While Tombstone might be the late, great Val Kilmer’s most beloved Western, 1992’s underrated Thunderheart might be an even better addition to the genre. Although Val Kilmer didn’t win an Oscar for his role as Doc Holliday in 1993’s Tombstone, the role remains one of the late star’s most beloved parts. Kilmer’s movie debut Top Secret! is an underrated comedy classic, as is his sophomore outing, 1985’s Real Genius. However, it was the role of Top Gun’s Iceman that catapulted him into mainstream Hollywood fame.

Kilmer’s career went from strength to strength from the late ‘80s into the ‘90s, with the star gaining further acclaim for a fearlessly committed performance as rock star Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s divisive biopic The Doors. Kilmer followed that role with the beloved Western hit Tombstone but, before that Western success, he also starred in another, lesser-known Neo-Western. Although this movie is rarely listed among Kilmer’s most famous efforts, it is arguably an even better Western than Tombstone.

Thunderheart Is An Underrated Western

Thunderheart Boasts A Superb 91% Rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Directed by Gorky Park’s Michael Apted, Thunderheart is a contemporary Western starring Val Kilmer as FBI agent Ray Levoi, who must interrogate his troubled relationship with his Sioux heritage when he is sent to investigate a suspicious death on a Native American reservation. Levoi soon uncovers a conspiracy to steal mineral rights from the local indigenous population, but threats to his life mean he may not be able to bring the truth to light before it is too late.

Like the same year’s revisionist Western Unforgiven, Thunderheart is an intelligent, moving Western that subverts the usual tropes of the genre in search of something more meaningful. Loosely based on the 1973 Wounded Knee incident, Apted’s movie takes an unsparing look at the land theft that followed the genocide of Native American people. Like Scorsese’s later Killers of the Flower Moon, the movie offers a sharp condemnation of the white supremacist ideals underpinning Manifest Destiny.

Superb supporting work from Graham Greene, Fred Ward, Sheila Tousey, and Sam Shepard ensures that Thunderheart isn’t a one-man show. However, Kilmer’s performance is Thunderheart’s standout performance, and it is no surprise that Roger Ebert called the movie “Absorbing” and it boasts a 90% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. As Levoi grows closer to the local indigenous population, he also begins to uncover more complicity on the part of the FBI, and Kilmer captures his conflicted loyalties with grace and a seething intensity that proves he was born to star in Westerns.

Val Kilmer Is Often At His Best In Western Movies

The Late Kilmer’s Considerable Star Power Was Well Suited To The Genre

Kilmer was, it seems fair to suggest, a chameleon onscreen. From the cocky charm of Top Gun’s Iceman and Real Genius’s Chris Knight to the somber introspection of Jim Morrison or Ray Levoi, the star was capable of immersing himself in a diverse range of roles. However, although he starred in a string of neo-noir thrillers in the twenty-first century that were almost equally impressive, Kilmer’s Westerns might feature the star’s best work.

Tombstone shows viewers how adept he was at playing a classic Western character, while Thunderheart offers a more modern, morally complex spin on the genre. The Salton Sea, Wonderland, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans prove that Kilmer’s heart lay in the world of neo-noir antiheroes, but Westerns were something of a calling for the actor.

Long after Kilmer’s starring role in Tombstone, he returned to the genre for 2012’s Wyatt Earp’s Revenge. Although this direct-to-video Western wasn’t as impressive as either of his earlier efforts in the genre, Val Kilmer still acquitted himself to the material just as well as he had done in Tombstone and Thunderheart years earlier.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes