The ’90s were a groundbreaking time for cinema, and this bold cultural shift didn’t only arise in revolutionary films like Pulp Fiction and Jurᴀssic Park—it also emerged in Westerns. Nowhere is this better exemplified than in the 1993 film Tombstone, whose brilliant ensemble brought a vibrant energy that both entertained audiences and changed the genre forever.

Unlike the Westerns of Clint Eastwood, which favored slow-burning narratives, Tombstone embraced the pulpy aspects of its genre, leaning into the larger-than-life myth of Wyatt Earp to deliver a fast-paced, stylized drama. Though this choice has often pitted the film against Kevin Costner’s more historically accurate Wyatt Earp biopic, the gamble paid off, as Tombstone is today regarded as one of the greatest Westerns.

Tombstone’s Stylized Approach Was Unlike The Westerns That Came Before It

Figures Like Wyatt Earp And Doc Holliday Never Looked Cooler

Before Tombstone, Westerns were similar to baseball: fun, full of exciting bursts of drama, but often long and drawn out. In contrast, the 1993 Western opened with a violent bang akin to the first thrilling notes of a Jimmy Page solo, seizing the audience’s attention with a savage execution at the hands of Tombstone‘s main antagonists, Johnny Ringo (Michael Biehn) and The Cowboys.

While one could argue that this violence isn’t unique to Tombstone, the swagger of Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) certainly is, whose presence cracks like thunder in a hurricane as he strides confidently across the screen. Whereas previous Westerns featured gritty antiheroes, Tombstone bears superheroes, like gruff Virgil Earp (Sam Elliott) and the enigmatic Doc Holliday, which is often hailed as Val Kilmer’s greatest performance.

Tombstone Began A Trend Of Increasingly Stylized Western Movies

Everyone Tried To Recreate The Film’s Style

It’s hard to picture a more iconic Western image from the ’90s than Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Kurt Russell, and Bill Paxton strutting toward the O.K. Corral like deputized, black-clad undertakers—though that didn’t stop filmmakers from trying. Indeed, movies like The Quick and the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ and Maverick tried to capitalize on Tombstone‘s success through large-ensemble pictures that strove to recreate its bold, stylized magic.

Furthermore, this direction in filmmaking continued into the 2000s with Western remakes like 3:10 to Yuma and Josh Brolin’s True Grit, though none were able to truly capture the charm of Tombstone until Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, a film that built off the film’s template and steered it into the trademark territory that’s defined his career.

It’s Hard To See Westerns Returning To The Original Style

There’s No Going Back After Tombstone

Following Django Unchained, demand for Westerns among audiences slowed down for several years, with far fewer films garnering the attention the genre once enjoyed. However, with the release of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone and popular spin-off series 1883 and 1923, Westerns are back and better than ever, with the precedent Tombstone set remaining the standard for stylized stories of the Old West.

Though the films of Wayne and Eastwood will always hold their place as a hallmark of Western cinema, the days of slow-burning, steely narratives are gone, for good or ill. In the digital age, audiences with rapidly-decreasing attention spans—this writer included—crave swift, stylized drama, and if filmmakers can accomplish this through the example of Tombstone, then the genre’s future will continue to burn bright.