Tombstone Movie Mistakes

We all know that Hollywood takes "creative license" when making a movie about a real historical event, it seems they just cannot help themselves. 

This irks me a little, getting the history correct would not have taken away ANYTHING from most movies, in my opinion it would have enhanced this movie.

So here we are on the 145th anniversary of an event that many movies have been made about. This one is by far the best.

In my not so humble opinion Tombstone is the best Western ever made and one of the top ten movies ever made (it is my favorite movie), still it had some inaccuracies that should be addressed.

Below is a list of just some of these inaccuracies.

Locations:

Boot Hill Graveyard

In the movie the Earps are coming into Tombstone from Tucson (14:52 into the movie), which means they were traveling southwest along what is now South Highway 80, which becomes Fremont Street in Tombstone. When traveling southwest you would come across the Boot Hill graveyard a mile or so before town, not right next to town, also it would be on your left, not on the right.

In addition, the film shows them entering town from the north with the Bird Cage Theater in the background, the Bird Cage Theater is in the south part of Tombstone, not the north. Also, they turn onto Allen Street from a road that didn't exist like shown in the movie.

The reality is that in December of 1879, when the Earps arrived, there were a handful of saloons and buildings, most residents were still living in tents.

The Bird Cage Theatre

Bird cage theater had not been built until after the shootout at the OK corral (it opened 2 months after the shootout), yet it is seen in the background when the Earps arrive in Tombstone (15:41 minutes into the movie). It was actually built 2 years after the Earps arrive in Tombstone. The movie correctly shows the date of the Birdcage to be 1881, yet the Earps arrived in Dec of 1879.

This also means that the scene in which the Earps along with Doc and Kate watched Josie's theater troop was pure fiction.

The Crystal Palace Saloon

Crystal Palace is shown at the beginning of the movie (17:47), yet at that time it was called the Golden Eagle Brewery. 

In the same scene they show the Campbell & Hatch's Billiards as being next to the Oriental, when it was actually down the street.

Wedding Scene

One of the opening scenes was where the Cowboys crashed a wedding of a Mexican Federale who had killed some Cowboys. The real story is that the Cowboys were suspected of killing travelers at the Skeleton Canyon Massacre, which along with some of their other exploits led to the killing of Old Man Clanton by the Mexican Federales. Why they couldn't have just shown the Skeleton Canyon Massacre and the fallout instead of a made-up wedding massacre is a good question to ask.

The Job Offer

Crawley Dake, U.S. Marshal for Arizona Territory, offered Wyatt a job that in real life he had already given to Wyatt's brother Virgil just a few days before.

Horse Whipping

A horse was mistreated during the journey from Tucson to Tombstone, but it was Virgil's horse, not Wyatt's and Virgil gave the driver a real good beat down, at least according to Allie's journal.

Josie arrives in Tombstone

The movie shows Josie arriving in Tombstone the same day or perhaps the same week as the Earps. When, according to her own account, she arrived in Tombstone in October of 1880, 10 months after the Earps arrival.

Politics

Not mentioned in the movie, but of historical importance I think, is the fact that the Clantons, the Cowboys and Johnn Behan were Democrats, while the Earps were Republicans. Old man Clanton was once a slave owner from Tennessee. The movie is set in 1881, just 16 years after the Civil War ended.

Shootout with Texas Jack and Turkey Creek

Near the beginning of the movie Texas Jack Vermillion and Turkey Creek Jack Johnson are shown shooting two men outside the Crystal Palace (which would have been the Golden Eagle Brewery). Now the movie doesn't say the men died, but it did infer it. There are no records of the shootout or the men dying in front of the Crystal Palace/Golden Eagle Brewery.

The John Clum-Wyatt Earp Relationship

The movie shows Clum & Earp having a stand-offish relationship, in the few scenes they are together Wyatt doesn't have much to say, and in the Birdcage Theater scene, Wyatt dismisses Clum. In realty the two were best of friends, in fact Clum bought a gun for Wyatt (the very gun Wyatt used in the OK Corral shootout) and served as a pallbearer at Wyatt's funeral in 1929.

