A Review of Alex Cox's Latest Film: Tombstone Rashomon

Poster © TriCoast Entertainment.

Alex Cox, the iconoclastic director of the cult classic Repo Man (1984) and the critically acclaimed biopic Sid and Nancy (1986) is back with a new film, Tombstone Rashomon. As the title suggests, it retells the events that took place during the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in a similar vein to Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 masterpiece.

But here’s where things get strange. The various testimonies by the principal witnesses to the legendary shootout are given to an unseen, time-traveling camera crew from the future. While that might make the film sound like “Doctor Who meets John Wayne,” the backstory of the reporters from the future is handled in expository text at the beginning of the movie. Other than that, the film has no sci-fi elements.

As the movie plays out, we hear a variety of perspectives from the participants of witnesses who were there on October 26, 1881, when all hell broke loose. Among those interviewed are: Doc Holliday, Sheriff Behan, Ike Clanton, and even Wyatt Earp himself (who declines to be interviewed but instead reads a prepared statement).

Photo © TriCoast Entertainment. 

While not a comedy, the movie has brilliant moments of absurdist humor. I won’t spoil it, but there’s a moment in Doc Holliday’s version of events that made me laugh out loud. There’s also an amusing scene in which the off-camera interviewer gives an emotional Wyatt Earp stage direction to increase the dramatic effect for the documentary. It’s here where the movie really shines, and I wish the satirical tone of the movie would have been enhanced. (You’d think there’d be more comedy in a film whose premise is that documentarians travel in time to record the historic Gunfight at the O.K. Corral only to miss it by a day.)

That said, not all the film's humor quite worked for me. When the documentary crew interview Doc Holliday’s love interest Kate, she repeatedly uses female pronouns to describe male characters. Of course, in this day and age of political correctness, a situation like that could become a potential minefield, but I just didn’t find it funny. 

While I enjoyed the movie overall, it did begin to lose me a bit when the comedic elements were played down, and some of the events leading up to the infamous gunfight were repeated (even with certain changes due to the varying perspectives of the particular storyteller). That, of course, is where the “Rashomon” part of Tombstone Rashomon comes into play, but I think it would have helped the film’s cause immensely to make the differences even broader and much more theatrical.

Photo © TriCoast Entertainment.

The performances are solid, but the standout of the cast is Jesse Lee Pacheco as the oily Sheriff Behan. Pacheco’s portrayal is entertainingly slimy, and his embodiment of the ambitious sheriff gives the audience the film’s most memorable character. It’s an even more incredible accomplishment when you consider that Doc Holliday is usually the character that gives actors the most material to work with. (Think Val Kilmer in 1993’s Tombstone.) Sheriff Behan is usually not the first character that comes to mind with regard to cinematic retellings of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, but I think he’s finally earned his place in the spotlight.

The shootout itself has a realistic touch, and I’d wager looks a lot closer to the way things really happened than the carefully crafted choreography of the Hollywood classics of yesteryear. What it lacks in glamour, it makes up for in realism. The only drawback is the obvious CG muzzle flash that takes away from the scene’s authenticity.

Mostly filmed at Old Tucson Studios, gives it a feel of a modern-day Republic Western. Like those legendary motion pictures of yore, this one is a low-budget affair but with accurate settings and costumes. They say that Westerns are cyclical and tend to come and go as popular forms of entertainment, but I have a hard time seeing them make a comeback. Every once in a while, a good one comes along (2018’s The Sisters Brothers is a last one from Hollywood that I can recall), but it seems that the genre doesn’t speak to modern society the way it did during Hollywood’s golden age. I think any filmmaker who makes a Western these days ought to be commended. It’s certainly hard to argue that he or she is in it for the money.

Tombstone Rashomon is a breezy 80 minutes and is well worth a look. The film is now playing on Amazon Prime and can be purchased on DVD online or in your favorite brick-and-mortar establishment. With Tombstone Rashomon, TriCoast Entertainment has combined an American legend with a Japanese cinematic classic. Does it do for Rashomon what The Magnificent Seven (1960) did for Seven Samurai (1954)? Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think.