Recommendations of the Editorial team
The Death of Val Kilmer Western film fans hit particularly hard on Tuesday at pneumonia at the age of 65. In Tombstone From 1993, Val Kilmer, as a tubercular dentist and player John Henry “Doc” Holliday, delivered one of the most unforgettable performances in the history of the genre. Plagued by coughing fits, alcoholism and a healthy portion of self -hatred, Kilmer’s representation emphasized the human weakness of a legend of the wild West against male bravery. That does not mean that Kilmers Holliday, which was just as fast with his Colt .45 as with his tongue, did not have to be feared.
Kilmer played all of these properties in the key scene of the film. An intimate duel from man to man with the revolver Johnny Ringo (a devilish Michael Biehn), which is probably the best shootout of the modern Western era. Even if only two shots were fired.
Allegedly back on the ranch, bedridden due to its tuberculosis, Holliday appears from the shadows of the high level of Arizona to surprise the lightning -fast ring. Who in turn had expected to have easy game with Kurt Russell’s Wyatt Earp. “I didn’t think you would have it on it,” Ringo mocks. And assumes that the silhouette is Earp. “I’m your husband,” Kilmer replies as Holliday before saying with a broad accent: “But Johnny Ringo, you look like someone had run over your grave” and immediately adds a few repeated quotes to the cinematic canon.
“Say when it is that far”
While Ringo insists that the fight between him and Earp takes place, says Holliday, not so quickly, sir, and quotes a dispute that used to take place in the film. “We have started a game that we never played through,” says Kilmer. And adds a vulnerable cough as a distraction maneuver. “Game for blood.”
And then it starts. Both men circle and perceive the other as they tap their hands on their mother-of-pearl revolvers. “Say when the time comes,” says Holliday calmly. Scurry your eyes. The brows frown. Holliday flashes a slight grin before pulling out the smoke car and firing a shot in Ringo’s forehead. “You are not a sissy!” He piles up, while Ringo stumbles forward like a zombie and unloaded his gun into the ground.
Since Ringo is dead, Earp is rushing. Too late for what his own death would have been if Holliday hadn’t shown his loyalty. “Oh, I wasn’t quite as sick as I showed it,” he says to Earp.
Thirty -two years later, the scene is still an underestimated classic. And proof that shootings do not have to be the excessive dramatic shooting em-ups that occur in so many popcorn westerns. “Tombstone” included. The heart of the film, “Gunfight at the Ok Corral”, plays out loudly for two minutes. The shootout in real life? A little more than 30 seconds.