These clips are hard to get. Many commercial sites have thrown some kind of proprietary html hoodoo on them so they won’t post. This one requires you click on the underscored YouTube link. Do it. This one is worth watching, especially if you’ve never seen Tombstone, which centers around the shoot-out at O.K. Corral. This legendary event essentially ended the Wild, Wild West era. Most films have approached this material through a whitewashed Hollywood lens. Sepia images, black and white morals and two-dimensional characters. Not so here.

This film is arguably the best written, most historically authentic American western made to date. Before you, at the touch of a screen, is a lesser known sequence from the 1993 film starring Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday. The script was written by the late Kevin Jarre who also wrote the award winning film Glory (1989), another period film (Glory is based on events leading up to the Battle of Antietam) marked by its attention to historical detail, fabulous dialogue and deep, authentic characterizations.

Once again I have to apologize that this clip is only available for viewing by clicking the underscored link to YouTube. It’s well worth your time, if you’re interested in the mindset and background work that goes into making great film.