Tombstone

Tombstone! What's it all about then, eh? Well, it's about Wyatt Earp. And his brothers... er... the Earp brothers. And their battle at the OK Corral with Curly Joe and his bad Cowboys. Yep, that's right, Curly Joe. Don't let the name fool ya, though, Curly Joe's a bad'n. So, the Earps and family ride into Tombstone... well, actually, they roll in, on a train you see, and set up shop hoping to get rich, raise little Earp kids and sit on the balcony spittin' tobacco into a spittoon like all good ol' cowboy movie folk do. But - yep, there's a but, otherwise it'd be a pretty boring movie. Just some folk sitting around twirling guns, spitting tobacco on the floor, saying things like "Them thars be my horse. Ayep. That she is. Yehaw." Actually, that sounds like it could be funny. Anyhow, I digress. As I was saying, the town is overrun by Curly Joe's bad boys. See, as the lawmakers in the town are a pretty useless lot, and Curly Joe's mob are a might disrepectful of the law, the Earps are pretty much forced to take matters into their own capable hands. But it's not all smooth sailing... er, riding, with much blood running and many a horse falling.

A thoroughly enjoyable little film, Tombstone is not so much a completely accurate historical re-enactment, but rather as I once read "...a cowboy film for the MTV generation..." This would probably best describe any cowboy film starring Val Kilmer as a Latin speaking, tuberculosis ridden gunfighter and a cast all decked out in stovepipe pants and handlebar moustaches. And what a cast it is. We have the aforementioned Val, plus Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton, Michael Biehn, Sam Elliot, Dana Delaney (mmm...), Powers Boothe, Billy Zane (hmm, maybe ignore him), Jason Priestley (okay, ignore him too, because he has a thing for Zane's character) and Ben Hur... sorry, I meant Charlton Heston.

"You tell him I'm coming! And Hell's coming with me! "

Quite a little cast, eh? Kurt Russell, a man currently in search of his long gone heyday, puts in a sterling performance as Wyatt Earp, recognising full well that this was no Oscar contender but merely a bit of action fluff that would handsomely pay for Goldie Hawn's next facelift. Val Kilmer and Michael Biehn share some great scenes, most notably the bizarre Latin showdown and gun-twirly scenes which are worth a cack or three. But then, all the cast seem to enjoy playing cowboys, and who could blame them? Shooting guns, riding horses, bedding wenches and spitting tobacco on the floor, what more could you possibly ask for?

Having long lived with this film on VHS, the clarity and scope of the DVD version is a bit of a revelation. The nice wide 2.35:1 aspect ratio best shows of the town and landscapes of Tombstone, and the whole show is thankfully 16x9 enhanced. It's not all good news though. There's a fair whack of edge enhancement visible, and grain floating about in many a scene. Shimmering pops up on some outdoors shots with the roofing of many buildings. One particular closeup of Dana Delaney appears to lose quality in resolution for a few seconds, but it's nothing you can't live with. Otherwise, the picture looks fine, with some very clear scenes showing off the film in a fine new light.

Ah, now this is more like it. Dolby Digital 5.1 at 448Kbps is how gunfights are meant to be heard. Non of that tinny pingponging stereo malarkey here. Plenty of noise all round from your speakers, with some nice use of the discrete rears to enhance the shootouts and general ambience and a good bit of bass that gives it all a bit of solidness. Clarity is nice, with mostly fine dialogue only once or twice a bit indistinct, but again no real worries here. Settle in with this one cranked a little and enjoy.

A theatrical trailer, cast and crew bio's and short featurette are the upfront extra features on this DVD. Nothing to get excited about basically. But for some odd reason, a ten minute featurette showing the shooting of the film is tacked on as an Easter egg. Mighty weird thing to do when the extra features list is so lacking, but hey, stranger things have happened 'round these parts.

How can I not recommend Tombstone? There's a lot of fun to be had, what with all the rootin', shootin' and tootin' going on (well, not a lot of rootin' really, and I'm not really sure what tootin' is, to be totally honest, but there is a lot of shootin'). It has more than its fair share of cool lines, with mostly Kilmer and Russell coming out with the best of them. As a DVD it does a mighty purdy job of replacing your tired and worn out video copy with a nice widescreen image and DD5.1 audio mix. You best be fixin' to get yer good self a copy now, ya hear? Yeehar!