People don't want true friends in this modern age. They'd whether rather have someone to feed their ego and play one upmenship. Give me a true friend Lord. Someone who's going to slap me up side the head when I do wrong and tell it like it is and vise versa. And go out and have responsible fun and good times.
Curious.. i rather be a friend like doc holiday, than have 100 fake friends... (Which is not the case, i don't have much friends either,) but I'd give my right arm for any of them any moment if i have to...
The distant, tragic look on his face as he utters that last line says far more than the words themselves ever could. Kilmer absolutely nailed his character from start to finish and played a brilliant scene every time he appeared.
Neutral mask. Old acting trick, but frighteningly effective. We as viewers tend to impose emotions onto actors when their face isn't really doing anything at all based on the context by which it's preceded. Cut from a closeup on a pie to that face, you'd say he looked hungry. Cut from a dead loved one, we'd say he looked sad, etc. Katharine Hepburn said "If you give audiences half a chance, they'll do half your acting for you." Not intended as a sleight against Kilmer here, just the opposite. A lot of good acting is knowing when not to act.
People often wonder what the line means. He doesn't want revenge. He's after the reckoning. Revenge is personal. When you want revenge on someone, they hurt you and you want to hurt them back to make you feel better about the situation. The reckoning means they will get hurt back, but not for your own gain. They deserve it regardless of your own feelings and it's your responsibility to issue the punishment because you are the only one who can. Such an underrated line in this movie full of meaningful messages. My personal favorite line in the movie yet it's usually forgotten.
He didn't trust anyone but he also just wasn't well liked. When he found out he was dying and went west he stop giving a shit about being the southern gentleman he once was back in Georgia. He drank way too much, all the time, said whatever was on his mind, stabbed a few guys, shot a few more...not a great way to win any popularity contest. It makes it all the more interesting that the professional gambler/drunk/killer would become the best friend of probably the most well-known lawman in the west. I suppose the reason was that they were actually very similar. Neither had many friends, mainly through there own actions. Both spoke their mind no matter what, both had their codes and wouldn't bend or break for anyone. Remember Wyatt had to flee his home in his teens because he was a horse thief and could've got hung for it. Doc started out upper class, with an honest family and a college education when most men couldn't even read. In another life Wyatt could've easily been the outlaw and Doc the lawman.
True friend right there. Another great moment between Wyatt and Doc . Just before the battle at the OK corall. Wyatt says "Doc this ain't your mess, you don't have to mix up in this". Doc looks at Wyatt with a cold stare "That is a hell of a thing for you to say to me". Wyatt gives a slight smirk, almost like he's toying with Doc . All the while knowing Doc would absolutely have his back no matter what. I'm sure the feeling was mutual for Doc as well.
Kingkye80 we should be true friend's like Doc holliday that's what friendships are about loyalty caring helping fighting with and for and if my true friend(s) are facing certain death and need me there with them I'll be there because in life death is the only thing that were entitled to!
+Paramount The guy feels in this scene, it's too much! 99% of the movie, Doc is living the high life and making wisecracks, but he lets a little vulnerability show in this scene.
"Loners tend to be more intellectual and loyal friends". A friend is viewed strongly as a luxury and privilege by an unsociable loner, rather than a need (in technical terms, an "unsociable" person is one who doesn't feel strong need for acceptance). The rare company they share is picked with great scrutiny. If you are the friend of a loner, you are most likely a person of high quality in some fashion, and such quality must not be squandered... it's worth sacrifice, bloodshed, and death.
At my job I've been asked to hang out outside of work, and i always politefully decline. One day we were hoping joking around and someone said I only mess with my friends, people I like. So I said, "we're friends? We only work for the same department, during the same time. Sometimes on the same days"...i resigned 10 days ago..
It's moments and acting like Kilmer's, "I don't." that elevate this movie above just some cowboy movie for me. It's such a simple, but powerful statement and their friendship (at least, as displayed in this movie) is really something great to see. Two grown adult men, both totally independent and successful, having such a strong and close bond. It's a line that I wager many people identify with immediately.
