A single tombstone line explains Wyatt Earp better

A single tombstone line explains Wyatt Earp better than any western in movie history
Story by Ben Morganti •


The message is clear because Earp yells it, saying: "You tell 'em the law's coming, you tell 'em I'm coming, and hell's coming with me!" The key part of this is him saying that the law is coming, because it portrays Wyatt's ability to maintain his sense of justice, even in the face of overwhelming rage.

nfused with the energy of stylized '90s cinema, there's perhaps no Western movie more memorable than George P. Cosmatos' Tombstone from 1993. For fans, the film has everything expected of a modern, gritty Western epic, and it goes beyond some of its initial functions as a biographical dramatization of events. What remains notable is that the film follows real-life Western icon Wyatt Earp.


Many films have tackled Earp's story as well as the story of his friend and colleague, Doc Holliday. However, no film has ever been as popular as Tombstone when it comes to depicting this historical tale. Part of the reason for this is that Tombstone prioritizes entertainment over historical accuracy. Still, Kurt Russell's most famous line in the film proves why it's the only Western to truly understand Wyatt Earp.

Tombstone Still Tells the Most Entertaining Story About Wyatt Earp


Not only have fans seen Wyatt Earp's story before, they've seen it in movies many times over the last number of decades. Tombstone's success is almost heightened by this, especially when considering that the film had direct competition with Lawrence Kasdan's Wyatt Earp in 1994, around the same time it was released. It's one thing to have a number of previous iterations of the same story. It's another thing to have the same story released twice so close to each other.

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Wyatt Earp also features a stellar cast that includes the likes of Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid and Gene Hackman. However, the film still really doesn't compare to Cosmatos' 1993 phenomenon. The cast was even better, the performances more memorable, and the writing more engaging. Tombstone also happens to have a flair that fans don't see in Westerns very often anymore.

The '90s were an important era for Westerns, since it essentially resurrected the genre after a couple of decades where audiences were less interested in those kinds of stories. Clint Eastwood and Kevin Costner played a huge role in this with films like Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven, both of which won Best Picture at the Oscars in their respective years. However, if those films were the "Godfathers" of '90s Western cinema, then Tombstone was the "Goodfellas" of Westerns that decade.


Powered by the performances of Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer, Tombstone remains as memorable as any Western in the history of cinema, and a lot of credit has to go to the way the film was executed. Pulling from history, Tombstone does a good job detailing the iconic events in Earp and Holliday's lives, especially the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral." However, the film heavily dramatizes these events. With a mythic quality to the world and characters, Cosmatos entrenched his narrative with an allegorical function that stylized the film and the story.

Even though these were real people, the version audiences get is a romanticized version that people could more easily cheer for. Tombstone is gritty, violent and energetic in the same way that many modern Westerns are. It's also conventional in its approach to the story, as it aims to be a mythologized Western like the ones seen in the classical era of Hollywood. Cosmatos is not trying to say too much about the state of the genre or the events depicted.

A Single Line In Tombstone Solidifies Wyatt Earp's Historical Accuracy

There's no denying the way Wyatt Earp is depicted on screen in Tombstone. There are elements that make him feel more like a mythic hero than a real person who actually lived these events. For fans who want a truthful telling of his life, they should watch Wyatt Earp. For fans who want to see the most romanticized version of the character, and quite frankly, the most entertaining version, they should watch Tombstone. Still, there are aspects of Kurt Russell's portrayal that remain genuine and true to who Wyatt Earp actually was.


Merged with a compelling revenge story, Tombstone uses fact to heighten fiction as opposed to the other way around, and this comes through more in the portrayal of the film's most central characters. Audiences will see this with most characters in the film, even supporting roles who just happened to be played by iconic names such as Charlton Heston, Billy Bob Thornton and Stephen Lang, among others. Every character exists as an archetypal figure, and fact only comes into play when it's necessary.

Despite Tombstone being less historically accurate in a lot of ways, the way it portrays Wyatt Earp is compelling. For those who have read about Earp, they know that at his core, he was a man of the law with a strict moral code and righteous philosophy. Even when all of this was tested, he found ways to overcome the overwhelming lawless landscape of the Wild West. This remains true in Tombstone, with Russell's performance bringing to life a version of that person, even though he's even more mesmerizing to witness than the real Wyatt Earp probably was.

No matter what plays out in Tombstone, Wyatt Earp remains a force of justice that can only be compared to the greatest heroes of all time. Tombstone takes a turn when Wyatt Earp's brother Morgan is killed by a gang of outlaws at the midpoint of the movie. It would be so easy for Earp to seek frontier justice, but he still manages to approach the situation from the point of view of the law and what's best for the law. Even with his vengeful pursuit of justice, he does everything under the banner of law and order. With complete authority to hunt down the bad guys, Earp becomes a force to be reckoned with, and his entire philosophy remains intact.

Furthermore, arguably the greatest moment and line in the film keeps these elements of Wyatt Earp intact and manage to completely define him. Through a beautiful convergence of fact and fiction, fans get one of the greatest Western scenes in history when Earp kills some of Curly Bill's men and allows Ike to escape in order to send a message.

The message is clear because Earp yells it, saying: "You tell 'em the law's coming, you tell 'em I'm coming, and hell's coming with me!" The key part of this is him saying that the law is coming, because it portrays Wyatt's ability to maintain his sense of justice, even in the face of overwhelming rage.

Kurt Russell's Great Line Is Still Overshadowed by Val Kilmer's in Tombstone

Image via Buena Vista Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
Image via Buena Vista Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection
For as great as everyone is in the film, featuring a Western movie cast like no other, no one compares to Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday when it comes to quotes. While the 1993 classic is a story mainly about Wyatt Earp, his relationship with Doc Holliday is a key part of that, and the man who played Holliday just happened to steal the show.

For years, when fans have thought about Tombstone, they have thought about Doc Holliday first. This is unfortunate in some ways because it overshadows Kurt Russell's brilliant performance as Wyatt Earp. Thankfully, the entire film relies on the dynamics of multiple characters and the key relationship between Wyatt and Doc. In a lot of ways, the film is a two-hander that hinges on the chemistry between the two actors.

It just so happens that Val Kilmer gave the greatest performance of his career in 1993 when he accurately played Doc Holliday. This shouldn't steer attention entirely away from the fact that the film is led by Russell, and he did a great job playing the main hero of the story. For years, fans have forgotten about some of Wyatt Earp's greatest scenes in the movie, including the scene that might be the best one.

A lot of credit goes to Kurt Russell's performance, which had to live up to other portrayals of the iconic figure. With epic moments, memorable lines, and a consistent leading presence, Kurt Russell played one of the best iterations of the lawman, Wyatt Earp. He gave audiences one of his most underrated performances and a line that still defines the character even today.