A Tombstone Reckoning: "This Is Funny."

 August 2, 2023

   To me, the funniest, and most devastating line in the entire Earp-Holliday story is perhaps not even true. At the end of his short life, Doc Holliday stared down at the end of the bed, saw his bare feet and allegedly said: "This is funny." Hilarity ensued.

   Three Arizona cowboys and a tip of the hat to Rasmus Lagerqvist Holmberg (who did the original colorization on the photo print), and I, of course, added the sugarloaf, because, I just couldn't help myself!

Daily Whip Out: "Tres Sombreros"

   Here's where we are going on our "Tombstone' coverage.

Friends of The O.K.

  "In honor of Tombstone’s influence, we decided that it was time for a reckoning—to pause—and have a good conversation with our contributors about the film, the historical characters that influenced its production, what we have learned about them since 1993 and why it all matters. And like any family, our True West family doesn’t necessarily agree on everything about the legacy of Tombstone. But isn’t that we love the Old West so much?"

—Stuart Rosebrook

   Yesterday, I made the reference that my mother's family didn't like Wyatt Earp and my grandmother labled him the "biggest jerk to ever walk the West," and that comment, led to this reaction:

"Well it seems those who like to dis Ol' Wyatt are the ones who have and continue to make lots of money off him, selling books and magazines about him. But it's Wyatt who is the pimp? LOL."

—Anonymous

   And, to be fair, these comments:

"Hear! Hear! 'Tombstone' was my 'Star Wars' back in the day. Any scene with the Cowboy Gang made it every bit as good, if not better, than the cantina in a galaxy far far away. So much personality, that movie."

—Levi Marcas

"The authenticity that Kevin Jarre brought to the screen through costuming, hats, leather, tack, dialogue, etc. Val Kilmer's Doc Holliday was the epitome of cool just like James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause, Marlon Brando in the Wild Ones, and Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon. The humor in the movie was great! How could you miss with lines like 'Johnny I apologize. I forgot you were there. You may go now.' 'I know- let's have a spelling contest.' 'We don't want any trouble in here- not in any language.' My only regret is the Kevin Jarre scenes cut out of the movie such as his brilliant telling of the Vendetta Ride. I even read in John Farkis' book 'The Making of Tombstone' where he had a group of Apaches standing on a hill watching the fight between Wyatt Earp and Curly Bill. How amazing would that have been to see? Tombstone is by far my favorite movie and I can't remember how many times I've seen it. Well over 100. I wear bib shirts and stovepipe boots and jinglebob spurs to Cowboy Action shoots because of how great they looked in Tombstone. It changed the way I look at all westerns."
—Mark TW Maniac 235

"O.K. full confession: I have made so much money off of Wyatt Earp, I am the one who is the pimp."

—BBB