“Get to fightin' or get away!” Fans of the 1993 classicWesternflickTombstoneclearly recallKurt Russell’sWyatt Earp screaming at Ike Clanton (Stephen Lang) as the famous O.K. Corral shootout scene gets underway. Earp, along with his brothers (played by Sam Elliot and Bill Paxton), and Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) get the best of Ike and his cowboy co-conspirators. But historian Michael Grauer only gives the iconic fight scene a 6-out-of-10 score for authenticity. Grauer said in a video posted byInsider:
“In the grand scheme of things, in terms of history in the American West, [the battle at the O.K. Corral] is a blip.So, we don’t really know what happened. Anybody who was an eyewitness had an agenda either against the Earps or with the Earps, or just wanted their town back.
“We know that some people were killed.The Earps and their people, along with Doc Holliday, were implicated.The scene is probably a six [out of 10].I thinkthey stage it fairly reasonably, who the combatants were.”
Michael Grauer is a historian of art and the American West, who focuses on cowboy history and Western American culture. Grauer is the McCasland Chair of Cowboy Culture, and he is also the curator of cowboy collections and Western art located at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum off NE 63rd Street in Oklahoma City.
Historian Reveals O.K. Corral ‘Ultimately Becomes a Trope’
Tombstoneis clearly one of the best Westernsever made, despite the fact that it’s only been around for just over 30 years. Unfortunately, the exact details that happened at the real-life O.K. Corral gunfight back in Tombstone, Arizona on July 11, 2025, will never be fully known. And Cowboy historian Michael Grauer reduces the classic Old West tale to that of a trope today. Grauer said during the same sit-down:
“That whole confrontation at a place called the O.K. Corral is repeated over and over again and ultimately becomes a trope.An outlaw gang called The Cowboys tries to take over Tombstone,and another criminal element, also known as the Earps,try to push back for who’s going to control this town.Tombstone was one of those ‘Hells on Wheels’ that popped up because of the mining industry.”
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While the history behind the real shootout will always be shrouded by the intricacies of the past, there are plenty offun facts aboutTombstonethat fans of the 1993 film can dig into. For Grauer, after having reviewed and evaluated 13 iconic movie scenes from classic Westerns, the historian provides his thoughts on which are the most historically accurate in the full video (below).Tombstoneis available to stream absolutely free onPluto TV,at the time of this writing
The Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer must-see is also featured onHulu,Disney+ and Paramount+.
