Tombstone (1993). Directed by George P. Cosmatos. Continuity of Biblical Motifs Between the Opening Scene and the Break Into Act III.

All these years later and no Western hits quite like Tombstone.

The screenplay is drenched in style and atmosphere. The dialogue and scenes are tightly trimmed and move at a quicker pace than more classic westerns– yet somehow characters still feel fully realized and unique, with inconic character moments left and right. Val Kilmer delivers the performance of his career and one that would be endlessly quoted in pop culture for decades after–but Kurt Russell, Michael Biehn, Powers Boothe, and others (seriously, look up the cast, everyone was in this movie)– they all deliver great character performances that feel unique and lived in, with tons of emotional intensity. This is not a quiet, meditative "prestige" Western. It's operatic, mythical, melodrama that somehow never gets old.

Honestly, does anyone actually watch Kurt Russell above without getting chills? 😅

The biblical symbolism is heavy handed but melodramatic by design and it carries throughout the film. Cowboys represent the worst of human nature, a plague requiring divine retribution. The film sets up Wyatt to step into that archetype of the pale rider of death–which he is in a larger sense–but Doc Holiday, a man who is literally pale with tuberculosis and looks like a walking corpse, comes to embody this archetype for Ringo, bringing him his personal apocalyptic retribution in the film's climax.