Corrected entry: After Wyatt obtains his 25% stake from the Oriental, he is seen walking over to his brothers and putting his cigar in his mouth. The camera angle changes and he is now seen putting his arms around his brothers shoulder's and the cigar is now in his left hand. (00:21:40)
Brenda Elzin
2nd Oct 2003
Tombstone (1993)
2nd Oct 2003
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: When Wyatt's younger brother tells Doc that they have a stake in the Oriental, he is seen putting his cigar in his mouth. The camera angle changes and the cigar is now seen back in his hands.
Correction: Morgan actually tells Doc they've acquired a Faro game (he doesn't say where). Also, the cigar is unlit and it is common to put an unlit cigar in your teeth and remove it (which he does while the camera is focused on Doc), whether because he was simply chewing the end or whether he realized it was unlit.
2nd Oct 2003
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: During the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Ike Clanton is seen running into a store, grabbing the sheriff's gun, and then breaking the window and window frame so he could shoot at the Earp's and Doc Holliday. When the camera angle changes you see the window frame intact and when the camera angle changes again the frame is broken again. (01:15:35)
Correction: The panes of glass (of which there are many) are broken throughout the fight and none of them are "restored" at any point in this sequence.
28th Jul 2005
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: During the scene in which the boy pretends to shoot the Earps and Doc Holiday as they walk to the OK Corral, the first camera shot shows that the ground is completely dry. The shot changes and there is a large puddle of water close to Wyatt. (01:00:10)
Correction: There is no "large puddle of water". There is a patch of ground that is slightly more damp than the surrounding area.
15th Nov 2003
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: After the shootout at the OK Corral, there's a shot of a bell tolling. But the sound of the tolls is out of sync with the movement of the bell.
Correction: If you've ever actually watched a large bell tolling, you would see that the sound resonates while the bell is swinging back the other way. So, there is no audio mistake here.
5th Apr 2005
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: Fred White, the town marshal, is portrayed as an old man with white beard. In reality, he was only 31 years old when Curly Bill shot him.
Correction: As noted in several other corrections here, the facts are adjusted in several areas to accommodate the filmmakers' artistic license. In the commentary, we learn that they chose to have an aged Marshall White to accentuate the cowardice of the young Sheriff Behan, who forces White to confront the opium-crazed Curly Bill which leads to his death.
17th May 2008
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: In the scene toward the end of the shootout at the O. K. Corral, Texas Jack and Creek Johnson are shown walking over a large video or sound dish used by the crew as they back into the street. Wyatt then joins Doc to walk away.
Correction: It's a hatbox, on its edge. It's not a piece of movie equipment.
10th Apr 2005
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: During the end credits, we are shown the Earps and Holliday walking down the streets of Tombstone. They are all wearing coats in the long shot, but in the first close-up of Virgil his coat is missing. You can see the tip of his shoulder and he is wearing just a white shirt and a vest.
Correction: It's sunlight, not a white shirt. The shadow from his hat only goes so wide. You're seeing the sunlight.
29th Mar 2008
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Virgil Earp hits Ike Clanton on the head with his pistol (following Ike Clanton accusing Doc Holliday of cheating), Ike gets his guns from the barkeep. But earlier in the film when the brothers first become lawmen, they make the rule that no one can carry guns in town. They are supposed to turn their guns over to the marshal upon entering town, not the barkeep.
Correction: The Ordnance doesn't specifically limit surrendering the guns to the marshals. It was common practice to place guns in the custody of the bartenders, especially since the marshals were not usually in their office/jailhouse the majority of the time.
2nd Oct 2003
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: When Curly Bell shoots the marshal he is seen with his gun in his right hand, Wyatt is then seen hitting him over the head and as he falls to the ground the gun is nowhere to be seen.
Correction: There is a gun at the Marshall's feet (the one Curly Bill held in his left hand) and Bill is still holding a pistol in his right hand when Wyatt cold-cocks him and he falls onto his right side. Then Behan steps in and crouches over the Marshall and obscures the gun from our sight.
21st Mar 2002
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Curly Bill is outside shooting in the air, marshal Fred White goes outside to try to disarm him. Immediately after Curly Bill shoots Fred White, the wire triggering the blood to spurt out of his shirt is quite obvious coming out the lower portion of his left leg (you can see the wire and the pant leg stand out from his body).
