Tombstone v. Wyatt Earp, 25 Years After the Fact

Nearly 25 years after the release of 1993's Tombstone and '94's Wyatt Earp comparing the two is really apples and oranges, still points of each production bare comparison for the sake of film history.

The Myth is Everything

"The important thing is to make a different world, to make a world that is not now. A real world, a genuine world, but one that allows myth to live. The myth is everything." Sergio Leone on western film.

What separates Tombstone (1993) and Wyatt Earp (1994) besides one year? The way the characters are portrayed and interact? The way the two were shot? The expanse and focus of the storyline? Timeline of events, the difference in pace, or the choreography of the principle set piece of both films, the 'Gunfight at the OK Corral.' It all boils down to authenticity. But which one stays closer to fact? Wyatt Earp carries a bigger load due to it covering Wyatt's life and not just the events leading to the main event and the less-told story of the aftermath.

Taking the Myth and Making it the Director's Vision

The original director and scriptwriter Kevin Jarre was dismissed when Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer felt like the film was headed in the wrong direction with more of a John Ford tableau style of letting the camera speak for the scene with more long and medium shots focusing on the hustle and bustle unfolding in front of it. It would be Jarre's only directorial effort. George Cosmotos was brought in as the director of credit while Russell actually called the shots steering it into a cleaner, faster, crisper film with more in common with John Sturges films like The Magnificent Seven(1963), Bad Day at Black Rock, and his own version of the story, Gunfight at the OK Corral, the film that is credited with bringing that phrase into the lexicon.

Wyatt Earp was the complete opposite with Lawrence Kasden at the helm. Costner got a slower, finely tuned but distant film more in tune with Kasden's ensemble comedy-drama The Big Chill(1983) - than his ensemble fan favorite, the fast moving, quirky western Silverado (1985). To be fair to both Costner and Kasden, Costner had also lost some of the edge he had in Silverado, with a more earnest detached feel to the whole film; coming in at a little over three hours when originally released a quirky western like Silverado would have worn out it's welcome, but then again, a film where the audience was held at a distance wasn't welcome at this length either.

The Physical v. Prose: The Pairing of Actor and Script

The real disappointment in the whole Wyatt Earp v. Tombstone debate is the over-looked Dennis Quaid who at any other time would have received many more kudos for his portrayal of a consumption ravaged Doc Holliday, obviously struggling with physical pain while battling a mental anguish. It was an excellent performance for which Quaid lost 43 pounds for the role to give him the appearance of a man riddled with Tuberculosis that should not be in the position he is in other than his sense of honor and loyalty towards Wyatt.

Unfortunately, Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday set the challenge the year before without going through so much effort to attain the appearance of a man who should be at death's door. A wisp of makeup causing him to look rather pale and sickly with the occasionally added beads of glycerin sweat for the close-ups. The make-up simply heightens Kilmer's own trademark rather tired with life, laissez-faire complacency, complete with wicked Southern gentleman attitude which today compels you to compare any other Doc Holliday that came before or after him; and of course the quotes that Kilmer is probably sick to death of hearing like, "I have not yet begun to defile myself," "It's true you are a good woman, then again you may be the antiChrist," "Why Johnny Tyler, you madcap," "Maybe poker's not your game, Ike. I know, let's have a spelling test." and of course the most memorable lines destined for immortality , "You're a daisy if you do" and "I'm your Huckleberry." So rejoinder peppered is Kilmer's dialogue, along with his spot on delivery, that his best role became Kilmer's worst enemy... next to Kilmer himself. He never really seemed to find grounding after this role to stop his career from imploding within a few years.

Lines like these made Kilmer's Doc Holliday a cult favorite.

"I have not yet begun to defile myself," "It's true you are a good woman, then again you may be the antiChrist," "Why Johnny Tyler, you madcap," "Maybe poker's not your game, Ike. I know, let's have a spelling test." and of course the most memorable lines destined for immortality, "You're a daisy if you do" and "I'm your Huckleberry."

Shoot, Print, and Edit the Myth to Create the Legend

Both Tombstone and Wyatt Earp continue with the premise that the myth is everything, Tombstone revels in it and Wyatt Earp in its final moments resigns itself to it; a legend built and perpetuated by Wyatt's widow, Josephine Marcus Earp and writer Stuart N. Lake. Filmmaker's and television producers have taken what they wrote as gospel for so long that the only argument when retelling the story is on how to make it fresh once again without disturbing the traditional plot. A new take on the story is Tombstone Rashomon which has characters involved in the OK Corral gunfight retelling the story from their different perspectives.

In both the '93 and ''94 films there are events which are compressed, altered, reversed, and staged differently from actual events, some for expediency while others for believably. For example to stage the death of Marshal Fred White (Harry Carey, Jr.) as it is reported to have actually taken place might have elicited audience laughter. The shooting in the film is close enough, with Curly Bill Brocious devilishly offering up his firearms butt first.

The revenge maiming of Virgil Earp and murder of Morgan Earp in both films basically carries the same altered timeline for story expediency. This may have been a result of Costner's original involvement with Kevin Jarre on the original Tombstone film treatment. The actor was never really involved with the film that eventually became Tombstone as written elsewhere; he and Jarre began to work on ideas and a script treatment for which would eventually become Tombstone. Costner left the project early on when he and Jarre could not agree on the direction and focus of the story line.

The Style and The Substance, Ford or Sturges

The debate over the two films generally centers on likability of character, action and the wittiness of dialogue, basically style over substance; and which style and substance you enjoy at the moment, John Ford or John Sturges.

In this aspect the majority of western fans like Tombstone over Wyatt Earp; although comparing the two is like the proverbial apple and orange contrast. The Costner/Kasden film unfolds at a deliberate pace which exposes the uneven story that at 3+ hours may be a bit much for the average fan of the genre. Tombstone moves with a linear story making its point in a swift fast and colorful fashion. At a bit over 2 hours it makes its point through expediency as a traditional western is expected to; although an expanded directors cut is said to enhance the film even more.

While Tombstone is the odds-on favorite, the line that sums up both films and the western, mythos in general, is actually the last line in Wyatt Earp and spoken by Josephine Earp. Several years after the events of the film, while on a ship bound for Alaska, an older Wyatt and Josie are approached by a young man who tells Wyatt how he saved the young man's uncle from an angry mob in Tombstone. After the young storyteller leaves, Wyatt says to Josie, "Some say it did not happen that way." To which Josie, letting us know she has already become protectress of the Earp mythos, says, "Don't worry Wyatt, it happened that way."

callout

This is the West, Sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend

" Newspaper Editor, Maxwell Scott. John Ford's "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance"