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Originally Posted by j. d. worthington  On that one, though... that's something that has been the case with not only drama but fiction since the earliest examples of tales (other than biographies) about any famous figure. They do take on a mythic stature in the mind, and so the truth gets increasingly distorted. Which, as I said, I don't mind if it's presented as a piece of fiction using these historical personages... that's fine. But it does irk me when they make claims to being faithful to the facts and then completely ignore them in favor of something more visually or dramatically suitable to the format.... |
I really don't have a problem with minor alterations to the story for dramatic purposes, I'm totally ok with that. A perfect example of that is in the movie Apollo 13. The scene in the movie where Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon all butt heads and blame each other for the malfunction in reality never happened. That scene was added for dramatic purposes and I'm ok with that. When it comes to Tombstone the changes are very numerous. First of all, the first thing Wyatt Earp did when he came to Tombstone was to secure a job as the town marshall. So the first forty five minutes or so of the movie are a total fabrication. Also, Wyatt Earps brothers were shot months apart, not on the same night like it is portrayed in the movie. Another thing that they added is showing Doc Holliday killing Johnny Ringo. There's no evidence to support that. Johnny Ringo was found dead lying up against a tree just like in the movie but there's no evidence that Doc Holliday ever killed him. The one thing in the movie that is accurate is the gunfight at the ok corrall. It's hard to mess that one up. The sheriff in the movie who ducked into the building right next to where the shooting took place actually witnessed the whole thing and wrote about it in detail so it's actually very well documented. As for all the other changes...well, as much as I agree that it is an exciting movie, there's just too many innacuracies for me. And those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head, I'm sure there's many more.