Tombstone is a deliriously entertaining Western. From its endlessly quotable dialogue to the iconic performances, the Kurt Russell-led film has only grown in popularity since its release. It came at a time in the early 90s when the genre was experiencing a resurgence that was all too short-lived, but which left behind some films that are now considered classics. Many fans would include Tombstone among those classics, and it's hard to disagree with that assessment.
Tackling real-life icon Wyatt Earp and his cohorts, the movie approaches them in a larger-than-life manner that's perfectly encapsulated by the theatrical performances, especially Val Kilmer's as Doc Holliday. There isn't any other Western quite like Tombstone, but there are plenty of others that fans are likely to appreciate just as much because of their similar flair or shared cast members. For anyone looking for their fix of Western thrills like those outside the O.K. Corral, these ten movies are the best cinema has to offer.
10. 'My Darling Clementine' (1946)
Directed by John Ford
Tombstone was far from the first Western to tackle the legacy of Wyatt Earp. The biographical book Wyatt Earp: Frontier Marshal had already provided the basis for two film versions by the time legendary director John Ford came along to make what was arguably the most definitive movie about the lawman in My Darling Clementine. Ford had actually met Earp early in his career while working as a prop boy, and he used Earp's own account of the events of the shootout at the O.K. corral to influence his film.
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Clementine chronicles the events leading up to the infamous gunfight, and despite Ford receiving a first-hand account from the man himself, the movie is far from factually accurate. Most published accounts of the real events were prone to creative exaggeration and Earp himself was known to self-aggrandize, so it's not unusual that this film version isn't entirely true to life. In that way, the film is very similar to the mythologizing of Tombstone, but Ford's precise direction is all his own and Henry Fonda's more reserved performance in the lead role is a wonderful counter-balance to Russell's grittier one.
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My Darling Clementine
Passed
Drama RomanceWestern
- Release Date
- December 2, 1946
WHERE TO WATCH
RENT
9. 'Gunfight at the O.K. Corral' (1957)
Directed by John Sturges
John Sturges' Gunfight at the O.K. Corral is an action-packed account of the most famous gunfight of the American frontier and its (highly fictionalized) depiction of it helped to add to its legacy while also giving it the name it would forever be referred to by. Extending the notoriously short shootout into an extended and intense gunfight earned the film Academy Award nominations for film editing and sound recording.
Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas are a solid duo as Earp and Doc Holliday, respectively, and while the movie takes more than a few liberties with the truth, including adding a romantic subplot, it remains incredibly entertaining. Criticism over the film's historical inaccuracies would also motivate director John Sturges to revisit the story years later.
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Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
Passed
DramaWestern
7/10
- Release Date
- May 29, 1957
8. 'Hour of the Gun' (1967)
Directed by John Sturges
Sturges' second bite at the Wyatt Earp apple changes things up by beginning with the famous shootout and then tracking the aftermath of it, which should appeal to fans of Tombstone's bullet-riddled third act. James Garner steps into the legendary lawman's boots this time around, the first of two very different performances he would give as Earp, and he's supported by Jason Robards as a more seasoned Doc Holliday.
Hour of the Gun attempts to be more historically accurate than its predecessors and certainly succeeds in comparison, even if it is still subject to some minor Hollywood fact fudging. Garner gives a much grittier portrayal of Earp, and the film overall is far darker in its tone, as was common among Westerns of the 60s. While Sturges' film may not rank among the decade's best of the genre, it's an underseen portrait of Earp's revenge against Ike Clanton and the Cowboys.
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Hour of the Gun
Approved
Western
Drama- Release Date
- November 1, 1967
WHERE TO WATCH
RENT
BUY
7. 'The Long Riders' (1980)
Directed by Walter Hill
If Wyatt Earp represents the most iconic lawman of the Old West, then the other side of that coin is likely adorned with the face of infamous outlaw Jesse James. James and his gang have been subject to multiple representations on film, including a great modern Western and an underseen revisionist one starring Robert Duvall, but if there's one that can compete with the all-star cast of Tombstone it's Walter Hill's sibling-filled The Long Riders.
Chronicling the crime spree of the James-Younger gang as they rob banks across the Midwest, The Long Riders is notable for its unique casting of real-life acting brothers to play the sets of criminal siblings. Stacy and James Keach play Jesse and his brother Frank, Christopher and Nicholas Guest are the Ford brothers, Dennis and Randy Quaid feature as Ed and Clell Miller, and the Carradines (David, Keith, and Robert) are the Younger trio. The casting is no simple gimmick and the chemistry between all the siblings works to the film's benefit, along with Hill's typically unpretentious direction.
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The Long Riders
R
Western
Action- Release Date
- May 16, 1980
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
6. 'Silverado' (1985)
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Speaking of underrated Westerns with great casts, Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado was an 80s-made Western that stood out in a decade that was thin with them. Focusing on a group of four disparate outlaws who reluctantly team up to take on a corrupt sheriff and ruthless rancher, Kasdan's film is well written and well cast, with the outlaws played by vets Scott Glenn, Kevin Kline, Danny Glover and Kevin Costner in his first Western.
