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The definitive populist telling of the Wyatt Earp story, Tombstone has more fun with the story than traditionalist versions like Kevin Costner's Wyatt Earp, with a younger, more crowd-pleasing cast -- Thomas Haden Church plays a bad guy; Jason Priestley is a deputy. And it's got more factual holes than the Clanton gang ended up with -- all in the name of serving up Good Clean Fun.
The guts of the truth are intact -- Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) and his family arrive in the town of Tombstone trying to start a new life as entrepreneurs, only to be stymied by an uncontrollable gang of outlaws called the Cowboys (aka the Clanton gang). With their buddy Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), the Earps face off with the Cowboys at the O.K. Corral. The gangs hunt each other down until only a few are left. And that's about it. Characters die, fall in love, ride horses, and drink a lot -- but essentially this is a movie about a fairly short-lived feud that ended in a great deal of bloodshed.
George Cosmatos' director's cut appears on a two-disc DVD collection, complete with a plethora of extras including three making-of documentaries, a commentary from Cosmatos, storyboards of the shootout, and the actual newspaper account of the shootout as originally printed in the Tombstone newspaper. I may not fully understand the reason for Tombstone's incredible popularity, but this disc certainly helps you appreciate it.
Yippie kie yay, Hollywood.