"There was something very peculiar about Doc. He was gentlemanly, a good dentist, a friendly man, and yet outside of us boys I don't think he had a friend in the Territory." - Virgil Earp
The Oscars require behind the scenes lobbying and campaigning for both getting a nomination AND for "winning". That means it's a political dog and pony show, and NOT a merit based process. Phuk the Oscars, it's a bunch of fat, old, rich white, self-ingratiating Hollywood insider actors, studio execs, producers, et al.
@@victorpradha9946 Yea, fuck the Oscars, he knows and we know, he didn't just put on a performance, he worked fucking magic on that set, they all did. They don't need no shiny trophies to tell them this film is amazing, they know it, and knew it would be during filming, not a single bad casting, even the extra's, so much time, effort and energy went into making this and you feel it as you watch it. An almost 30 year old movie that still holds up. When was the last time you even thought about the hurt locker? Or Philadelphia, or The Piano? All Oscar winners, but, you don't remember them. They got something way better than a shitty Oscar. They got a film that will be watched and loved for generations to come, long after they are gone.
Val Kilmer's best performance in his whole career has to be as Doc Holliday in Tombstone. He absolutely killed this role. Hit it on all cylinders. I sure like to know how those make up artist make him look so pale. Incredibly majestic stuff!!!!
King Yusafa Val Kilmer lost a lot of weight to play Doc Holiday as he is a method actor and lost 30 pounds to show a man that was thin as was dying of tuberculosis but was deadly gunslinger as well as a chronic gambler, heavy drinker and smoker. Val Kilmer definitely stole the show as Doc
Glad someone shared this, this is one of my many favorite parts of the movie. Doc admitting that he himself is not popular but that he's going to stick next to his friend who at that point is VERY unpopular no matter what; he doesn't have the luxury of having many people that would do the same for him. Great movie!
I remember being a young man, 20ish I think, when first saw this movie. I just thought it was admirable and kinda sad. Now, 20 some odd years later, I understand it fully. There’s an invaluable loyalty of a true friend that I wish I could put into words. There are very few in my world and I’m a bit proud to be counted as one for others.
Not to say he did not feel that way but the whole movie it's like he is trying to go out in a blaze of glory. The gunfighting gods did not give him that Honour.
"You ever see anything like that before? " "Hell, I ain't never even heard of anything like that!" This movie has so many awesome quotes, but that one always flies under everyone's radars
And what’s really amazing is it actually happened. With Brocius and the others blazing away at him, Earp walked right up to Curly Bill and killed him with a shotgun blast. Unreal.
"There was something very peculiar about Doc. He was gentlemanly, a good dentist, a friendly man, and yet outside of us boys I don't think he had a friend in the Territory. Tales were told that he had murdered men in different parts of the country; that he had robbed and committed all manner of crimes, and yet when persons were asked how they knew it, they could only admit that it was hearsay and that nothing of the kind could really be traced up to Doc's account." - Virgil Earp 1882
This has two of the better lines in the whole movie. There is Doc, and there are the other two guys. "You ever see anything like that?" "Hell, I ain't never even heard of nothing like that"
@@themancantfindaname7589 No. If you remember the first scene of the film, after Ringo shoots the priest, he says the priest was quoting the bible, and then says "Behold the pale horse, and the man who sat on him was Death. And Hell followed with him." I don't look at Holliday as Death. He was the pale horse that delivered Death.
Obviously Val Kilmer had the rare feat of a perfect acting performance. But the writing deserves so much credit. They worked in beautiful tandem. My God...What a performance. It's like exactly what the writer wanted, but every time. He nailed it every time.
When you think about what kind of person Doc Holliday was in life, he could have easily gone down as one of the Wild West's most notorious outlaws. The fact that he's often remembered in a positive light is largely (to me) because he was friends with Wyatt Earp (although you could easily argue that Earp was Doc's only friend) and because Wyatt Earp outlived so many of his critics, his version of the West is the one that got told.
