1990′s Films | Cowboy Movies

January 11, 2009

Wild Wild West

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: Wild Wild West — Wayne @ 7:58 am

Wild Wild West (1999) is a science fiction action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline (in two roles, Artemus Gordon and President Ulysses S. Grant), Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek.

In the spirit of the original TV series, the film features highly advanced steampunk technology and many bizarre mechanical inventions, including innumerable inventions of the mechanological geniuses Artemus Gordon and Dr. Loveless, including nitroglycerine-powered penny-farthing bicycles, spring-loaded notebooks, bulletproof chainmail, flying machines, steam tanks, and Loveless’s giant mechanical spider.

Reception

The film was almost universally panned by critics. Robert Conrad, who starred in the original 60s series, repeatedly panned the movie and attended the 20th annual Razzies in 2000 to accept three of the five worst-movie awards for the picture.

After making a decent $49.7 million over its first 6 days, the box office numbers lost steam. At the end of its US theatrical run, Wild Wild West made $113 million, well below its $170 million production budget. It made just over $222 million worldwide.

Controversy

In 1997, writer Gilbert Ralston sued Warner Brothers over the upcoming motion picture based on the series. Ralston helped create The Wild Wild West television series, and scripted the pilot episode, “The Night of the Inferno.” In a deposition, Ralston explained that in 1964 he was approached by producer Michael Garrison who ‘”said he had an idea for a series, good commercial idea, and wanted to know if I could glue the idea of a western hero and a James Bond type together in the same show.” Ralston said he then created the Civil War characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the script that was the basis for the television series. It was his idea, for example, to have a secret agent named Jim West who would perform secret missions for a bumbling Ulysses S. Grant.

Ralston’s experience brought to light a common Hollywood practice of the 1950s and 60′s when television writers who helped create popular series allowed producers or studios to take credit for a show, thus cheating the writers out of millions of dollars in royalties. Ralston died in 1999, before his suit was settled. Warner Brothers ended up paying his family between $600,000 and $1.5 million.

Shooting locations

The sequences on both Artemus Gordon’s and Dr. Loveless’ trains interiors were shot on sets at Warner Bros. The train exteriors were shot in Idaho. Much of the ‘wild West’ footage was shot around Santa Fe, New Mexico, particularly at the western town set at the Cooke Movie Ranch. During the shooting of a sequence involving stunts and pyrotechnics, a planned building fire grew out of control and quickly overwhelmed the local fire crews that were standing by. Much of the town was destroyed before the fire was contained.

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Ride with the Devil

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: Ride with the Devil — Wayne @ 7:56 am

Ride with the Devil is a 1999 American Civil War drama directed by Ang Lee. The film starred Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jeffrey Wright, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers and folk/pop singer Jewel. It is based on the novel Woe to Live On, by Daniel Woodrell and the screenplay was written by James Schamus. The events depicted in the book and film take place in Missouri amidst an escalating guerilla war.

Production and reception

The scenes of the Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, Kansas were filmed in Pattonsburg, Missouri. Pattonsburg was flooded out during the Great Flood of 1993, and the town was relocated leaving the empty buildings and homes available.

The film was intended to be a summer blockbuster, costing over US$35 million to produce (a large sum for most Westerns). However, despite majority positive reviews by film critics it received negative press after screenings because of the portrayal of a Black Confederate guerrilla by Jeffrey Wright in a role based on Free Black John Noland who rode with Confederate raider Quantrill.

Controversy surrounding events depicted in the film is at odds with the factual nature of guerilla warfare in Missouri during the Civil War. Historical accounts, such as Jasper County, Missouri in the Civil War (1923) by Col. Ward L. Schrantz, document the warfare depicted in the film.

The film was released on around 140 screens in the U.K. for a limited run and made barely over £100,000. It was then released without any promotion on eight U.S. screens for a limited run of only three days (January 20-22, 2000) fetching only $64,000.