Despite solid reviews and a couple of Oscar nods, the film would fade at the box office, a victim of general disinterest in the Western genre that wouldn't be revitalized until the release of Costner's own Dances With Wolves several years later. Silverado plays breezy and the cast has a lot of fun, making it a perfect double-bill with the star-studded Tombstone.
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Silverado
PG-13
Western
Action- Release Date
- July 10, 1985
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
5. 'Wyatt Earp' (1994)
Directed by Lawrence Kasdan
Kasdan and Costner would re-team for another Western, the biopic Wyatt Earp, that would directly compete with Tombstone, with both films releasing within a year of each other. Unlike the Kurt Russell film, the Costner vehicle is much more expansive, covering a larger period of Wyatt Earp's life with a great deal of character introspection. Unsurprisingly, both critics and audiences preferred Tombstone's more action-heavy approach.
The passage of time has allowed more distance between the dueling Earp epics, and while Tombstone is still the clear winner, Costner and Kasdan's take still has plenty to offer. The film has a similarly epic cast, and its different approach to the material makes it a nice companion piece to Tombstone without feeling like too similar a retread. It's overlong and unfocused, but the performances all work and there's a lot more nuance to its portrayal of its complicated titular lawman.
4. 'The Quick and the Dead' (1995)
Directed by Sam Raimi
Other than the obvious classics Dances With Wolves and Unforgiven, the only other Western released during the same period as Tombstone that can even compete with it for entertainment value is Sam Raimi's bold and bonkers The Quick and the Dead. It stars Sharon Stone as a mysterious gunslinger who enters a quick-draw competition in a small town in order to exact vengeance on its cold-blooded mayor, played by Gene Hackman.
The set-up is a perfect excuse for Raimi to exercise all his camera and editing tricks, making the film one of the most visually dynamic Westerns since Sergio Leone. In addition to Hackman's underrated villain performance, the cast features a litany of character actors to fill out its list of quick-draw competitors, including early star turns from Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe. It's a completely unpretentious Western that upends the genre the same way as Raimi's Evil Dead series did for horror.
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The Quick and the Dead
R
Western
Action- Release Date
- February 9, 1995
WHERE TO WATCH
RENT
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3. '3:10 to Yuma' (2007)
Directed by James Mangold
Russell Crowe would return to the genre over a decade later, bringing his growly grit to James Mangold's 3:10 to Yuma, a highly entertaining Western that is just as enamored with the mythology of the Old West as Tombstone was. This remake of the Glenn Ford classic, itself based on Elmore Leonard's short story, stars Crowe as an enigmatic outlaw who is captured and then begins to bond with the put-upon rancher, played by Christian Bale, who volunteers, out of financial desperation, to escort him to his fateful train.
Mangold fills the frame with Western iconography and plenty of action-packed shootouts, which are as expertly crafted as those in Tombstone. In addition to Crowe and Bale's performances, Ben Foster gives another terrific genre performance as a violent outlaw that belongs in the same category as Michael Biehn's wild-eyed one as Johnny Ringo.
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3:10 to Yuma
R
AdventureCrime
DramaWestern
- Release Date
- September 6, 2007
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
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2. 'Bone Tomahawk' (2015)
Directed by S. Craig Zahler
After Tombstone, Kurt Russell would not return to the genre for over two decades, but when he did, he was part of two equally unforgettable Westerns that were released in the same year. The first of those was Bone Tomahawk, a brutally violent Western horror that requires a strong stomach to sit through, but is well worth the intestinal torment.
Russell stars as an aging sheriff who rounds up a posse to save some townsfolk who have been abducted by a clan of cannibalistic cave dwellers. Unlike the determined Wyatt Earp, Russell and his group have no measure of the madness that awaits them and are thoroughly outmatched by their violent adversaries. Writer-director S. Craig Zahler lets the horror unfold in slow-burn fashion, but when the gore cuts loose it is truly unsettling. The cast is uniformly excellent in their terror-filled performances, and the film showcases a far less romantic side of the Old West.
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Bone Tomahawk
Not Rated
Western
AdventureDocumentary
Horror Thriller- Release Date
- October 23, 2015
WHERE TO WATCH
Streaming
RENT
BUY
1. 'The Hateful Eight' (2015)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
The wintry mystery The Hateful Eight is, to date, Russell's last step into the Western genre, and, if it does turn out to be the actor's final foray, he will go out on a high note for his performance as bounty hunter John Ruth, who finds himself holed up in habadashery during a blizzard with a cutthroat outlaw shackled to his wrist. Quentin Tarantino populates his second Western with a bevy of familiar faces, including Samuel L. Jackson and Walton Goggins, for a contained thriller that plays on racial tension and moral ambiguity in a post-Civil War setting.
Each character brings their own baggage to the situation as they all try to suss out the motivations of each strange face. Russell brings his genre gravitas to his performance, and he doesn't miss a beat, even when accidentally destroying an antique guitar. It's a fitting final note for a performer who has few entries into the Western genre, but whose presence looms large, just like Wyatt Earp's.
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The Hateful Eight
R
Mystery
Thriller Drama10/10
- Release Date
- December 25, 2015
