Films may endure for a number of reasons. Maybe there was a stacked cast of actors in parts large and small, each making their mark. Maybe the script was highly quotable. Or maybe it was run so often on cable television that impressionable audiences couldn’t help but rewatch it over and again until a variety of elements became part of their personalities. These reasons and more have contributed to the longevity of Tombstone, the cinematic interpretation of lawman Wyatt Earp’s involvement in the 1881 shootout at the O.K. Corral with a screenplay by Kevin Jarre (Glory; The Devil’s Own). Now, between Walt Disney Pictures and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, Tombstone is receiving a first-time 4K UHD edition in both physical and digital formats.
Retired from law enforcement, Wyatt Earp (Russell) has convinced his brothers, Virgil and Morgan (Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton, respectively), to bring their wives to Tombstone, Arizona, a mining town where they can build their own fortunes. First getting a stake in a gambling establishment and then taking ownership of a few mining plots, the Earps start to settle into their new lives in Tombstone. But, thanks to the ill fortune of a gambler, a gang of killers known as Cowboys, led by Curly Bill Brocius (Powers Boothe), starts to become a greater thorn in the side of the community, prompting the Earps to get involved, not only pulling Wyatt back into the armed service, but making history.
Let’s begin with the bad news and go from there.
The physical edition, a 4K UHD steelbook, released on shelves on April 22nd and promptly sold out. With so few places selling physical editions these days, one might feel a sense of despair, but this is where the bad news ends. According to Bill Hunt over at The Digital Bits, more physical editions are coming. So be on the lookout and maybe don’t purchase from a scalper just yet. There’s been no obvious word as to whether a non-steelbook edition will be made available. Not every film requires a steelbook edition and a non-steelbook version would help bring the price down.
TOMBESTONE 4K UHD steelbook packshot. Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The additional good news is that whether you get the physical edition or the digital, the previously available bonus features are included. The press release announcing the release doesn’t say whether the bonus materials are included on the 4K disc, but it’s most likely that they will be on the Blu-ray. This means that you can get the 27-minute three-part featurette “The Making of Tombstone” and the four-minute “Director’s Original Storyboards: O.K. Corral Sequence” to enjoy, if you haven’t already explored these materials. While it would be nice for there to be more than the remaster and the case as the pull for purchase, for fans of Tombstone, it’s going to be enough.
In terms of the remaster itself, what follows will be based on a viewing of the digital edition screened via MoviesAnywhere via a code provided by Walt Disney Studios. Despite the film being available through Apple iTunes, the digital edition would not display in 4K UHD there. Content from streaming services is always going to have the video and audio compressed as to deliver a seamless viewing experience. The lack of these compressions are why physical editions are *always* going to provide the best version of a film presentation. Through MoviesAnywhere, the film did present with the 4K UHD with Dolby Vision and 5.1 audio, so, at the very least, regardless of data compression, the listed audio and video matched what should be available on the physical edition. The 4K UHD edition of Tombstone, even on digital, is a marked improvement over the prior editions. The browns are muddier, the reds are richer, the whites/blues are lovely without being blinding, and the blacks are an ideal ink — all of which translates to a more natural appearance for the characters and their surroundings. Consider the introduction of Dana Delany’s Josephine Marcus as she stares at Wyatt — he, clad in black, a tight silhouette against the white/blue sky, his skin a healthy tan, and his eyes narrow like a hawk. It’s Kurt Russell in 1993, so not many would begrudge Marcus’s interest in Wyatt, but, in this moment, the increased dynamic range and details enable what we can see of Wyatt to be far more striking against the black of his attire. There’s plenty of visible grain, which will delight those who want to retain the original feel of the film, and the sound remains as strong and immersive as before.
In terms of the film, well, allow me to begin with: Ike Clanton (played masterfully by Stephen Lang) can go fuck himself. What a cowardly cur whose big mouth and spinelessness (as far as the script is concerned) is fairly responsible for the conflict between the Earps and the Cowboys. Sure, Curly and his second, Johnny Ringo (Michael Beihn), are unrepentant murderers whose pride wouldn’t really allow them to take anything on the chin, deserved or otherwise, but it’s Ike’s frequent claptrap that instigate several instances of violence that lead, first to the shootout, then to the hunting of the Cowboys in retribution for the killing of Morgan and the severe injury to Virgil. It’s comical just how much of a coward Ike is and it requires someone with skills like Lang (Don’t Breathe; Avatar) who can create so much out of nothing and have the audience invested. Likewise, you may not remember that Billy Bob Thornton (Sling Blade; Armageddon) is among the cast, but you’ll remember the hilarity of his loudmouth Johnny Tyler standing slack jawed, framed as between the Earps and Val Kilmer’s Doc Holliday just before Doc turns to him and, in Kilmer’s iconic drawl, states, “Oh. Johnny, I apologize; I forgot you were there. You may go now.” The character of Johnny Tyler is a know-nothing with the only purpose, narratively, to help establish that Wyatt might want a quiet life, but he’s still as hard as ever and, dispensing of Johnny, kicks off that fortune Wyatt promised his brothers. Yet, between Thornton’s and Kilmer’s performances, we remember Johnny, even if it’s just as a punchline. There’re so many moments like this throughout Tombstone that the film just sings right along, making even the more rushed elements feel like a change in tempo in an otherwise harmonious melody. Everyone’s got chemistry with everyone else, even if it’s never as electric as Kilmer and Russell on-screen together. It’s all so damn close that to say the film isn’t ever dull is an understatement. Don’t mistake this to mean the film is perfect, because any film that casts Paul Ben-Victor (The Irishman; True Romance) as what appears to be a Mexican-inspired character named Florentino is not necessarily making good choices, even as the script attempts to shoehorn in elements of both the suffrage movement of the 1800s and the hypocritical xenophobia of the Chinese immigrant community which was helping to construct the westward expansion of the United States. Not everything works, but what does feels like lightning in a bottle, which is why so many return to Tombstone more than 30 years later.
In my view, a physical edition is always going to trump a digital one for a variety of reasons, including everything from better picture and sound to more reliable access. Digital editions are little more than extended rentals that can be revoked at any time, with no potential recourse for the purchaser. With physical editions, once purchased, no one’s coming into your home to rip it out of your collection. With that in mind, the digital edition is not the first thing that I would recommend regardless of price-point; however, with the scarcity of availability of the 4K UHD edition, one would not dissuade someone from picking up this edition, either. It looks good and sounds good, making a film with a strong cultural impact all the more enjoyable. So, if you can’t wait for more physical editions to come out and you already have the film in one physical edition, it won’t hurt to pick up this one, too.
Tombstone 4K UHD Legacy Special Features:
- The Making of Tombstone: Three-Part Featurette (27:16)
- Director’s Original Storyboards: O.K. Corral Sequence (4:00)
- Trailers & TV Spots
Available on 4K UHD Blu-ray limited edition steelbook and digital April 22nd, 2025.
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Categories: Films To Watch, Home Release, Recommendation
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