as a theatre, recital hall
and a meeting place forTombstone citizens. Tombstone's population
grew from 100 to around 14,000in less than seven years. Tombstone
was only 30 miles from the USMexico border and was an open market
for cattle stolen from ranchesin Sonora, Mexico by a loosely organized

(09:36):
band of outlaws known as theCowboys. Almost as quickly as it
was established, Tombstonebegan known for being home of one
of the most infamous showdownsin the west the Earp Brothers. The
gunfight at the O.K. corraland the Earp Vendetta ride became
synonymous with the town ofTombstone. And it made complete sense
that Hollywood would take thestory of a legendary lawman, Wyatt

(09:59):
Earp, and ride with it. But itwould take some time for Earp's story
to resonate. The real Wyattearp lived to 80 years old in 1929
and he and his wife Sadie, akaJosephine Marcus, would spend their
summers in Los Angeles. Earpwould serve as a technical advisor
on 1923's Wild Bill Hickok.And this was the first film to feature

(10:22):
Wyatt Earp as a character onscreen, albeit briefly played by
Bert Lindley. Earp wasinterviewed for the 1928 book Helldorado,
written by Billy Breakenridge,the former Tombstone deputy under
John Behan, which had a lessthan flattering depiction of Earp
and his brothers as thieves,pimps, crooked gamblers and murderers,

(10:43):
stating that the gunfight atthe OK Corral was actually not a
gunfight at all, but theunarmed cowboys surrendering to the
Earps and being shot down incold blood. After Wyatt earp's death
in 1929 and the publication ofStuart Naik's book Wyatt Earp frontier
marshal in 1931, Hollywoodfinally started to take notice of

(11:03):
Wyatt Earp and his incrediblestories, many of which came from
Earp himself. He was not ahumble man and took every effort
to tell the tales of Tombstoneand obviously picture himself in
the most flattering light. Ofcourse, it also helped that his third
wife, Josephine Marcus, wouldthreaten legal action to suppress
certain parts of Erb's lifeafter his death, controlling the

(11:27):
narrative of his life and howhe was depicted, I. E. Not as a hard
drinker, gambler or pimp,including suppressing his prior relationship
with Mattie Blaylock, her ownaddiction to gambling, as well as
details of her past life as analleged child prostitute. After Marcus
died in 1944, 15 years afterEarp, she died penniless after gambling

(11:49):
away much of their jointwealth and the floodgates into the
real story of why had Earpopened from early Westerns like frontier
Marshall in 1939, the firstfilm adaptation of Wyatt Earp's biography
Tombstone. The Town Too Toughto Die in 1942 starring Richard Dix,
John Ford's My DarlingClementine in 1946 starring Henry

(12:11):
Fonda as Wyatt Earp. BurtLancaster starred in Gunfight at
the O.K. corral in 1957, andHour of the Gun in 1967 starred James
Garner in the role of WyattEarp. Earp has been a staple of Hollywood
cinema in a long tradition ofWesterns, with each adaptation boosting
the reputation of Earp as anAmerican hero. And just like the

(12:33):
pirate genre I talked aboutlast episode, Westerns have been
a tradition in Hollywood,going all the way back to the silent
era, derived from the Wildwest shows that began in the 1870s.
One of the most famous andinfluential Westerns of all time,
though by no means the first,was the Great train robbery from
1903. The popularity of theGreat Train Robbery led directly

(12:56):
to the opening up of permanentnickelodeon movie theaters and the
possibility of a future filmindustry. Westerns dominated Hollywood
from the 1930s through to the1960s, becoming America's most distinctly
personal, patriotic andnational film genre. In 1939, John
Ford directed Stagecoach, amovie that made the legendary John

(13:18):
Wayne a star, and followed itup with red river in 1948 and the
Searchers in 1956 thatexplored darker themes. There was
also High Noon in 1952, GaryCooper's tense real time Western
that served as an allegory forMcCarthyism. Shane In 1953, the archetypal
story of the reluctantGunfighter, which is also featured

(13:40):
in the movie Logan, and theonly other Western that I'd ever
seen, the magnificent seven in1960, an American remake of Akira
Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, andthe ensemble Western that became
a template for action films.Westerns also infiltrated TV with
shows like Gunsmoke, Bonanzaand the Lone Ranger, all becoming
popular during this era.Instead of the genre dying in the

