Tombstone
Summary
Tombstoneand its 1957 predecessor,Gunfight At The O.K.
And yet, despite this historical context, both movies make a crucial mistake with their stories.
Though a fateful encounter did take place that day,it wasnt at the O.K.
Tombstone is a great entry point to the Western genre.
But where should viewers go next?
These 10 films have similar characters and themes.
Tombstone chronicles legendary marshal Wyatt Earp and his brothers as they seek fortune in a prosperous mining town. Forced to confront a gang threatening the community, Earp joins forces with the infamous Doc Holliday, highlighting a tense battle between lawmen and outlaws in the American West.
Gunfight At The O.K.
Corral and Tombstone Both Heavily Feature The O.K.
As renewed commercial success ushered in the Golden Age of Westerns,the O.K.
Corral became fundamental to cowboy mythology, so much so that Sturges made it his films centerpiece.
Corralimmortalized the event further as it became a classic in the genre.
Itundoubtedly influenced the Kurt Russell movieover half a decade later.
In both depictions, the Corrals open space stages the essential tableau of the outlaw-lawman standoff.
Physical distance enhances the rising tension as each group waits for the first man to draw.
The particular way that these films stage the gunfightdefines their biggest inaccuracy.
The Real Life O.K.
Corral & What Actually Happened
The Short Encounter Did Not Actually Take Place At The O.K.
Corral
The titleGunfight At The O.K.
Corralis misleading as the real confrontationdid not even take place there.
The studio can be spotted in theTombstonescene.
It was far from the lengthy stand-off as dramatized.
It shouldnt come as a surprise that these two great Westerns are premised on a historical fallacy.
Newspapers werent tied to a concept of journalistic neutrality - every account favored one side or the other.
But historical accuracy was never the aim.
The Western genre isat heart a romanticization: the myth of the new frontier.The Gunfight At The O.K.
CorralandTombstonemay be defined by historical inaccuracy, but the truth wouldnt have made such a good story.
