4K Blu-ray Review: TOMBSTONE

TOMBSTONE is a Western classic to many fans of the movie. It isn't perfect, but it has lived on since it came on. It had a script that attracted actors, but the writer who was going to make this his directorial debut was a horrible director and he was fired after three weeks into production. George P. Cosmatos was brought in as the new director and certain scenes were cut from the script. TOMBSTONE has great production design and a fantastic cast that shines through the whole movie. Val Kilmer steals every scene as Doc Holiday while Michael Bihen proves again how he could have been a bigger star outside of the movies he appeared in.

VIDEO: The 4K transfer is miles above the horrible DVD and blu-ray transfers. The bit rate averages from 45 MBps to 55 MBps. Unfortunately, The blu-ray is the old blu-ray and isn't made from the new 4K transfer.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
On the blu-ray which is all regions compatible are the following extras:
THE MAKING OF TOMBSTONE- a three part making-of featurette which can be viewed as separate featurettes or as one featurette together
AN ENSEMBLE CAST, MAKING AN AUTHENTIC WESTERN, THE GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL

Director's Original Storyboards: O.K. Corral Sequence
Trailers and TV Spots

Extras not on the blu-ray or 4K are the interactive Tombstone timeline or the front page interactive feature of The Tombstone Epitaph newspaper front page, or the Director's audio commentary. All of those extras are included on the two disc TOMBSTONE Director's Cut Vista Series DVD set which includes a map of Tombstone too. The longer director's cut of TOMBSTONE (which has five minutes of deleted scenes which adds a little extra character development and fills in a few plot holes) is also not included in 4K or on blu-ray. We don't even get the deleted scenes included as an extra in this release either

I do wish there was a retrospective documentary done for this release chronicling the troubled production of TOMBSTONE which lead the screenwriter to be fired from his directorial debut three weeks into production (and his footage mostly being considered unusable) and what was cut from his screenplay when director George P Cosmotas and the legacy of this Western classic.

FINAL ANALYSIS: TOMBSTONE has looked far better with this 4K compared to the previous transfer on DVD and blu-ray. I do wish the disc had some new extras and the blu-ray was remastered from the new 4K transfer.

This review is ©5-15-2025 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com