(14:04):
60s, it evolved into thespaghetti Western produced by Italian
filmmakers with a distinctvisual style, extreme close ups and
stylized violence. The heroeswere often morally ambiguous and
they were grittier in tone.Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy with
Clint Eastwood A Fistful ofdollars in 1964, For a Few Dollars

(14:24):
More in 1965, and the Good,the Bad and the Ugly in 1966 redefined
the genre. Leone's Once Upon aTime in the west in 1968 is considered
the pinnacle of the spaghettiWestern. The Vietnam War and the
Civil Rights movement led toAmericans renouncing traditional
American values and theWestern started to fall out of favor

(14:46):
in the 70s with the rise ofscience fiction, horror and contemporary
drama. Kind of exactly what wesaw last Episode with the pirate
genre really. Hollywood wantedto tell stories of modern America
that reflected the modernsociety of the 70s, not the society
of the 1870s. By the time 1980rolled around, the expensive western

(15:07):
epic Heaven's Gate became acritical and commercial disaster.
And while a few Westerns inthe 80s were modest successes like
Young Guns and Silverado, thegenre seemingly was considered box
office poison. And then in1990, Dances with Wolves would be
hugely successful, grossing$400 million on its 22 million dollar

(15:28):
budget and winning seven ofthe 12 Oscars it was nominated for,
including Best Picture andBest Director for star Kevin Costner.
Only the second Western atthat time to win Best Picture. We
are going to be coming back toKevin Costner, then two years later,
Clint Eastwood's Best Picture,Oscar winning Unforgiven which deconstructed

(15:49):
the western mythology and wasnot only critically acclaimed but
also commercially successful.Which brings us to 1993 and tombstone.
And the story of Tombstonestarts with writer Kevin Jarre. Jar
also co wrote the greatestmovie ever made, the mummy in 1999,
which would be his lastwriting credit. Jarre had grown up

(16:09):
in and around the industry.His father was Academy Award winning
French film composer MauriceJarre, who worked several times with
director David lean and Jaa Jrand Lean became friends. It was Lean
who discouraged Kevin Jarre'sacting career and encouraged his
writing 1. This led to KevinJarre writing First Blood Part 2,

(16:30):
a Carolco movie. Yep, they'reback again. This episode will have
lots of links to CarolcoRambo. First Blood Part 2 was a phenomenal
success and was directed byGeorge P. Cosmatos. I am coming back
to him too. In 1989, KevinJarre also wrote the screenplay for
the award winning film Glory.And as a history buff, Tombstone

(16:50):
was a passion project for him.He wrote what many deemed an incredible
script and was set to directan ensemble cast of some of the finest
actors in Hollywood. Studiopolitics. Gonna studio politics though.
And Jarre's unceremoniousremoval and replacement as Tombstone
should have been the end ofthe story of bringing Tombstone to

(17:11):
life. But just like Earphimself, there's way more to the
story. And the story startswith Kevin Costner. Now we all know
Costner brought his Wyatt Earpbiopic, just Called Wyatt Earp to
the big screen in 1994. It wasfocused on Earp throughout his life
rather than the ensemble. AndKevin Jarre's script for Tombstone

(17:32):
had been originally writtenwith Costner in mind and Costner
was the first choice for therole of Wyatt Earp. Costner was coming
off the back of critical andcommercial smashes like Dances With
Wolves and the Bodyguard andwas one of the biggest movie stars
in the world. He eventuallyleft the movie because he felt the
story should focus on Earp,while Jarre's script was more of

(17:55):
an ensemble. But Costner'sinvolvement, 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 killTombstone by going to every major
studio to convince them not todistribute Tombstone. When that didn't

(18:16):
work, and Tombstone gotdistribution at Hollywood Pictures
via Disney's Buena Vistalabel, Costner bought all the available
western costumes in Hollywoodfor his film. At least four Westerns
were in simultaneous preproduction at the time. Tombstone,
Wyatt Earp, and both Geronimoand American Legend. I'll come back

(18:36):
to the costumes later, butit'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, andthe script was the reason many of
the actors signed onto theproject. It was the involvement of
Kurt Russell, though, thatshaped Tombstone into Tombstone.