The scheduled home video release of the movie was delayed four months so the distributor could alter the cover art and remove Jeffrey Wright’s image from the front video and DVD and as of 2003 had yet to turn a profit.

Cast

Tobey Maguire as Jake Roedel
Skeet Ulrich as Jack Bull Chiles
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers as Pitt Mackeson
Simon Baker as George Clyde
Thomas Guiry as Riley Crawford
Mark Ruffalo as Alf Bowden
Jewel as Sue Lee Shelley
Margo Martindale as Wilma Brown
Zach Grenier as Mr. Evans
Tom Wilkinson as Orton Brown
Jeffrey Wright as Daniel Holt
James Urbaniak as Poker Player

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The Quick and the Dead

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: The Quick and the Dead — Wayne @ 7:53 am

The Quick and the Dead is a Western film directed by Sam Raimi, released in 1995. It stars Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lance Henriksen, and Keith David. It also marks the final film appearance of character actor Woody Strode. The script was written by Simon Moore.

Plot summary

The Quick and the Dead follows the course of a single elimination gunfighting contest held by John Herod (Hackman). Herod is a former outlaw and murderer who rules the small town of Redemption, Arizona, with an iron fist. Herod sponsors the contest with one goal in mind – to eliminate anyone who might pose a threat to him. The contest attracts a variety of contestants, including several outlaws, an adventurer (David), a Swedish gunfighting champion (Sven-Ole Thorsen), a trick shooter and braggart (Henriksen), Herod’s alleged son (DiCaprio), and a mysterious woman (Stone) bent on killing Herod. It is revealed through a series of flashbacks that Stone’s character is no crusader or savior; her mission is one of personal vengeance. As a young girl, Herod manipulated her into killing her father (Gary Sinise), the town’s marshal. Herod also sends his henchmen to retrieve a man named Cort (Crowe), a fellow outlaw retired to life as a missionary. Cort is publicly tortured and humiliated when he refuses to recant his mission of non-violence, and is ultimately forced into the contest. He and “the Lady” (Stone) find they have a common enemy in Herod and devise a plan to kill him and free the town from his oppression.

Characters

Ellen aka “The Lady” (Sharon Stone)- The tournament’s only female gunfighter. Has a personal vendetta against Herod for tricking her into killing her father, and finds an ally in Cort. When they have to eliminate one another, neither draw their guns, but when Cort shoots her, everyone believes she has died, but comes back to shoot Herod.

John Herod (Gene Hackman)- The primary antagonist of the film. For many years Herod and his marauding band of outlaws roamed the countryside. They then settled on the frontier town of Redemption, extorting the town’s citizens in return for their own survival. Herod rules over the town from his mansion in its center. His gang members enforce his will posing as the town’s “Councilors”. He also develops an attraction to Ellen, and invites her to dinner one night, where he reveals that he also has a tragic backstory from his father, a judge, forcing him to watch people he had sentenced being hanged, and his wife abandoning him for another man (although it is implied he killed her in his rage). Shot in the chest and later in right eye by Ellen, in revenge for tricking her into killing her father.

Cort (Russell Crowe)- Cort used to run with Herod and his gang, but he had a change of heart and has tried to make up for his past sins (Herod made him kill a minister who had nursed Herod’s gang) as a preacher in a mission. Herod insists that Cort participates in the town’s gunfighting tournament and has Foy and Ratsy burn the mission to the ground and abduct Cort back to town to do so. He is arguably the fastest and most skilled shooter in the entire film (Herod knows better than to face him one-on-one, and keeps him chained up), though this is tempered by his reluctance to kill. His preacher clothing gains him the hostility of most of the townspeople, although he later wins their support after they learn of his skills and his determination to rid the town of Herod. Cort has an affair with The Lady (a scene deleted only from the American version of the film) and in the end of the film is heavily suggested to become the new sheriff.