Kilmer totally stole the show, no small feat considering Kurt Russell and Sam Elliot. Ironically, Kilmer's character bears a startling resemblance to the real life Wyatt Earp and Russell looks like the real life Doc Holliday.
WhatNow858 you got the roles mixed up Val Kilmer was Doc Holiday and he looked looked the real Doc Holliday. Kurt Russell played Wyatt Earp not Doc and Russell looked the real Wyatt Earp though
If I'd never seen the trailer and only read the cast, I'd want to see this movie anyway, because it reads like a list of my very favorite actors. Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn - hell, even Charlton Heston. How could it not be awesome?
Some think the character doc is a broken man from this scene, he’s not. I think he’s just a loner and chooses to be around people who he can call friend. A term that’s used very loosely but doc knew what a real friend was and cherished them deeply.
When you are down and out, the person who comes around and be there for you are your true friends. Whether if you are in a dire financial situation or lying in the hospital bed, if he or she is there for you regardless of their busy life schedule, then you know it's a true friend for life.
The tone in Kilmer's voice, short and soft, speaking as a character who's suffering from TB, coupled with the sombre look on his face, make the scene flat out believable. Deserving a nomination for 1993 awards at least, his performance in his role in this film is just as good as Gene Hackman and Jack Nicholson in their supporting role in Unforgiven and A Few Good Men respectively.
Doc holliday and Wyatt Earp have one of the greatest friendships in history. Doc was with Wyatt to the end...despite dying from tuberculosis, with 80% of his lung tissue destroyed he still journeyed with wyatt earp and saved his life numerous times...and when all this was 30 years in the past wyatt was always made that no one ever asked him about Doc....or at least not enough
And when the two finally said goodbye for the final time was one of the few times anyone recalled seeing Wyatt shed tears. "Isn't it funny, if not for you, I wouldn't be alive, yet you go first". Goodbye old friend, it'll be a long time before we meet again.
Mackenzie Benedict Doc Holliday was dying of Tuberculosis in real life as well Like was in the movie. Doc did lose most of lung tissue due to tuberculosis and actually coughed up blood. He was a heavy smoker and drinker along being chronic gambler like shown in movie which didn’t help his health. Doc died in real life 5 years in 1887 after the events of Ok Corral shootout and deaths of the Cowboys like Curly Bill and Johnny Ringo. Doc was 36 years old when died of complications from tuberculosis in Colorado with his boots off in a bed which is he said “I’ll be dammed” as he thought he would die in a shootout.
He clearly should have been nominated at least, but would have had stiff competition to win it. Gene Hackman (who won for Unforgiven), Jack Nicholson (A Few Good Men), and Al Pacino (Glengarry Glen Ross) were among the nominees for best supporting actor that year.
Val Kilmer did such a fine job that when he says, "I don't [have lots of friends]," he makes me want to say, "I'll be your friend, Doc." I have to fight to remember that, while brilliantly portrayed, this is "just" Val Kilmer's version of Doc Holiday.
+dane rouse The best part is "The Reckoning" isn't as clearly defined as revenge. It carries a bit of a deeper meaning than justice OR revenge. To make things right, to balance the scales, to reach an understanding with what happened. To settle it. Deep stuff.
Really loved the exchange and the delivery of the lines.Val did a marvelous job of really making you feel that Doc, underneath all of his vice and harshness, understood more than most just how rare of a thing it is to find someone for whom you'd risk everything for, because you know they'd do the same for you. Doc would've faced the fires of Hell for Wyatt, and vice-versa.
I read that it was common for people with tuberculosis to be treated as outcasts because people were afraid to get sick and because of that people with consumption found themselves without friends or at times family.
I always found his response very powerful. For me I have learned that I may know a lot of people and have many acquaintances but real true friends are few and far between.
This is at the top of my list of favorite movies and I have literally watched it 100 times. Until you pointed it out though, I had never noticed the square and compass hanging from his neck. Nice catch!
Our oldest son watched this movie at least 2 times a day when he was little and he always walked around the house repeating everything Doc Holiday says. He loved Doc Holiday. He doesn't remember ever watching that movie now that he's older.