(18:57):
Creative Artists Agency werebacking Costner at the time, and
the producers of Tombstonewanted a star big enough to satisfy
any studio. When a WilliamMorris agent clandestinely passed
the script to CAA client KurtRussell, he thought the script was
incredible. And throughRussell is where Andrew Gwasna, previously

(19:18):
of Carolco, now of SynergyPictures, got involved. And Russell
backed Jar to direct the moviebecause Jarre's vision was that of
a true western aficionado,despite him having no directing experience.
But while Costner left to makehis own Wyatt Earp story, which was
initially a premium cableseries which morphed into a three
hour epic once writer directorLawrence Kasdan came aboard, he realized

(19:43):
Tombstone as a movie aboutWyatt Earp was further along in the
pipeline due to synergy comingaboard, but it hadn't yet found a
distributor. Meanwhile, KurtRussell and Andrew G. Vajna had agreed
that they would make Tombstoneand they'd make it for $25 million.
And this is where, again,allegedly, Costner began using his

(20:04):
considerable clout inHollywood to turn off studios who
might offer Tombstonedistribution, lest they get on Costner's
bad side. He was one of thebiggest actors of the late 80s and
early 90s, after all, and onTombstone's end they'd already started
considering casting for themajor roles, including that of Doc
Holliday. And the first choicefor that role was Willem Dafoe. Tombstone

(20:28):
was shopped around fordistribution and every studio was
saying no. The only studio whowere willing to offer distribution
for Tombstone was Disney'sHollywood Pictures. And with that
option came certainstipulations, including not casting
Dafoe. This led to Tombstonehaving no option but to forget Dafoe,
get distribution withHollywood Pictures and go with their

(20:49):
second choice, Val Kilmer.Now, some might say Kevin Costner
forced them to make the bestdecision they could have possibly
made. And it was a welcomereturn to Disney for Kurt Russell,
who'd started his career withthe studio as a child. But ultimately,
despite Costner's attempts tostop Tombstone, Jarre was ready to
direct. Producers James Jacksand Sean Daniel, who also produced

(21:11):
the Mummy, were ready to shootas long as they assembled a cast
quickly. And the cast did fallinto place quickly, with many falling
in love with Jarre's script,including Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton
as Wyatt's brothers Virgil andMorgan. The other two Earp brothers,
James and Warren, were leftout of the script completely. And
this is an incredible castleof both Hollywood legends like Charlton

(21:34):
Heston and Robert Mitchum,established stars like Michael Biehn
and Powers Booth, as well asup and comers like Jason Priestley
and Thomas Hayden Church. Jarwrote the role of Josephine Marcus
for his girlfriend at thetime, Lisa Zane. The role would go
to Dana Delaney, but Lisa'sbrother Billy Zane would get a role
instead. The actors all grewperiod appropriate mustaches and

(21:58):
waxed them according tohistorical photographs. All except
John Tennys, who had to beclean shaven for his previous project.
And so he had the only fakemustache in the movie. But you can't
have an authentic Westernwithout authentic costumes. And like
everything else on Tombstone,the production was competing with
other films, most notablyKevin Costner's Wyatt Earp. And Costner,

(22:21):
while his merely startedshooting two months after Tombstone,
had already swiped up all theavailable western costumes in Hollywood
for his film. Unperturbed, theTombstone team went to Europe, which
was actually where the nouveauriche of the west in the 1880s actually
bought their clothes. It wouldslightly increase the costume budget,

(22:42):
but it also meant genuinelyauthentic period clothing in all
colors, including lime greensand purples. Tombstone's production
designer was CatherineHardwicke. She would go on to become
a director herself and shewanted to eschew the traditional
sepia tones of other Westerns.The costume designer was Joseph Porro,
and he experienced this lackof authentic clothing in the U.S.

