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Interesting stuff about Tombstone and the Earps, thanks for sharing.

The "brandy cup twirling" by Val Kilmer was a classic scene and one of my favorite scenes in the movie, interesting to know it was un-scripted. As much as I love Sam Elliot and Kurt Russell, in my opinion Val Kilmer stole the show in that movie, his character portrayal was excellent.

Virgil Earp also had some history here in Prescott, Arizona that might be interesting to readers.

Virgil settled in Prescott in 1876 where he started out delivering mail and running a sawmill. In 1887 Virgil Earp was quickly deputized by Yavapai County Sheriff Ed Bowers to help shoot down two hard case criminals who had been shooting up the town. In 1878, Virgil served in Prescott as a night watchman for a few months and was then elected a constable. On November 27, 1879, he was appointed a U.S. deputy marshal in Arizona Territory, then met up with his bothers in Tombstone the very next month because they felt there were some good opportunities there.

It was suggested that Virgil and the Earps sought law enforcement positions as a means to protect their gambling interests, since wherever the Earps wound up, they either owned full or partial interests in saloons and the gambling tables in the establishments.

Virgil Earp and his wife later relocated back to Prescott in 1895 where he did some mining and ran a 160 acre horse and cattle ranch in Kirkland until 1902. Then they sold everything and moved on to Goldfield, Nevada, where Virgil died of pneumonia at the age of 63 on October 19, 1905

Wyatt Earp and John Henry (Doc) Holliday also spent briefs periods in Prescott, mostly hanging around the saloons on Whiskey Row and gambling.

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It has been mentioned that I should bring some "truth" to the Hollywood versions of the history of Tombstone. It'll probably piss Hollywood off, but I don't care. They haven't done me any favors lately.

There were plenty of "oops's" in the movie "Tombstone", so that is about the best one to take shots at. They did a great job on that one, but sure twisted up the history...

#1 The Earps didn't show up at the same time in Tucson. Wyatt, Virgil and James were in Tombstone, and Morgan was on the way. Their other brother Warren showed up later .

#2 The Earps arrived in Tombstone in 1879, and are shown at the Bird Cage Theater. The Bird Cage wasn't built until 1881 (opened in December 1881".

#3 "Curly Bill" Brocius was not the "leader" of the Cowboys, Newman Haynes "Old Man" Clanton was. Brocius was like the "ramrod". And the "Cowboys" didn't wear red sashes. They would sometimes wear like-colored kerchiefs, but not waist bands... one of the directors took the red sash idea from "Wild Bill" Hickock, which he DID wear.

#4 Josie, Wyatt's wife-to-be was already in Tombstone when the Earp boys arrived, and was "shacked-up" with John Behan.

#5 Ike Clanton didn't fire any shots from Fly's Photography. He ran right past Fly's, and out to Allen Street.

#6 The "walkdown" to the cemetary was a bit short. The Tombstone Cemetary (not Boot Hill) is about a quarter mile West of town on Allen Street.

#7 Michael Biehn, who played Johnny Ringo, did his own pistol twirling in the Oriental scene.
He practiced about 8 hours per day, for about two months in order to be able to do it. Everyone thinks Joey Dillon (a good friend of mine, and 3 time twirling champ) did the scene.
The "brandy cup twirling" by Val Kilmer was an "off-the-cuff" response to Biehn's pistol twirling... nobody had any idea he was going to do that. Talk about a show-stopping non-scripted shot!

#8 At the OK Corral, everybody is sweating... it was December 26th, and had snowed the day before! Also, they are shown to be about thirty feet apart, when actually, they were about 8'-10' apart when the shooting started.

#9 The buildings are shown to be newly constructed wooden buildings. Most of the "solid" buildings were adobe, when everything else was a tent! It was a booming mining town, not quite "cosmopolitan" as "Doc" would say!

#10 The "lady" that was portrayed as Wyatt's wife Mattie, was just his girlfriend. She actually preferred women, and "hooked up" with "Big Nose" Kate ("Doc"s main squeeze), and lived eight years after Wyatt left Tombstone. She later died of a drug overdose... Laudinum.

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Nope... this is the first movie ever shot here. Everytime somebody comes to town (Tombstone) wanting to shoot a movie, the town council turns them down.

You can go back as far as "My Darling Clementine", with Walter Brennen (another of my all-time favorites), and Henry Fonda. It was about the Gunfight at the OK Corral, and was shot on a Hollywood back lot. The movie "Tombstone (Russell & Kilmer) was shot in Old Tucson Studios, and at Mescal (where I've done a lot of work). Mescal is an old Western town between Tucson and Tombstone. "The Quick and the Dead" with Sharon Stone & Gene Hackman was shot at Mescal, as was "Miracle at Sage Creek" with David Carradine.

For some reason, they're with me on this one. Go figure! Maybe it's because I live here, I don't know.

We're still looking for an Executive Producer (although I am "producing" it). The Executive Producer is the one that puts up a little $$ to finance the production needs. The people we are talking to is West-End Studios, out of Tucson. They are dying to do it, but they need about $5,000 to do it, and we just don't have the money right now. We are planning to shoot the sequel using proceeds from the sale of "Gold's Revenge". Don't worry... somebody will come forward, and there will be a couple of really good Westerns for America to enjoy. Not to mention the European market we have waiting.

A guy here in town has some equipment, and I'm thinking seriously about letting him shoot it. We don't need some "big-name" outfit to do it... we do our own editing, etc., so by using the guy here in town, we can do it for a lot less money.

We'll "git-er-done", not to worry!

If you have any questions about the real history of Tombstone, just ask. A lot of what the movies (Hollywood) have depicted is way off base. Johnny Ringo never shot anybody here, and the only person "Curly Bill" Brocius killed was Marshall Fred White, and it WAS an accident. "Doc" Holliday shot Milt Joyce in the hand in one of his drunken stupors, trying to shoot "Buckskin" Frank Lesley, but never shot anyone else until the OK Corral. "Doc" was a knife man, not a "feared pistolero", although town knowledge has it that he did kill "Old Man" Clanton, but there were no witnesses. And the OK Corral only happened because the Earps were thugs, and wanted ALL the Clantons out of their way.

"Film at eleven", as they say.

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Interesting bit of historical trivia about there never being a movie shot in Tombstone. I always assumed a few of the old westerns would have been shot there. I know a lot were filmed in Old Tucson.

Keep us posted with the progress of your movie, be interesting to see some clips or still shots.