Fee Herod aka “The Kid” (Leonardo DiCaprio)- Fee claims to be the son of John Herod. Herod denies he is the boy’s father, claiming his wife (Fee’s mother) had an affair with a farmer, although he does seem to show a bit of affection for Fee, displayed by his many attempts to get Fee to drop out of the contest. Fee makes a living as the town’s gunsmith and enters the tournament hoping to earn his father’s acknowledgment and respect. He develops a crush on Ellen, and although she claims the opposite, she deeply cares for him and is greatly saddened when he is shot and killed by Herod after wounding him in the neck in their gunfight.

Dog Kelly (Tobin Bell)- Kelly is an outlaw bent on finding some buried loot, but he seems to have forgotten its location. He tries to kill Ellen, mistakenly believing she was a rival for said treasure. In retaliation she punches him out, chains him to his cart and takes his hat to replace the one he destroyed. He joins the tournament to get a chance to shoot her. A deleted scene shows Ellen teasing Kelly about his nickname telling everyone else about how he was forced to eat his own dog or face starvation. Wounded by Ellen and eliminated.

Doc Wallace (Roberts Blossom)- Doc was the town’s local doctor for as long as anyone can remember. He even remembers Ellen from long ago.

Eugene Dred (Kevin Conway)- Dred is a local pedophile and apparently a friend of Scars. Fee goads him into joining the tournament. Killed by Ellen in an unofficial duel after he rapes Horace’s young daughter Katie. Shot in the groin and then the chest, after which he begs for his life and Ellen spares him despite Herod calls her to kill him. He then tries to shoot Ellen in the saloon from behind but misses, and Ellen kills him with three more shots to the chest.

Sgt. Clay Cantrell (Keith David)- Cantrell is a former Union soldier of the American Civil War. Even now he still wears his old uniform. He has been hired by the town to participate in the tournament in the hopes he will eliminate Herod in the process. First disarmed and later shot in the head by Herod.

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Dead Man

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: Dead Man — Wayne @ 7:51 am

Dead Man is a 1995 film written and directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Billy Bob Thornton, Iggy Pop, Crispin Glover, John Hurt, Michael Wincott, Lance Henriksen, and Robert Mitchum (in his final role). The movie is something of a Modern Western, dubbed a “psychedelic Western” by director Jarmusch, which includes twisted elements of the Western Genre. The film is shot entirely in black-and-white. Some consider it the ultimate postmodern Western, and related to postmodern literature such as Cormac McCarthy’s novel, Blood Meridian.

References to William Blake

There are multiple references in the film to the poetry of William Blake. Nobody recites from several Blake poems, including Auguries of Innocence, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and The Everlasting Gospel. When bounty hunter Cole warns his companions against drinking from standing water, it references the Proverb of Hell (from the aforementioned Marriage), “Expect poison from standing water”. Thel’s name is also a reference to Blake’s The Book of Thel.

The film’s soundtrack album and promotional music video also feature Depp reciting passages from Blake’s poetry.

The scenes with Thel Russell (played by Mili Avital) culminating in the bedroom murder scene visually enact Blake’s poem, “The Sick Rose:” O rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed, Of crimson joy, And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.

Portrayal of Native Americans

This film is generally regarded as being extremely well-researched in regard to Native American culture.

Dead Man is also notable as one of the rather few films about Native Americans to be directed by a non-native and offer nuanced and considerate details of the individual differences between Native American tribes free of common stereotypes. There are untranslated passages in several Native American Languages, and Jarmusch included several in-jokes aimed at Native American viewers, or at least those with a fluent knowledge of the languages used.

Reception

In its theatrical release, Dead Man earned about $1 million for a budget of $9 million. It is the most expensive of Jarmusch’s films, due to the expense of black-and-white film processing, and the costs of ensuring accurate period detail.

