Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer’s “Tombstone” is a beloved Western classic, but it only has a 74% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite this, the film has a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes’ audience reviews and earned $56 million domestically at the box office and even more on home video rentals. This wide gap between critics’ reviews and viewers’ opinions is unusual.
The film features a talented cast, including Val Kilmer, beautiful scenery and cinematography, an emotionally rich and moving plot, and plenty of action. It’s rare for critics to get it so wrong, but it happened with “Tombstone”.
Despite being a hit with audiences, reviews of “Tombstone” were divided, with some critics panning the film. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said it played like a “three-hour rough cut that’s been trimmed down to a slightly shorter rough cut”, while Richard Harrington of the Washington Post said it was “Highly stylized fashion-wise but awkwardly unfocused in its plotlines”. Some critics took issue with the film’s use of actresses and the director’s style, which was reminiscent of Sergio Leone’s iconic films but failed to live up to them. These negative reviews brought the overall score down to 74%.
Despite the criticism, “Tombstone” has stood the test of time and is widely considered one of the best Westerns ever made. It is a rare case where critics got it so wrong, but audiences got it right.
