I finally watched this. When I was growing up I had a poster of Wyatt Earp, the film starring Kevin Costner, on my wall. And rightfully so – it’s such an amazing poster:

But, regardless of how badass the poster is, the consensus is that the better of the two films was and is Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, and Bill Paxton.

So that’s the one I watched.

And it’s pretty darned good. The direction off the top felt a bit stuffy, and there were certainly parts of the script that were horribly dated – the film was released in 1993 – but all in all it was a great, fun movie, and the best part about it, hands down, was Val Kilmer’s portrayal of a drunken, womanizing Doc Holliday – a man with one foot in the grave and the other foot in a shootout. The performance was so good that it makes you wonder what happened to Kilmer’s career.

He first broke onto the scene in a big way in 1986’s Top Gun, playing “Ice Man” opposite Tom Cruise. His next big role was as the lead in 1988’s cult classic Willow, followed by an acclaimed performance as Jim Morrison in 1991’s The Doors. That led to Thunderheart, a pretty bad film if memory serves correctly, some junk film with Kim Basinger, then a great run: 1993’s Quentin Tarantino-written True Romance, then Tombstone, then the first IMAX drama, Wings of Courage, in 1995, then Batman Forever, and then the unforgettable Heat.

He had a bit part in some awful Hollywood parody, then continued making A-list worthy fare, with mixed results: The Island of Dr. Moreau with Marlon Brando, The Ghost and the Darkness with Michael Douglas, The Saint with Elisabeth Shue, the animated Oscar winner, The Prince of Egypt, and At First Sight with Mira Sorvino.

But then it just kinda all stopped.

Almost everything from 1999 to 2009 has been B-list garbage, as is nearly everything that he has in the pipeline.

And it’s really too bad. Because if films like Tombstone, The Doors, and Heat tell us anything, it’s that one of the great acting talents of our generation is pissing his career away.

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