(23:05):
firsthand when he tried torent hats within the U.S. but they
were either all gone or thecompanies wouldn't do business with
Tombstone. So his only optionwas to make stuff. And to do that
he enlisted a group of periodauthentic reenactors led by Peter
Sherayko called the Buckaroos.The Buckaroos were a group of amateur

(23:26):
historians and providedcasting services as extras, either
as cowboys, soldiers ortownspeople. They also provided wardrobe,
guns, ammunition, technicaladvice, horses and special effects.
Each member of the Buckarooshad their own authentic costumes
and huge collections ofartifacts and libraries full of books

(23:47):
on Westerns. They also ownedhuge collections of authentic weapons,
including rifles, shotguns andpistols. And they were incredibly
skilled marks people with welltrained horses. And it was their
attention to detail that ledto Joseph Porro manufacturing new
costumes in downtown la,taking those designs from the Members

(24:07):
of the Buckaroos hiring aFilipino shirt maker to make 300
detailed shirts with Stetsonproviding 100 hats. The Montana Boot
Company provided 20 pairs ofstovepipe and coffee bill boots.
Nothing was made at anycostume house, but some items, like
the ladies dresses were rentedfrom Europe. Jarre wanted an authentic

(24:29):
Western in all aspects,specifically to capture the affluent,
colourful Victorian look of acosmopolitan boom town in the 1880s.
And although some claim thatthe red sashes of the cowboys are
just gang colours or just toidentify them and they're accurate,
Joseph Poirot claims thesashes were period correct. The period

(24:51):
trousers normally didn'tcontain belt loops and braces and
galluses and suspenders alwaysgot in the way. So sashes were often
used as belts on high waistedtrousers. They also protected fabric
from gun oil. And they werealso probably inspired by the sash
worn by Kevin Jarre's hero,Wild Bill Hickok. Once again, Costner's

(25:12):
attempt to sabotage Tombstonebackfired. Filming on Tombstone began
in May 1993 around Tucson,Arizona, around 70 miles from the
actual tombstone, with animmovable Christmas 1993 release
date. Immovable because theyknew Costner's Wyatt Earp was scheduled
for June 1994 and they wantedto beat that movie to the punch by

(25:36):
six months. The date could notmove, else they might as well create
a Tombstone for Tombstone. AndKevin Jarre really wanted his directorial
debut to be precise, inspiredby the classic Westerns directed
by John Ford. He wanted hismovie to have beautiful wide shots.
He had a vision in his head toemulate the classic westerns of old.

(26:00):
He didn't want to do close upshots. Instead he would give precise
line readings to his actors,explaining how the vision in his
mind matched the script. Butthis also led to problems because
he would ignore the advice ofhis experienced cinematographer,
six time Oscar nominee WilliamFraker. His actors were filming in

(26:21):
wool costumes at 110 degreeFahrenheit heat in the shade, not
even in the sunshine. 110degree Fahrenheit heat. It's 43 degrees
Celsius that the spritz andthat was just in the shade. We've
just had a mini heat wave herein the UK with 32 degrees Celsius
and trust me, that is hotenough for any British person. These

(26:43):
issues would lead to takeafter take after take. Jaa was clearly
overwhelmed and filming wasfalling behind schedule. The pace
was slow, the crew wasfrustrated and time was ticking.
They needed a director whocould deliver the goods quickly after
just a few weeks on the job.Kevin Jarre was removed as director.

(27:04):
Now, some say a handful of hisscenes do exist in the finished movie.
Others say nothing exists. Hedirected the scenes with Charlton
Heston. Heston ends up onlymaking a cameo appearance in the
movie because jars shots ofHeston as prominent rancher Henry
Clay Hooker never actuallymade it into the final version. Jarre's
original script had Hookerbacking the Earps and all of that

(27:26):
footage still exists, but moreon that later. But also the producers
knew that Jarre wasinexperienced and didn't really give
him much time to learn thenecessary craft. Just threw him in
at the proverbial deep end ofthe swimming pool. Jaa was understandably
devastated to lose Tombstone.A year before, Universal had shelved

(27:46):
his planned Dracula screenplaywhen Francis Ford Coppola announced
his version, the sublime BramStoker's Dracula. But Jarre's unceremonious
removal led to the need for anew director. Quick, sharpish, and
after considering John Miliusand John McTiernan, among others,
this is where George P.Cosmatos comes back into the story.

