We just watched the 1993 western movie Tombstone this evening. We rarely watch films but since we’re off work this week, and now we both completed Hogwarts Legacy the TV is free, I suggested seeing if my partner wanted to find a western. He likes cowboy stuff, and if you leave it to me to pick we’d never watch anything!
My plan was to work on Vacation Picard anyway so I didn’t mind too much what it was!
Tombstone was more enjoyable than I expected it to be, I think because all the performances in it are great that makes up for some of the rougher aspects (apparently the audience is not meant to care about Wyatt’s obviously troubled wife and root for him to run off with this actress!).
The whole cast turns out (Kurt Russell is great as Wyatt Earp), but the point of this blog post is I want to remember the experience of watching Val Kilmer play Doc Holliday.
It’s such a great performance that you almost don’t notice that to make it clear to the audience that he is dying from tuberculosis they have him deathly pale and covered in sweat at all times. He is visibly unwell in an honestly hilariously OTT way (there is even an actually funny SNL sketch).
He’s glowing white like a Cullen in Twilight.
Maybe this is accurate for someone dying from TB but it’s a funny visual when none of the other characters seem bothered by it!
Yet, Val Kilmer’s performance is so good it transcends the sweaty pale absurdity!
He plays Doc with a humour that just masks an undercurrent of violence, and (despite some dodgy dialogue) every line he delivers is memorable. He nails the funny moments and the emotional serious ones.
I’m glad we stumbled into watching it this evening!