Death of Tombstone Marshal Fred White

Marshal Fred White was shot on an empty lot on 6th street, near the current back door of the bird cage theater (which had yet to be built), not in front of the Oriental Saloon. Also Fred White was only 32, not 72 as the actor Harry Carey Jr, who played White was. 

In addition, Fred White died a couple of days later, not immediately in the street as shown in the movie.

Virgil as Marshal

Virgil was made Tombstone Territorial Marshal, before he came to Tombstone (the day before he left Prescott), he was given the job of "resolving the ongoing problems with the outlaw cowboys". In June of 1881 he was named acting town Marshal of Tombstone by Mayor John Clum, this was months before the Shootout at the OK Corral, not hours like shown in the movie.

The missing 4th Brother

Only the three Earp brothers are shown in movie Tombstone (Morgan, Wyatt and Virgil) but there was a 4th brother, James, who was also there, he did not, however, participate in the famous shootout.

The 1881 Fire

One of the many fires in Tombstone occurred on June 22nd, 1881, just a few months before the shootout at the OK Corral. Nearly the entire town was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. The movie made no mention of the fire, although there was a scene in which a house was on fire (on Fremont Street as the Earps and Doc headed for Fly's Boarding House). Why not include this as part of the story, one scene is all it would take.

Doc learns of the threat

Doc did not find out about the threats just minutes or hours before the shootout, Morgan went to Tucson to retrieve him two days before the shootout occurred.

Wyatt's gun

In the movie Wyatt retrieves his Colt Buntline Special, a supposed gift from the "grateful citizens of Dodge City", but that wasn't the make and model of gun he used, nor did he receive such a gift from Dodge City. (He was actually still in Wichita in April of 1878).

The truth is that Wyatt carried a Smith & Wesson model 3 with an 8" barrel, given to him by Mayor John Clum. 

Ironically, earlier in the movie they did show Wyatt using his S&W model 3 when he apprehended Curly Bill for the shooting of Marshal Fred White

Josie witnessing the Shootout

While it is debated that Josie posed for C.S. Fly (in a see thru gown), she was not at the Fly studio during the shootout, it was Big Nose Kate who was there, staying in one of the boarding rooms (with Doc Holliday) Fly rented out, which is the reason the shootout happened where it did, as the Cowboys were looking for Doc. She is one of the few non-participants to actually witness the shootout.

Ike Clanton fleas the fight

Ike Clanton and Billy Claiborne fled the scene before bullets started flying, Ike did not tackle Johnny Behan in Fly's studio and steal his gun to shoot at the Earps, as shown in the movie, he fled like a scared little bitch.

First on the scene

In the movie they show Johnny Behan and John Clum as first on the scene, but in reality, Bob Hatch (saloon owner and friend of the Earps) and C.S. Fly (owner of the photo studio next door to the shootout) assisted with disarming the injured cowboys now dying of gunshot wounds. 

Morgan's assassination

The shot that killed Morgan came from the back window, not the front and Morgan was not killed in the Oriental, he was killed at the Campbell and Hatch saloon, down the street from the Oriental.

What's more is they show Morgan's assassination on the same night as the attack on Virgil, they actually happened 3 months apart.

Sherman McMaster's Death

Sherman McMaster was not killed by the Cowboys, as shown in the movie, he actually died nearly ten years later in 1892 in Colorado.

Vendetta Ride

In the movie they show at least 25 people (including Johnny Ringo) getting shot and presumably killed by the Earp posse, when in reality only 4 have been confirmed to have died at their hands. In addition, the movie did not show two of the men who participated in the vendetta, Charlie Smith and Dan Tipton, who were left out of the movie completely.

Johnny Ringo's death

Johnny Ringo was not killed by Doc, as Doc was in Colorado at the time, this is not to imply that Wyatt or his team didn't kill Ringo, just that Doc could not have possibly been the one responsible.

It is still debated as to how he died, suicide or murder. His death was just after the vendetta ride supposedly ended.