(28:07):
He'd worked with Kevin Jarrebefore on Rambo First Blood Part
2, and he was recommendedthrough Kurt Russell's friend Sylvester
Stallone. He arrived on setwith only three days preparation.
It was well documented thatCosmatus wasn't the easiest person
to get on with, depending onwho you were. He was demanding and
had conflicts with pretty mucheveryone, including cinematographer

(28:30):
William Fraker, who quit threetimes and had to be persuaded to
return by producer JamesJacks. Seventeen other crew members,
including two scriptsupervisors and half the art department
left with the jobs, quitoutright or were fired by Kosmatos.
Now, the legend is thatCosmatos was a ghost director at
best and Kurt Russell reallydirected the movie, which has been

(28:54):
all but confirmed by Russellsince Cosmatos's death, as well as
being backed up by Val Kilmer.Russell refused an official director's
credit. But since they neededan official director and they needed
to get cracking on finishingthis movie, Russell stepped up in
more ways than a lead actorwould, usually including trimming
down the script extensivelyreducing some roles and stories,

(29:16):
including his own lead role,in favor of a more narrow focus on
the friendship between WyattEarp and Doc Holliday. And this decision,
obviously boosted by Costnerforcing their hands to end up hiring
Val Kilmer, would actuallylead to Tombstone becoming legendary.
While Russell was the onesetting shot lists and editing the
script, he also knew that byelevating Kilmer, who was more or

(29:39):
less a method actor on thismovie, he'd actually be elevating
the movie with some crackingone liners and a constant appearance
of pale, sweaty, tuberculosisridden cool. Val Kilmer simply is
Tombstone. And when Russelland Kilmer riff off each other, it's
truly great. Their partnershipcame at the cost of other roles and

(29:59):
storylines which weredramatically cut. Sam Elliot stated
that if he'd been offered theamended final shooting script for
Tombstone instead of KevinJarre's original, he would have declined
the role. Tombstone finallywrapped filming on 29 August 1993
after 88 days of shooting.They had less than four months to
get this movie in the can andin the edit. The removal of key scenes

(30:23):
from the script were apparent.The Earp vendetta ride was particularly
affected. As in Jarre'soriginal script, the action scenes
were anchored in an explicitcontext to make the movie more dramatically
meaningful and informed theaudience as to who exactly is being
killed by the Earp party inthe final cut. It's more a montage
of random character deaths andthis was never as Jaa intended. Also

(30:47):
removed was much of the lovestory between Wyatt Earp an Josephine
Marcus, including a sex sceneafter their horse race, and much
of Marcus's story completelyincluding the love triangle between
her Earp and Sheriff Behan,which led to much of the tension
between the two men in reallife. The women in this story are
severely underserved and muchof this was simply removal from the

(31:09):
script after Jar left. Beforethis, most of the wives had more
to do, as did Big Nose Kate.Wyatt Earp III is credited in this
movie as Billy Claiborne, andwhile it is a stage name, it has
an authenticity to it. GlenWyatt Earp, AKA Wyatt Earp iii, shares
a common ancestor with theWyatt Earp. Wyatt Earp III is the

(31:32):
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 halfbrother, Newton Earp. And Wyatt Earp
III is a direct descendant ofNewton Earp. Back to the footage
shot by Jar and all of thefootage cut out of the finished movie.

(31:55):
It exists. It's referred to asthe Western Godfather. And it exists
in the most obvious place. Atape was given by Andrew G. Vajna
to Kurt Russell with theexpress permission from Russell to
reconstruct the movie in thefuture if he wished. After the passings
of George p. Cosmatos in 2005and Kevin Jarre in 2011, Russell

(32:18):
has the ability to create anew director's cut. But when asked
whether he'd do it, he repliedin an interview with True west magazine
that he has a life, andsomeday he might, but right now,
living his life is moreimportant. And props to the guy for
realizing that maybe heprefers to spend his 70s doing other
stuff than making a director'scut Tombstone, as well as playing

(32:40):
his cards close to his chestand not disrespecting the memories
of the people who are creditedfor Tombstone. And of course, now,
with Val Kilmer having passedlast year, MT25, it doesn't really
make sense to give us adifferent tombstone because the original
is so iconic because ofKilmer. Kilmer would go on to name
his autobiography I'm yourHuckleberry. He'd also confirm it

(33:03):
means I'm your man. You've metyour match. While the majority of
the story in Tombstone istrue, including, miraculously, that
Wyatt Earp was never hit onceby any bullet fired at him, there
are some things in this moviethat aren't completely accurate.
The main characters were realpeople. Wyatt Earp, his brothers
Virgil and Morgan, DocHolliday, Johnny Ringo, and the various

