Travels in a Tin Can

Tombstone and Wyatt Earp - movies that were released very close together
with subsequent negative effect on each other's ratings. For those readers
who missed these films, either put off by the title of the former or by the sleep
inducing length of the latter (it is a Kevin Costner film after all) here is a
summary of this small town's main claim to fame. Tombstone, affectionately
known as ‘The town too tough to die’, was established to support mining when
gold was discovered in the vicinity in 1879. Wyatt Earp, a famous lawman,
came to the town with his family in order to make his fortune and got
embroiled in a feud with a local gang. This climaxed with the gunfight at the
OK corral, involving Wyatt, his brothers and Doc Holiday versus the Clancy
brothers and their gang. There, what took you so long Kevin? I have seen
both movies and Tombstone is my favourite due to my general intolerance for
three-hour films. This silver screen fame therefore meant that the town was a
place we were keen to see.
'The whole town is a museum' - this is not our judgment but a strap line
voiced by the locals themselves. Many settlements that owed their existence
to the gold rush are now mere memories recorded in history books.
Tombstone has been able to survive by gearing itself to the tourist trade, so
‘too savvy to die’ rather than ‘too tough’. Everyone who lives there seems to
be in period dress, all the men have cowboy hats, guns and huge
moustaches, and the women all have big frocks. Many of these people are 'in
character' for re-enactments, but the rest obviously just like dressing up -
though to be honest what they wear is probably also still the most suitable
attire for the climate, as it was in Earp's day.
In the same way that Vegas was like Disney but with drink and sex, this