Critical responses were mixed. Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-a-half stars (out of four stars maximum), noting “Jim Jarmusch is trying to get at something here, and I don’t have a clue what it is”. Desson Howe and Rita Kempley, both writing for the Washington Post, offered largely negative appraisals. Greil Marcus, however, mounted a spirited defense of the film, titling his review “Dead Again: Here are 10 reasons why ‘Dead Man’ is the best movie of the end of the 20th century.” Film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum dubbed the film an acid western, calling it “as exciting and as important as any new American movie I’ve seen in the 90s” and went on to write a book on the film, entitled Dead Man (ISBN 0-85170-806-4) published by the British Film Institute. The film scored a ‘Fresh’ 71% rating on website Rotten Tomatoes.

The film also was placed 398th in “They Shoot Pictures, Don’t They?”‘s list of the 1,000 Greatest Films of All Time

Cast

Johnny Depp as William Blake, a meek accountant from Cleveland, Ohio
Gary Farmer as Nobody, a strong and opinionated Native American who was forcibly raised by whites and later given the mocking name “He Who Talks Loud, Saying Nothing” or Xebeche by fellow natives
Crispin Glover as Train Fireman, a coal-covered boilerman who welcomes Blake to the “hell” of Machine.
Robert Mitchum as Mr. John Dickinson, a shotgun-toting industrialist in Machine
John Hurt as John Scholfield, the business manager of Dickinson’s factory
Mili Avital as Thel Russell, a former prostitute who makes and sells paper flowers
Gabriel Byrne as Charlie Dickinson, Thel’s ex-boyfriend and John Dickinson’s son.
Lance Henriksen as Cole Wilson, an infamous bounty hunter and murderous cannibal
Michael Wincott as Conway Twill, a talkative bounty hunter
Eugene Byrd as Johnny “The Kid” Pickett, a young African-American bounty hunter.
Iggy Pop as Salvatore “Sally” Jenko, a cross-dressing, Bible-reading fur trader at a campsite
Billy Bob Thornton as Big George Drakoulious, a mountain man at Sally’s campsite
Jared Harris as Benmont Tench, a knife-toting fur trader at Sally’s campsite.
Alfred Molina as Trading Post Missionary, a corrupt missionary and businessman.
Gibby Haynes as Man with Gun in Alley

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Wyatt Earp

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: Wyatt Earp — Wayne @ 7:48 am

Wyatt Earp is a 1994 semi-biographical Western film, written by Dan Gordon and Lawrence Kasdan and directed by Kasdan. It stars Kevin Costner in the titular role as lawman Wyatt Earp, and features an ensemble cast that includes Dennis Quaid, Gene Hackman, Mark Harmon, Michael Madsen, Joanna Going, Tom Sizemore, Bill Pullman, JoBeth Williams, Linden Ashby, and Mare Winningham. It was rated PG-13 by the MPAA for “strong gunfights, some language and sensuality.”

Unlike most films depicting lawman Wyatt Earp, this one gave the back history of his life, starting in his teenage years and taking the viewer on into his late years. Dennis Quaid received some praise for having portrayed Doc Holliday very accurately.

Production

Kevin Costner was originally involved with the film Tombstone, another film about Wyatt Earp written by Kevin Jarre. However, Costner disagreed with Jarre over the focus of the film (he believed that the emphasis should have been on Wyatt Earp rather than the many characters in Jarre’s script) and left the project, eventually teaming up with Kasdan to produce his own Wyatt Earp project. Costner then used his then-considerable clout to convince most of the major studios to refuse to distribute the competing film, which affected casting on the rival project.

However, Wyatt Earp, released six months after Tombstone, was the less successful of the two films, taking in $25 million on a $63 million budget, compared to Tombstone’s $56 million domestic gross.

Inaccuracies

In the film, two Earp brothers, Virgil Earp and James Earp, are portrayed returning home together following their service with the Union Army in the Civil War. In fact, James was wounded in a Missouri battle early in the war, returning home shortly thereafter. Virgil Earp actually returned home with another brother, Newton Earp, who was not mentioned in the film, but who, like Virgil, served until the war’s end.

Wyatt Earp was not a well-known lawman until after the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

Josie Marcus was not a well-known actress, and in fact had been in Tombstone, Arizona for quite some time prior to Wyatt Earp’s arrival, having lived previously with a lawyer, and with Sheriff Behan.