(33:27):
members of the Cowboys gangall existed and were involved in
the historical eventsdepicted. The line from Doc Holliday,
you're a daisy if you do ispulled from real newspaper reports.
Less accurate is the timeline,which compresses several years of
events into what happens to bein close succession. And nor was
Johnny Ringo's death at thehands of Doc Holliday. Ringo apparently

(33:51):
died by suicide in July 1882.But what is pretty much always accurate
is the obligatory Keanureference. And this is the part of
the podcast where I'll try andlink the movie that I'm featuring
with Keanu Reeves for noreason other than he is the best
of men. And who knows, in adifferent version of the timeline,

(34:11):
he may have appeared inTombstone. And this is a really simple
obligatory Keanu reference,because as I mentioned, Kevin Jarr
never got to make his Draculamovie. But instead we got Bram Stoker's
Dracula by Francis FordCoppola, which obviously starred
Keanu Reeves in a role that alot of people say is one of his worst.
But I don't believe that. Iactually think it's all right. It's

(34:34):
just a dodgy accent. But youknow, we forgive lots of people for
dodgy accents. Everyoneforgave Dick Van Dyke for that dodgy
accent in Mary Poppins a longtime ago. I think it's time we all
start to forgive and forgetthe dodgy accent Keanu Reeves gave
us in Dracula. But seriously,Bramstone, cause Dracula is a truly
outstanding movie in everyrespect. And while Kevin Jarre gave

(34:57):
us the Mummy, which is thegreatest movie ever made, and I would
be interested to see what hewould have done with a version of
Dracula. I'm never going totake any version of Dracula that
doesn't give us Keanu Reevesas Jonathan Harker. Just quickly
on the music for Tombstone,the School was composed and produced
by Bruce Broughton andperformed by the Symphonia of London.

(35:17):
And because this was a nonunion production, it was actually
David Snell who conducted mostof the score. Patricia Carlin was
the music editor. And despitethem not actually having a great
deal of time to get Tombstonefilmed and post production completed,
miraculously Tombstone didrelease on time. On 24 December 1993,

(35:40):
it debuted at third at the USbox office behind Mrs. Doubtfire,
which had been out six weeks.This was at number one, the Pelican
Brief was at number two. ButTombstone was nothing if not consistent
and stayed at third for atotal of three weeks. Still following
Mrs. Doubtfire and the PelicanBrief, Tombstone dropped to seventh
in its fourth week beforeexiting the top 10 in its seventh

(36:02):
week. Most importantly, itbeat Wyatt Earp to cinemas with a
six month head start, and thatwould prove pretty crucial to the
everlasting legacy of bothmovies. On its $25 million budget,
Tombstone grossed $56.5million domestically in the US and
$16.7 million internationally,for a total worldwide gross of $73.2

(36:25):
million. On rotter tomatoes,it has a score of 76% and its critical
consensus reads if you'reseeking a stylish modern western
with a solid story and a wellchosen ensemble cast, Tombstone is
your Huckleberry. While RogerEbert would recommend the movie,
Gene Siskel would not. Thepair struggled to find a critic screening,

(36:49):
but they kept hearing aboutthis movie. Ebert would say, quote,
a strange thing started tohappen. People started telling me
they really liked Val Kilmer'sperformance in Tombstone and I heard
this everywhere I went. Whenyou hear this once or twice, it's
interesting. When you hear ita couple of dozen times, it's a trend.
And when you read that BillClinton loved the performance, you

(37:11):
figured you better catch upwith the movie, unquote. Ebert would
continue to highlight themovie in other reviews of Kurt Russell
and Val Kilmer movies, saying,quote, every time I see Russell or
Val Kilmer in a role, I'mreminded of their Tombstone, which
got lost in the year endholiday shuffle and never got the
recognition it deserved.Unquote. Tombstone was named one

(37:34):
of the five Greatest WesternsEver Made by True West Magazine,
which has contained a wealthof information that I've been able
to gain for this episode. So ahuge thank you to True West Magazine.
Now remarkably, no one got anyOscar nods for this movie, not even
Val Kilmer's career BestPerformance. He had to make do with
an MTV Award nomination forBest Male Performance and Most Desirable