Correction: No, there is no such wire. I've watched this in slow-motion and zoomed in on the actor's leg. The pant leg is wide, but there is no wire. The device is strapped to his chest, not his leg, and is operated by a remote control. There is no mistake here.
26th Aug 2003
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: The movie shows Frank McLaury being the last one killed during the gunfight. Actually, Billy Clanton was the last one to die. After Frank was killed, Billy got off his last shot, the one that caught Morgan in the shoulder. (01:16:16)
Correction: Several of the chronological events are compressed or switched around, by the filmmakers, using creative license to tell the story in a dramatic and coherent manner. The movie is "based on true events"; it never represents itself to be the end-all-and-be-all historical account.
28th Aug 2003
Tombstone (1993)
Factual error: During the gunfight in the lot behind the OK Corral, Tom McLaury is firing a six shooter at Doc just before Doc fires his shotgun in the air to scare Tom's horse away. The mistake is that Tom McLaury wasn't armed during the actual gunfight. He was shot by Doc while he was reaching for the rifle he had stored in his saddle. (01:14:58)
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: The events have been intentionally adjusted by the filmmakers to create a coherent and entertaining movie. It is not a documentary. This film is loosely based on true events; it's not a day-to-day account of the events of 1880 through 1882. Artistic license does not constitute a movie mistake.
Changing facts in historical material does constitute factual mistakes, whether anybody wants to call them that or not.
It really depends on the degree to which the film-maker alters the facts, and whether that alteration is glaring or changes the story line. For most, it doesn't. Tom got shot and Doc shot him. There is an implicit duty of the audience to "suspend disbelief" - an acknowledgment that it is impossible to get every small detail correct.
How does changing the facts make it a good movie? I guess it might entertain those who know nothing about the facts. But for those who have studied and read up on things, going way out of the story does little in making a good story. That is why I like "Wyatt Earp" MUCH more than "Tombstone." No, "Wyatt Earp" is not a documentary. It, too, has altered some facts. But, to me, it is much closer to the truth. Even some of the dialog is from the Tombstone Epitaphs reporting of the incident.
24th Jun 2002
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Ringo (Michael Beihn) and Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) are insulting each other at the casino. We see a shot of Wyatt's right hand under the card table reaching for a gun conveniently hidden ready to shoot Ringo in the balls. In the next shot we see Wyatt still has his right hand as well as his left on the table holding cards.
Correction: Wyatt reaches under the table with his right hand to position the mounted gun at Ringo. Then he returns his hand to the table top to appear nonchalant. He reaches under the table a second time before the confrontation is over. There is no mistake here - he moves his hands several times during the scene.
2nd Jun 2003
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: When the Earps arrive in Tombstone, they are greeted by Sheriff Johnny Behan. The actual date of Wyatt's arrival is December 1, 1879. Johnny Behan didn't move to Tombstone until September of 1880 and wasn't elected Sheriff until the latter part of 1880 or early part of 1881.
Correction: Several of the chronological events are compressed or switched around - including Behan's arrival, Josie's arrival, the attacks on the Earps after the famous 'corral' gunfight (which took place over a several-month period). All of this was obviously done to tell the story in a seamless and coherent manner. The movie is "based on true events"; it never represents itself to be the end-all-and-be-all historical account.
27th Aug 2001
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: Doc has 2 pistols. He alternates rapid firing with standard gunslinging. Although he never reloads, he has one shell for the last guy.
Correction: What point during the movie are you referring to?
12th Dec 2002
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: After the O.K. Corral shootout, the Cowboys get revenge on the Earps by shooting Virgil and Morgan Earp on the same night. In reality, though, Virgil was shot in December of 1881, while Morgan was shot in March of 1882, a span of a few months.
Correction: This isn't a "mistake" - movies are often written in such a way as to move the action along. This is called literary license.
24th May 2003
Tombstone (1993)
Corrected entry: At the very beginning of the OK Corral gunfight when the Cowboys are positioning themselves as the Earps and Holliday approach, they show one additional Cowboy to Billy Claiborne's right who is not shown again for the remainder of the gunfight.
Correction: That's because that Cowboy left (like Ike did).
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Correction: With the cigar in his left hand, Wyatt takes a drag as he descends the steps of the Oriental and is approaching his brothers from behind. When he reaches them, the cigar is correctly in his left hand when he touches Morgan on his shoulder.
Brenda Elzin