Wyatt Earp is depicted as having shot and killed a man who shot into a theater in Dodge City, Kansas. The cowboy’s name was George Hoy, and in fact, both Earp and James Masterson fired on the man, and it has been said that Masterson actually killed the man.^{[citation needed]} The presence of James Masterson was ignored in the film.

Wyatt Earp is depicted as having met Bat and Ed Masterson while working as a buffalo hunter out west. Historically, it is disputed as to when and where he first met the brothers, but it is certain that when he did meet them he came to know not only Bat and Ed, but their brother James as well. James was ignored in the film altogether.

Josie Marcus was not present during the George Hoy shooting.

Ed Masterson replaced Marshal Larry Deger as town marshal of Dodge City following Wyatt Earp’s departure, not Earp.

Wyatt Earp did return to Dodge City following Ed Masterson’s murder, but he did not return and become marshal. Instead, he returned and began working under lawman Charlie Bassett, whose presence was ignored in the film.

Wyatt Earp was never the Marshal of Dodge City. He was Assistant Marshal and Deputy Marshal.

Tombstone Marshal Fred White was in fact well liked by the outlaw “Cowboy” faction, and contrary to the film depiction, by his own testimony prior to his death, the shooting by Bill Brocius that caused his death was accidental. Brocius in fact showed remorse and regret over the shooting.

Marshal Fred White was depicted as being an older man, but in fact was either 31 or 32 at the time of his death.

The film portrays both the assassination attempt of Virgil Earp and the assassination of Morgan Earp happening on the same night.

The film also portrays that Virgil Earp lost the use of his right arm when in reality he lost the use of his left arm.

Outlaw Johnny Ringo was not shot and killed during the shootout at “Stinking Springs”. His death happened later, and was “officially” ruled a suicide. Several men were implicated as having murdered him, to include lawman Wyatt Earp, gunman and gambler Doc Holliday, gambler Mike O’Rourke, and gunman “Buckskin” Frank Leslie, as well as little known gunman Lou Cooley, one of the few men alleged to have never feared Ringo despite his reputation. Earp and Holliday were most certainly in Colorado at the time, and more likely than not the death was in fact a suicide.

Wyatt Earp was not involved in one hundred gunfights in his lifetime. Though an exact figure is difficult to calculate, fewer than ten would be more accurate.

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Maverick

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: Maverick — Wayne @ 7:45 am

Maverick is an Academy Award-nominated 1994 Western comedy film based on the 1950s television series of the same name, created by Roy Huggins. The film was directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by William Goldman and features Mel Gibson, Jodie Foster, and James Garner. The movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Costume Design.

Cameo appearances

There are appearances through the film as many familiar faces from Westerns of the past and Country Western music, particularly in the final riverboat poker tournament scenes. These include (in no particular order):

Dub Taylor as a room clerk
Leo Gordon as a gambler at Maverick’s first game. Gordon actually appeared in five episodes of the original series as Big Mike McComb
Robert Fuller as the last gambler at Jodie Foster’s first game.
Geoffrey Lewis as Matthew Wicker, a.k.a. Eugene, the banker
Hal Ketchum and Corey Feldman as two of four bank robbers
Paul Brinegar of Rawhide as the stagecoach driver
Carlene Carter as a waitress on the Commodore’s ship
Waylon Jennings and Kathy Mattea as a couple found with a gun
Denver Pyle and Clint Black, who are thrown off the boat for cheating at poker
Vince Gill and then-wife Janis Gill as spectators during the game
Johnny Cash as a gambler whose total screen time is less than five seconds.

In addition to these stars, actor Danny Glover (Gibson’s co-star in the Lethal Weapon franchise of films) appears as the lead bank robber. He and Maverick (Gibson) share a scene where they look as if they knew each other, but then shake it off. As Glover makes his escape with the money, he mutters “I’m too old for this shit.”, his character’s catch phrase in all four Lethal Weapon films. In addition, a strain of the main theme from Lethal Weapon plays in the score when Glover is revealed.

