Summary

• Tombstone starring Kurt Russell earns a six out of 10 for its historical accuracy.
• Historian Michael Grauer praises the film for its clarity of storytelling in its depiction of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, but claims the event itself has become a Hollywood trope.
• Tombstone was a critical and commercial success in the '90s, outperforming the Kevin Costner-starring Wyatt Earp, which covered the same events and historical figures.

Old West historian Michael Grauer analyzes scenes from Tombstone has since become a cult classic.

In a recent video for Insider, Grauer takes a look at Tombstone's depiction of the O.K. Corral, assessing it for historical accuracy.

According to the real-life cowboy and historian, the film gets a fair amount right, but suggests that the gunfight at the O.K. Corral has been somewhat overdone in Hollywood for how relatively insignificant an event it actually was in the grand scheme of the American West. Check out Grauer's full comment below, as well as his score for Tombstone out of 10:

“That whole confrontation at a place called O.K. Corral is repeated over and over again and ultimately becomes a trope. An outlaw gang called The Cowboys tries to take over Tombstone, and another criminal element, also known as the Earps, tries to push back for who's going to control this town. Tombstone was one of those "Hell on Wheels" that popped up because of the mining industry. In the grand scheme of things in of history in the American West, it’s a blip.

“So we don’t really know what happened. Anybody who was an eyewitness had an agenda either against the Earps or with the Earps, or just wanted their town back. We know that some people were killed. The Earps and their people along with Doc Holliday were implicated.

“The scene is probably a six [out of 10]. I think they stage it fairly reasonably, who the combatants were.”

Tombstone's Reception Explained

How It Compares To The '90s Other Wyatt Earp Movie

Tombstone arrived less than a year before 1994's Wyatt Earp, which starred Kevin Costner in the title role and was directed by Lawrence Kasdan. The two films cover many of the same historical events and figures, but Tombstone ended up faring far better overall critically and commercially. At least some of the reason for this is just due to the order in which the films were released, with audiences seemingly being less interested in going to theaters to watch Wyatt Earp after already seeing the Earp story on-screen so recently.

Both Russell and Costner would return to the Western genre on multiple occasions after Tombstone and Wyatt Earp. Costner recently experienced disappointment in the genre once more with the release of Horizon: An American Saga.

As seen in the chart above, Tombstone currently sports a respectable 73% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the audience score is an impressive 94%. Both of these scores are significantly higher than Wyatt Earp's. At the box office, Tombstone was a success, grossing $73.2 million worldwide on an estimated budget of $25 million. Again, Russell's film beats Costner's in this regard.

In general, while it would be a stretch to call Tombstone a critical darling, the film was praised for its solid, classical storytelling and impressive cast. In contrast to that film's two-hour and 14-minute runtime, Wyatt Earp clocked in at a whopping three hours and eleven minutes, and it ended up proving too meandering and unfocused for many viewers. In addition to boasting an entertaining story and some impressive performances, it's clear that Tombstone also gets a lot right when it comes to historical accuracy.

Source: Insider