Kurt Russell plays Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer plays Doc Holliday in this 1993 western based on an old story set in Tombstone, Arizona; Bill Paxton and Sam Elliot costar as Earp’s brothers. Written by Kevin Jarre (Glory) and directed by George P. Cosmatos, this has plenty of designer gore to go with its periodic spurts of bloodletting, and a lot of care and attention were obviously devoted to selecting locations, designing sets, and grooming handlebar mustaches. Much less attention went to making one believe that any of the events took place circa 1879, but at least the bursts of action keep coming, and most survive Cosmatos’s addiction to smoldering close-ups. For a weepy death scene, Jarre borrows a famous gesture from Only Angels Have Wings, but usually he’s content to show how ornery critters like to shoot one another for the fun of it. Robert Mitchum supplied the opening and closing narration.
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