Customer Reviews

Tombstone (1993 Film)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

For those of you who don't know, Broughton also composed the music for Silverado. Again, he brings to Tombstone that Coplandesque, frontier feel that is uniquely the American West. From the opening title The Cowboys, to the end title Looking at Heaven, Broughton creates and maintains the feel of Tombstone of the 1880's and the times of the Earps, Holiday and Clantons. One of my favorite pieces is A Family. From the first strains of this track, Broughton brings forth a feeling of family, happiness and a foreshadowing of the sadness that the Earps will meet in Tombstone. Another wonderful track is Fortuitous Encounter. Here is the high spirited feel of the west that reminds one of Aaron Copeland and what makes the West what it was. The tracks are all first rate and well worth the listen to.

This is one of the very best soundtracks based upon one of the best Westerns made. It captures the essence of the movie as well as the emotions therein. I suggest anyone who loved TOMBSTONE the Movie to buy this score. Music makes the movie and I have well over 200 scores in my library.
Daniel L. Diaz

For those of you who like country western movies or music,then you'll probably like this soundtrack too.If you can it'd be a good idea to get the 2 disc edition of it.The second disc has music that's not on the single disc edition.And if you liked the movie then you should like the soundtrack as well.

Bruce Broughton, who originally hit the western trail when he scored the more lighthearted film "Silverado," returns to the genre to bring his talents to the darker, more complex western "Tombstone." Like the score for his previous western, "Tombstone" features a truly stirring theme that echoes some of the westerns of the past. But while his main theme and romantic music are throwbacks to the past, his action pieces are more modern fare, calling to mind music from films such as "Star Wars," yet are memorable in their own right. Broughton's work for "Tombstone" eclipses his "Silverado" score; it's a thrilling music soundtrack that works well both as a companion to the scenes in the film, and is worth listening to on its own.
Grade: A+

A big part of this movie was the music and this cd is just that! I feel like I don't even need to write this review given that anyone who's a fan of the film will most likely love the soundtrack, even though it is somewhat strange to hear the tunes out of context. Plus, when you do, you always expect some of that famous dialog to go alongside it, but it never does. :( It's ok though, I just pop in the Blu-ray whenever I feel the urge.

What's great about this cd is that you can finally hear all the music and scoring without the extra sound effects going on in the film and in some cases, you get to hear the full-length version that didn't make the film. I also liked the extra tracks. Some of these tracks were produced for use in the film, but another version took the cake. This soundtrack, unlike most film soundtracks, includes not only everything in the film, but some that weren't.

The conclusion is simply that if you loved the movie, you'll love this soundtrack!

Some of the best film music in history comes from that genre of films that is so uniquely American--the Western. Developed from the music that Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, and Roy Harris composed during the 1930s and 1940s that owed a lot to the music of the Plains, and old cowboy folk tunes, the genre of Western film music has given us some tremendous additions to the film music catalog: Dmitri Tiomkin's for the 1952 classic HIGH NOON; Elmer Bernstein's mega-memorable one for THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN in 1960; John Williams' for 1972's THE COWBOYS; Jerry Goldsmith's for the underrated HOUR OF THE GUN in 1967; Jerry Fielding's for director Sam Peckinpah's 1969 epic THE WILD BUNCH; Ennio Morricone's for Sergio Leone's elegiac 1969 opus ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST; Leonard Rosenman's Native American-tinged score for 1970's A MAN CALLED HORSE; and Bruce Broughton's for SILVERADO in 1985. And that's only the tip of the iceberg here.

In fact, Broughton topped even his score for SILVERADO some eight years later when he got the opportunity (after Goldsmith himself got too busy on other projects) to do the score for the 1993 sagebrush epic TOMBSTONE, which concerned itself with Wyatt Earp's time in that notorious Arizona mining town of the 1880s, and the gun battle he, his brothers, and old friend Doc Holliday had with the Clantons and McLowerys at the O.K. Corral. Unlike most other Western scores, however, the score for TOMBSTONE doesn't rely on traditional Western musical instruments such as the guitar or harmonica. Instruments as diverse as the Irish tin whistle, the bhodran, and even the Hungarian cimbalom are used instead for ethnic flavoring; the rest is very traditional, high-minded, intense, and often brooding, as were a lot of Western film scores from the late 1960s onwards. This can be gauged in tracks like "The Cowboys", "Street Standoff", and "The O.K. Corral." On other tracks like "A Family", "Arrival In Tombstone", and "Fortuitous Encounter", Broughton wisely steeps himself in the traditional classical Americana sounds that define Western film music. Tracks like "Street Standoff" and "The O.K. Corral" are unusually long for film score cues, but they hold the listener's attention; there's never a dull moment in this score.

All in all, this is a great entry into the pantheon of film music made for a Western, one that will, with more proper exposure for both the score and the film it goes with (although TOMBSTONE was a sizeable success at the box office), come to be recognized as such by film music connoisseurs. It shows that there's still a lot of life left both in the Western film genre, and in traditional film scoring.

I place the movie "Tombstone" way up on my list of favorite westerns. One I watch usually several times a year.

The dialogue is very insightful and, although somewhat idealistic, rings true to the legends about these guys.

The movie soundtrack is very pleasurable to me because it brings back the movie itself, scene by scene. One question

I have is: why does the best music, most distinct, not even play until the credits? Yeah, when they're walking to the

gunfight? That being said, no, it's not "The Magnificent Seven" quality. Elmer Berstein"s music elevated that movie, and made it

more than it would have been without it. Tombstone is the opposite - the movie elevates the music. So give it a try and

don't forget: Ringo wanted revenge for being born. I know some people like that but they don't have this cool soundtrack music

accompanying them.

I think Broughton did a wonderful job on the soundtrack. The Gunfight at Ok Corral, and Finishing it tracks were beautiful and memorable. You get a bonus disk too. I highly recommend this CD

This is wonderful filmmusic for the best Wyatt Earp movie.Nr 4 is one of the most beautiful tracks I ever heard from a soundtrack.Nr 18 is not far behind. Buy it and you will agree that it's a good investment.

I believe the song that Kilmer was playing at the piano was Chopin's Valse Opus 64 no. 2, however I cannot fully confirm this as Broughton and co. has saw fit to leave this off of the soundtrack. What a pity, most of his compilations are usually complete.

If anyone is aware of the Chopin piece, please be nice and email me.