Also, another cameo was by actress Margot Kidder, who played one of the villagers robbed of their mission money. Kidder starred as Lois Lane in Superman, also directed by Donner.

Cast

Mel Gibson — Bret Maverick
Jodie Foster — Mrs. Annabelle Bransford
James Garner — Marshal Zane Cooper/”Pappy” Maverick
Graham Greene — Joseph
Alfred Molina — Angel
James Coburn — Commodore Duvall
Paul L. Smith — The Archduke

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Lightning Jack

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: Lightning Jack — Wayne @ 7:44 am

Lightning Jack is a 1994 western film written by and starring Paul Hogan, as well as Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beverly D’Angelo.

Plot

Paul Hogan plays Lightning Jack Kane, an Australian outlaw who is continuously annoyed at not being recognised as an outlaw, partially due to his lackluster and occasionally completely failed robberies. Whilst attempting a robbery, he takes mute Ben Doyle (Cuba Gooding Jr.) as a hostage. He later discovers that, tired of never been treated with respect due to his disability, Ben wishes to join him.

Jack attempts to teach Ben how to shoot a gun and rob banks, with his first attempt at “on-the-job” training ending with Ben shooting himself in the foot. Across the course of the training, they pay occasional visits to saloons where Jack shows Ben the truth about adult life, including helping him to lose his virginity. However, the true nature of the saloon visits is for Jack to make contact with showgirl Lana Castel (Beverly D’Angelo), who, unbeknownst to Jack, is madly in love with him.

When Ben’s training is complete, the pair learn of a bank which is said to be the hardest in the country to rob, the entire town armed and ready to protect it. Jack sees this as the test he has been waiting for, and together they hatch a plan to rob it. Everything seems to be going smoothly and they are set to begin, until Jack discovers that a rival gang of outlaws is also planning to rob the bank. He is prepared to give up when Ben has a plan of his own.

Ben silently tips off the townspeople, who quickly swarm the bank with the rival outlaws inside. The gang are arrested and the entire town celebrates, allowing Jack and Ben to slip unnoticed into the bank and swiftly strip it clean. Before leaving, Jack jumps into the celebrations, ensuring that his grinning face appears at the top of the town photo. By the time the true robbery is discovered, the pair – and Lana – are gone, with a bounty of thousands on their heads and all of America searching for them – the life that Jack had always wanted.

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City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold — Wayne @ 7:42 am

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold (1994) is a comedy film directed by Paul Weiland. It is the sequel to City Slickers (1991). Although a financial success, the film was a critical failure, scoring a mere 20% “Rotten” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and even received a Razzie nomination for Worst Remake or Sequel.

Cast

Billy Crystal as Mitch Robbins
Daniel Stern as Phil Berquist
Jon Lovitz as Glen Robbins
Jack Palance as Duke Page
Patricia Wettig as Barbara Robbins
Pruitt Taylor Vince as Bud
Bill McKinney as Matt
Lindsay Crystal, daughter of Billy, as Holly Robbins
Beth Grant as Lois
Noble Willingham as Clay Stone
David Paymer as Ira Shalowitz
Josh Mostel as Barry Shalowitz
Jayne Meadows as the voice of Mitch’s mother
Jennifer Crystal, daughter of Billy, as jogger
Bob Balaban as Dr. Jeffrey Sanborn (uncredited)

Bruno Kirby was unavailable to reprise his role as Ed Furillo from the first film, so the character of Glen was used to replace him. Interestingly enough, the film which Glen is obsessed with, The Godfather Part II, was one of Kirby’s earliest films, and the initial relationship between Mitch and Glen is shown to parallel that of Fredo Corleone and Michael Corleone in said film.

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Bad Girls

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: Bad Girls — Wayne @ 7:41 am

Bad Girls is a 1994 western film starring Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore. It was directed by Jonathan Kaplan from a screenplay by Ken Friedman and Yolande Turner.

The plot follows four former prostitutes on the run following a justifiable homicide and a prison escape, who later encounter difficulties involving bank robbery and Pinkerton detectives.

Cast

Madeleine Stowe – Cody Zamora
Mary Stuart Masterson – Anita Crown
Andie MacDowell – Eileen Spenser
Drew Barrymore – Lily Laronette
James Russo – Kid Jarrett
James LeGros – William Tucker
Robert Loggia – Frank Jarrett
Dermot Mulroney – Josh McCoy
Jim Beaver – Pinkerton Detective Graves
Nick Chinlund – Pinkerton Detective O’Brady

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Tombstone

Filed under: 1990's Films — Tags: Tombstone — Wayne @ 7:39 am

Tombstone is a 1993 Western movie written by Kevin Jarre and directed by its star Kurt Russell, with credited director George P. Cosmatos ghost-directing. The film, which boasts an ensemble cast with 85 speaking roles, involves Wyatt Earp and his brothers moving to Tombstone, Arizona where they and Doc Holliday face off against a band of criminals called the Cowboys. The movie is loosely based on historic incidents occurring in 1881-1882.

Historical authenticity

Accuracies

Wyatt Earp met Doc Holliday on a previous occasion through dog fighting John Shanssey, in Fort Griffin (not depicted in this film).

Mattie Blaylock had been a lesbian when she and Wyatt Earp met. They never legally married, but he did allow her to use his last name (not depicted in this film).

Wyatt Earp did have a reputation for “pistol whipping” men he would arrest, a technique that he defended as being extremely effective.

Wyatt Earp was accused of having used excessive force while serving as a lawman in Dodge City.

Wyatt and Josie mined for gold in Alaska toward the end of the 19th century.

Virgil Earp did lose the use of his left arm and did tell his wife that “I still got one good arm to hold you with.”

The “Earp wives”, or rather the wives of brothers Morgan, James and Virgil did not in fact care for Wyatt Earp, feeling he had too much sway over his brothers’ decisions.

Tombstone Marshal Fred White was in fact well liked by the outlaw “Cowboy” faction, and by his own testimony prior to his death, the shooting by Bill Brocius that caused his death was accidental. Brocius in fact showed remorse and regret over the shooting.

Inaccuracies

Wyatt Earp was not a well known lawman until after the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

Josie Marcus was not a well known actress, and in fact had been in Tombstone, Arizona for quite some time prior to Wyatt Earp’s arrival, having lived previously with a lawyer, and with Sheriff Behan.

Wyatt Earp was never the Marshal of Dodge City. He was Assistant Marshal and Deputy Marshal.

Marshal Fred White was depicted as being an older man, but in fact was either 31 or 32 at the time of his death. However, given the lower life expectancy in the times, such an age may be considered elderly nevertheless.

The film portrays both the assassination attempt of Virgil Earp and the assassination of Morgan Earp happening on the same night.

The film portrays Wyatt Earp looking to avoid a life in law after moving to Arizona, when in actuality he had run for a Sheriff position against Behan very early in his stint there.

The day of the O.K. Corral shooting is portrayed as hot, when in reality it was cold and had snowed the day before.

Wyatt’s “Vendetta Ride” targeted only the men responsible for the death of Morgan and maiming of Virgil, not the entire Cowboy faction.

Cast

Kurt Russell Wyatt Earp
Val Kilmer Doc Holliday
Sam Elliott Virgil Earp
Bill Paxton Morgan Earp
Powers Boothe Curly Bill Brocius
Michael Biehn Johnny Ringo
Charlton Heston Henry Hooker
Jason Priestley Billy Breckinridge
Terry O’Quinn Mayor John Clum
Jon Tenney Sheriff Johnny Behan
Stephen Lang Ike Clanton
Thomas Haden Church Billy Clanton
Dana Delany Josephine Marcus
Billy Zane Mr. Fabian
Paula Malcomson Allie Earp

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