One Of The Greatest Westerns Of All Time Is Perfect For A Reboot After Kurt Russell’s Recent Comments

Tombstone might be considered a Western classic, but is there an even better movie to be made from its screenplay? This Kurt Russell Western has come to be seen as the best Western of the past 30 years, and for good reason. It has an incredible cast, countless iconic quotes and some incredible sequences.

The film was also plagued by behind-the-scenes issues, with Russell himself ghostdirecting parts of Tombstone. In spite of certain flaws, the film is endlessly entertaining. Still, Russell and the cast have expressed certain regrets about it, stating that the original screenplay was sooooo much better.

Why Tombstone Remains One Of The Greatest Westerns Of All Time

The box-office failure of Heaven’s Gate all but killed Westerns during the 1980s, and the genre took a while to recover. It got a brief burst of life during the 1990s thanks to the success of Unforgiven and Tombstone, which was then locked in a rivalry with Kevin Costner’s competing biopic Wyatt Earp.

Tombstone wiped the floor with this Costner vanity project, and the film has more than stood the test of time. Key to the movie’s success is the screenplay by Kevin Jarre, who was also the original director. The script effortlessly brings audiences into the town of Tombstone and that era, while giving nearly every character their due.

That’s why the material attracted actors like Val Kilmer, Michael Biehn, Sam Elliott and countless others. Tombstone also feels like a throwback to classic movie Westerns, while also feeling oddly modern. The film does a nice job weaving in historical fact while staging some epic gunfights, like Doc Holliday’s final showdown with Johnny Ringo.

There is a strange alchemy to Tombstone where everything about it just works. Even issues like characters disappearing or the undercooked romance between Wyatt and his future bride Josephine (Dana Delany), don’t really impact the end product. Still, great as it is, there is a sense that it falls short of masterpiece status.

Speaking with THR in 2026, Russell himself agrees with this reading. In fact, the star and producer stated he will never “make peace” with how Tombstone isn’t as good as the script. He once described Jarre’s screenplay as the “Western Godfather,” and believes it held the potential to become one of the greatest movies ever made.

Russell remains proud of the film and the love people have for it, but he can’t separate himself from the experience of making it. When it was clear Jarre was the wrong choice for director, Russell had to fire him and take charge of the production.

Tombstone was already operating under a tight budget, and after filming for a month with footage deemed “unusable,” it needed rebooting. Russell and his collaborators then had to rip pages out of the screenplay, with cuts being made to key sequences and characters. What was intended as the Western Godfather then became something more conventional.

Russell made sure to cut many of Earp’s best scenes too, and make Wyatt more of an “aura” character. This was done to signal to his fellow actors that he had their best interests at heart and was serving the movie, and not himself, first.

Why Tombstone Is A Perfect Contender For A Reboot

Despite the compromises Russell was forced to make, the results speak for themselves. Tombstone was a solid hit back in 1993, but love has grown for it in the decades since. It might lack the substance of Jarre’s original story, but given what a stressful mess the production was, it’s a miracle it came out so well.

Apparently, Russell still has the original footage and could conceivably put together a new, longer version if he so wished. The star doesn’t seem interested in that currently, and given his busy schedule with shows like The Madison, that won’t happen in the near future. The next best thing, really, would be a Tombstone reboot.

Willem Dafoe was originally cast as Doc Holliday in Tombstone, but was replaced by Val Kilmer at Disney’s request during pre-production, as they wanted a bigger name.

Pretty much every cast member, from Kilmer to Michael Biehn, Stephen Lang and Michael Rooker, has praised Tombstone’s original script, and it would be great to see it resurrected. This could be in the form of a movie remake or a miniseries that gives Jarre’s work some space to breathe.

It would be fun to imagine which modern-day stars could step into the boots of Wyatt and Doc (Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling, perhaps?), and update a classic story for a new generation. Of course, there’s also the issue of Tombstone being so beloved that it would be hard for fans to accept a new version.

For all its issues, the Western as it exists is so loaded with fantastic performances and sequences that it would be nearly impossible to recapture. In particular, Kilmer’s work as Doc is so captivating (and heartbreaking) that it’s tough to imagine another actor doing a better job.

Even so, Jarre’s Tombstone screenplay is held in such high regard that it would be exciting to see it adapted properly. Maybe Russell himself could cameo (possible as Henry Hooker, the role played by Charlton Heston in the original) and give a reboot his official blessing.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter