I don't like westerns, although I really don't know why. I'm not a huge fan of anything set in the distant past (Don't ask me why), so maybe that's it. Growing up, there always seemed to be a western on TV somewhere, and they all looked the same -- black and white movies with people falling off of horses. So, perhaps in my mind, if you've seen one western, you've seen them all. No matter what, westerns would certainly be in the running for my least favorite genre and I'd be hard-pressed to watch one. But, there's an exception to every rule and the exception here is Tombstone.

Tombstone is set in the eponymous town in Arizona. The story is set in the late 19th Century. Famed lawman Wyatt Earp (Kurt Russell) moves to Tombstone along with his brothers Virgil (Sam Elliot) and Morgan (Bill Paxton) and their wives. Having left police work behind, Wyatt and his brothers plan to partake in the fortunes being made in silver in the area. Before this can happen, Wyatt finds himself taking over a card game in a saloon, and soon the brothers are helping to run the place. Wyatt is joined by his old friend Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer), a gunfighter and gambler who suffers from tuberculosis. But, all isn't well in Tombstone. The area is besieged by a group of outlaws who call themselves The Cowboys. The local lawmen have no interest in stopping this gang and the townspeople live under the constant threat of violence. Determined to stick to his plan of leading a new life, Wyatt tries to ignore the gang. But, when he sees innocents being killed, he and his brothers decide that it's time to take justice into their own hands.

I can clearly remember being dragged to see Tombstone while traveling through a very small town which had only one movie theater. While I admired many members of the cast, I had no interest in seeing a western. However, the movie won me over with its combination of solid acting and well-done action sequences.

Watching Tombstone today, the reaction is very similar. However, the initial reaction to this movie by any modern audience should be, "He's in this?" A cast which was impressive 17 years seems simply amazing today. Along with the above-mentioned actors, we have Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, Thomas Haden Church, John Corbett, Billy Bob Thornton, Michael Rooker, Jason Priestley, Terry O'Quinn, and Billy Zane. Are you serious? Talk about your cast of thousands. Even if you hate every second of the movie (which I highly doubt could happen), you'll enjoy seeing all of the familiar faces.

The movie also works by being the best western that it can be. (Does that make it sound like it's trying to be a motel?) A great deal of detail can be seen in the design and construction of the Tombstone set. The costumes and furnishings look great. The action is top-notch and ala The Wild Bunch, Tombstone gets pretty violent. The gunfights and horse chases are well-staged and the immortal gunfight at the O.K. corral is very exciting. Even at two hours, the movie never seems to drag.

The only drawback to Tombstone is a lack of detail in the story. The story is obviously based on real-life and this isn't the first movie based on the tale of Wyatt Earp. The problem is that Tombstone assumes that we are already familiar with Earp's story. While the script focuses on what is happening in Tombstone, there's so much talk of what Earp did before he came to the frontier town, but we never get enough detail. What exactly did he do in Dodge City? Considering that this was long before radio, TV, and the internet, how does everyone know Earp's reputation? Why does Wyatt's relationship with his wife (Dana Wheeler-Nicholson) seem fractured when they arrive in Tombstone? Why don't the traveling entertainers seem to travel? These unanswered questions hurt what is otherwise a good movie and the rare modern-day western which can please just about anyone.

Tombstone...what does "I'm your huckleberry." mean?...on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Hollywood Pictures Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 2.35:1 and the Disc contains an AVC 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 31 Mbps. The image varies throughout the film. Some shots are very sharp and clear, while others show grain. The scene in which Kurt Russell and Dana Delaney talk after riding horses is a great example of this. The shots of Russell are crystal clear, while the shots of Delaney are grainy. The colors look good and the image is never too dark or bright. The landscape shots display a nice amount of depth, but the level of detail is only average. The Disc contains a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 4.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. It's clear that some care went into this track. The stereo effects are very detail and show great separation. The action scenes sound great most notably when horses run by and the sound goes from the front channels to the rear. The gunshots can be heard individually and they, along with the hoofbeats, provide great subwoofer effects.

The Tombstone Blu-ray contains a nice assortment of extras. "The Making of Tombstone" (27 minutes) is a three-part documentary which explores the film's production. The first part looks at the cast of the film and offers many of the main actors an opportunity to discuss the character which they are playing and the experience of portraying a real person. The second chapter examines the locations and the strides taken to recreate the Old West, while the last section takes us inside the infamous gunfight at the O.K. Corral. The "Director's Original Storyboards" give us a shot-by-shot look at the gunfight. Finally, we have the THEATRICAL TRAILER, THEATRICAL TEASER, and a seven TV Spots.