Tombstone is revered as one of the best Westerns of the 1990s, but there are some things which don’t quite hold up. Tombstone is based on the true story of Wyatt Earp, a famous lawman in the old West. Although it deserves its status as a classic of the Western genre, it isn’t without its foibles. If it were made today, it’s fair to say that some things might be a little different.

Tombstone came out in 1993, but it bears the vestiges of ’80s action movies. There’s plenty of gun-toting action, a fixation on masculine heroism and some delightful quips. This makes it a brilliantly entertaining Western, and something a little different from the rest of the genre, but it also dates the movie in some ways. Fortunately, none of Tombstone‘s drawbacks affect its legacy as a brilliant Western that’s still worth watching.

7

Tombstone’s Ending Feels Too Upbeat

The Romance Subplot Could Use Some More Detail

Tombstone goes to some dark places, so it’s a little jarring when Wyatt Earp salvages an uncomplicated happy ending in the very last scene. After leaving his friend Doc Holliday on his deathbed, Wyatt travels to Colorado to reconcile with Josephine and start a life together. The ending of Tombstone seems a little out of place, as if the finale with Josephine was tacked on to the end to give Wyatt a victory.

The reason that Tombstone‘s sickly-sweet finale doesn’t quite land is that the romance between Wyatt and Josephine is always treated as an afterthought. Aside from the one meaningful conversation they have when they first meet, their scenes are limited to intense stares and sweeping orchestral music, which can’t paper over the lack of chemistry the couple share. The didactic voiceover is another negative to the ending, concluding the stories of several other characters without any real payoff.

6

Tombstone Sometimes Leans Too Far Into Melodrama

One Or Two Scenes Go Too Far

Many of Tombstone‘s best scenes involve violent splashes of action, like the gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Doc Holliday’s tense shootout with Johnny Ringo. However, there are some moments which come across as self-indulgent and melodramatic. It’s part of Tombstone‘s appeal that the action is over-the-top, so it constantly runs the risk of going too far.

Aside from the exaggerated action, Tombstone also has a tendency to stray too far into emotional melodrama. Take, for example, the slow-motion sequence of Morgan’s shooting, or Wyatt’s subsequent wailing reaction in the pouring rain. Some performances in Tombstone go too big too often. It mostly works quite well, but Kurt Russell and others could be accused of hamming it up.

5

Tombstone Has A Patchy Record With Historical Accuracy

Some People Might Be Put Off By Tombstone’s Half-Truths

Tombstone is based on a true story, although some sequences are completely fictional. One glaring example is the fact that Doc Holliday didn’t kill Johnny Ringo. There’s some debate over what actually happened to Ringo, with some historians believing he took his own life, but Holliday was almost certainly in a jail cell at the time. This is just one of many historical inaccuracies in Tombstone.

Of course, only certain people care about historical accuracy, and Tombstone has plenty of other qualities to admire. What’s important is that it gets most of the broad strokes right, like Wyatt Earp’s rivalry with the Cowboys, the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral and the fates of the characters involved. Historical accuracy in movies seems to come under even more scrutiny these days, which is why some people might be disappointed with the way Tombstone fudges the details.

4

Tombstone’s Villains Are One-Dimensional

The Cowboys Lack Any Redeeming Qualities

Tombstone is all about the thin lines between good and evil, and right and wrong. In the old West, Wyatt and his men are on the right side of the law, but they can be just as violent and irrational as the Cowboys under the right circumstances. It’s easy to see how the Cowboys could have a problem with the Earps, especially since they were considered the de facto peacekeepers in Tombstone before Wyatt’s arrival.

Sometimes, there isn’t much to separate the violence and the code of conduct of both parties. To help delineate the good from the bad, Tombstone often makes the Cowboys out to be cartoonishly evil in the most ludicrous, over-the-top way possible. They shoot innocent people without a second thought, attack the wives of their enemies and delight in causing terror and panic. Tombstone has a great cast, but this doesn’t always cover for the fact that characters like Johnny Ringo and Curly Bill are rather one-dimensional and hard to relate to. Not many modern movies draw such distinct lines between heroes and villains.

3

Tombstone’s Third Act Can’t Sustain Its Rapid Pace

Tombstone Rattles Through Earp’s Vengeful Crusade

Tombstone can feel quite slow to begin with, since there isn’t much consistency between bursts of frenetic action and the more mundane, pedestrian scenes as Wyatt and his friends try to live a life without drama. Eventually, this pace gets cranked all the way up, leading to a frantic sprint to the finish following Morgan’s death. This means that the third act can feel overly hectic.

There are a couple of montages toward the end of Tombstone which flash by in a dizzying blur. It all begins with Wyatt crashing a horse through the window of a bar and unloading his gun on the Cowboys inside. This image of absurd, splashy violence sums up a lot of Tombstone‘s final act, as bullets fly all over Arizona. The speed makes things exciting, but it also means that some moments which should feel weighty and impactful, like Curly Bill’s death, get brushed past without a second thought. It seems like a clumsy way to pick off the remaining villains.

2

Tombstone Completely Glosses Over What Happens To Wyatt Earp’s Wife

Mattie’s Real Story Ended In Tragedy

Wyatt first arrives in Tombstone with his wife Mattie by his side, but it soon becomes clear that they aren’t as deeply in love as they like to put on. Mattie is a mysterious but interesting character in her limited screen time. Her addiction to laudanum, an old medicine with opium used to treat pain, drives a wedge between her and Wyatt. He seems increasingly disinterested in her, which is compounded by the fact that he falls for Josephine.

Mattie’s life after Tombstone was filled with tragedy. After being abandoned by her husband, Mattie returned to Sєx work, which was how she might Wyatt in the first place. She died just a few years later of a drug overdose. It was ruled a suicide at the time, but it could have been an accidental overdose. With this added context, it’s uncomfortable to watch Wyatt’s upbeat ending with Josephine.

1

Tombstone’s Female Characters Are Underdeveloped

Tombstone Is About Men And Masculinity, But It Could Still Flesh Out Its Female Characters More

Mattie isn’t the only female character in Tombstone who feels underdeveloped. Her real-life story would have been interesting to see more of, but she is brushed aside too easily. Josephine and Doc’s partner Kate also seem like they have much more to give. Ultimately, Tombstone concerns itself with different expressions of masculinity, and the female characters are often there to enhance this theme.

It would be harsh to admonish Tombstone‘s representation of women in too much detail. In some ways, sidelining the female characters reflects the atтιтudes of the era, and it centers the story of masculine jostling for power which gives Tombstone its thrust. It’s worth mentioning that Tombstone‘s male characters are often shallow stereotypes of their own gender too. Still, if Tombstone were made today, it might flesh out its women a little more, if only to view its male characters through a different lens.