(37:57):
Male. Never has consumptionlooked so sexy. Kevin Jarre's original
Tombstone script is almost asmythologized as the original events
themselves. You'll hear manyhistorians and experts stating it
was Shakespearean, the mosthistorically accurate telling of
the Tombstone tale and a lostmasterpiece, and maybe we will see

(38:19):
that version someday. But thetruth of Jarre's original script
is simply that in its existingform it was unfilmable. Certainly
how Jar chose to direct it,removing him from Tombstone was the
only way they were going tosave Tombstone. And they did indeed
save Tombstone. Tombstone aimsto portray Wyatt Earp and his family

(38:41):
as the heroes and the cowboysas the villains in a clearly black
and white portrayal. Thereality is that Wyatt Earp was not
a pure hearted soul out to dothe right thing. Wyatt Earp was not
a great person. His reputationin history is based on his own self
promotion in early 20thcentury Hollywood, not from him actually

(39:02):
being a good human. But thatdoesn't make for an interesting Hollywood
story of good versus evil.Maybe Billy Breakenridge's book actually
had some truth to it, butHollywood Westerns have always romanticized
the Old west and the Gunfightat the OK Corral is legendary for
good reason. As I mentioned,this is the first Western I've ever

(39:22):
done on this podcast and onlythe 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 thinkit's important for a podcast to mix
up the genres sometimes. I'venever seen Costner and Kasdan's Wyatt
Earp and to be honest Iprobably won't. But it's safe to

(39:45):
say that while Costner's movieis a three hour epic that focuses
strictly on Wyatt Earphimself, it just didn't have the
stamina or charisma ofTombstone. It was a box office failure
and was compared unfavorablyto Tombstone by critics. It's a real
shame because it has a stellarcast as well, including Dennis Quaid,
Gene Hackman, Michael Madsen,Catherine o' Hara, Bill Pullman and

(40:08):
Isabella Rossellini it wouldalso get an Oscar nomination for
best cinematography. Butdespite all of the issues surrounding
Kevin Jarre and his originalvision, we shouldn't take from what's
actually here on screen areally great Western tombstone. Given
its onset, issues shouldn't becohesive. It shouldn't work. The

(40:29):
fact it succeeded not only inthe early 90s, but still resonates
30 years later and is stillwinning over new audiences, myself
included, is a remarkabletestament to the strength of of Kevin
Jarre's initial vision, thestrong cast he pulled together and
the desire of everyoneinvolved to get this movie made.
Even after Kevin Jarre wasremoved from the movie. While the

(40:52):
western resurgence of theearly 90s eventually faded away,
Tombstone has not onlysurvived, but thrived. And I think
it's worth pointing out weneed to give the late Kevin Jarre
his dues. Many, many articlesslate him for his inexperience and
scapegoat him for being thesole source of the movie's problems.
Really, the producers shouldhave realized much, much sooner that

(41:15):
he didn't have the experienceto turn around a big Western in just
a few months. We have toproperly recognize Kevin Jarre's
accomplishments. LikeCutthroat island last week, Kevin
Jarre was set up to fail, buthe was also ultimately responsible
for the authenticity on screenand for assembling a truly terrific
cast that have becomesynonymous with these real life characters.

(41:39):
Kurt Russell simply is WyattEarp. Val Kilmer is Doc Holliday.
It's also worth adding thatWyatt's farewell to Doc in the sanatorium
at the end absolutely neverhappened. Wyatt and Doc last met
in Denver, Colorado in thewinter of 1886. Doc would move into
the Hotel Glenwood in Glenwoodsprings, California in September

(42:00):
1887 and succumbed totuberculosis in November 1887. And
honestly, tuberculosis wasreally contagious. So not only is
it a miracle that Wyatt Earpwas never struck by any bullet, it's
also miraculous that none ofthe Earp brothers caught tuberculosis.
Luckily, with the advent ofantibiotics, TB is a rare bacterial

(42:23):
disease nowadays in most ofthe developed world. But back then
it would have been soseriously, seriously infectious.
This movie succeeds where itshouldn't, but also where it should.
And that's on Kurt Russell andVal Kilmer. In Kilmer's autobiography,
he said, quote, one way oranother, Americans have to deal with
the west and its glorious,sordid, sadistic past. We fought

