Tombstone

The novel I'm writing this month is a Western. I'm having a lot of fun with it. For my research I've been making a lot of trips to the library to go through books for all the little historical details. I've also been watching a lot of Western movies. *grin*

Tombstone is my favorite Western movie (thus far). And even if I find some better ones in this stack sitting next to my desk I'll still enjoy it.

However, every time I see the movie, I just get so mad at Wyatt Earp. He is busy mooning after the actress while his wife kills herself of an overdose of laudanum because of his neglect.

You're supposed to sympathize with good ol' Wyatt becuase he's the Good Guy and his wife is portrayed as a bitch. But every time I see the movie I can't help but see the wife as desperate, lonely and scared. She's trying to escape her unhappy life and Wyatt doesn't even try to help her; he just yells at her and lets her walk away while he pines after his actress.

The end is a glorified "yay everything is happy now!" chick-flick ending. You could almost miss the voice-over that just casually mentions that his wife dies. As if that was just an "oh, too bad" kinda thing instead something really very tragic. And how convenient, she leaves Tombstone and dies therefore Wyatt can have his happy ending with the actress.

argh. argh argh argh.