(42:47):
lawlessness to create an evenmore lawless law. One that excused
and perpetuated genocide. Eventoday, this gun obsessed nation that
we love remains mired in adilemma centered on pistols and rifles
with romantic toys to ourmurderous past. We love Westerns.
We learn everything fromWesterns and yet learn nothing from

(43:08):
them. We continue killingourselves in an unconscionable way.
That's why when I had thechance to play Doc Holliday, I grabbed
it. Kilmer mentioned on hisblog how much he loved the experience
of working on Tombstone andworking with Kurt Russell. He also
championed Russell constantlyas the sole reason Tombstone was

(43:30):
successful. The pair wouldlive together for a brief period,
with Kilmer moving in withRussell and sleeping on his sofa
while Goldie Hawn was out oftown, just so they could work on
the script or schedule for thenext day. This has undoubtedly Russell's
movie in so many ways, butalso undoubtedly Kilmer's. It's the
movie that got him theunderrated gig as Batman in Batman

(43:51):
Forever. When he passed lastyear, everyone was talking about
Tombstone, and now I know why.While Kurt Russell is the man with
the power to create adirector's cut of Tombstone, I don't
think we need it. Tombstone'slegacy is as set as Wyatt Earps himself.
Controlled, managed, somewhatstaged, but with a reputation to

(44:13):
match its badassery. Tombstoneis the classic modern Western, and
that's a pretty good epitaph.Thank you for listening. As always,
I would love to hear yourthoughts on Tombstone. And as always,
thank you for your continuedsupport of this podcast. If you want
to get involved and help thispodcast grow, that would be amazing
and I would be so verygrateful. You could leave a rating

(44:35):
or review wherever you foundthis podcast. You can find me and
follow me. I'm verbaldioramaacross social media. Come and talk
to me about Tombstone or anyepisode that I've ever put out. I
am more than happy to talkabout previous episodes of this podcast.
You can also like posts,comment on posts, share posts. It
all helps across social mediato get the visibility of this podcast

(44:59):
out there. Or you can simplyjust tell your friends and family
about this podcast and aboutthis episode. So the next episode
of this podcast is actuallyanother movie that has been a long
time coming for this podcast.This month. I kind of dubbed it It's
About Time Month, becausethese are movies that I've wanted
to feature on the podcast fora while. They may have been put into

(45:21):
the schedule kind oftemporarily. They may have been moved
out and replaced by somethingelse. And the Next Movie is a prime
example of a movie that's beenput on the schedule so many times
and then removed in favor ofsomething else. And I thought to
myself, do you know what? Iactually really enjoy this movie.
It's got so many plot holes,it's kind of frustrating to watch

(45:44):
in a way. However, the twoleads of this movie are so charismatic
and the chemistry is so greatthat that chemistry would spill out
into real life and these twopeople would end up becoming one
of the biggest celebritycouples of the 2000s. And of course,
the movie that I'm talkingabout is Mr. And Mrs. Smith. The

(46:07):
two people are Brad Pitt andAngelina Jolie. And it has been a
long time coming to thispodcast. So please join me next week
for the history and legacy ofMr. And Mrs. Smith. Now, if you enjoy
what I do for this podcast andyou simply want to support an indie
podcaster who does everythingherself, if you have some spare change,
you can financially contributeto the upkeep of this podcast. Now,

(46:30):
you're under no obligationbecause this podcast is free and
it always will be free.However, if you do get value out
of what I do, there are acouple of ways you can help. You
can make a one offdonation@verbaldiorama.com tips or
you can go to the Patreon andyou can subscribe@verbaldiorama.com
Patreon and all money madegoes back into this podcast by paying

(46:53):
for subscriptions, hosting andnew equipment. Huge thank you to
the amazing patrons of thispodcast. 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,

(47:17):
Kyle, and Aaron. If you wantto get in touch, you can email verbal
dioramail.com you can also goto verbaldiorama.com and you can
fill out the little contactform and you can basically say hello.
You can give me feedback orsuggestions. And like I say, please
feel free to get in touch andtalk about this movie or literally
any other movie that I've everfeatured. I'm definitely going to

(47:39):
have something to say aboutevery movie that I've ever featured
on this podcast. And like Isay, there's over 300 of them, so
plenty of opportunities totalk. And finally.

(50:28):
Bye.

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Tombstone (1993)

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