Not a Hero
Ever read a book or watch a movie with a "not-hero?" Can't say secondary character in this case, because the person is bigger than that, but isn't the hero, if that makes sense)? I'm going to assume your answer is yes. Last night I watched a snippet of what is truly one of my favorite movies of all time: Tombstone. That's the OK Corral retelling from 1993 (God, is it really that old? Yikes) starring Kurt Russell and Val Kilmer. A Kevin Costner-led Wyatt Earp came out around the same time and got more press, but it sucked in comparison. If you've never seen Tombstone, run, don't walk, to a movie store and rent it. I'll wait. You do not have to like Westerns to love this movie. It's not a romance per se (actually, imdb lists it as a western, action, romance, drama), but rrrraowr does it have hot heroes. And the hottest one of all has tuberculosis and looks like he's about to keel over throughout the entire movie.
How is that, you ask? It's one part script and five parts Val Kilmer's brilliant (and criminally underrated) performance as Doc Holliday. Who doesn't love a guy who taunts the baddie with lines as insipid as, "I'm your huckleberry." He even gets in a verbal pissing match in Latin with the villain, Johnny Ringo. Hawt! And when Johnny wants to gunfight, Doc fingers his pistol (yeah, I'm aware that sounds vaguely dirty, Maven Lacey) and drawls, "Say when." When the other baddies drag Johnny off, Doc goes back to the barber as if the entire episode were as mundane as well, getting a shave. Super hawt!
The only drawback is that Doc doesn't get his own book/movie, which is a travesty. I hate when that happens. Glorious features a secondary character (the heroine's sister) who gets enough attention by readers to warrant her own book. But I haven't written her book and don't have immediate plans to do so. Should Glorious be published, I'm really not sure Ivy will get her own book, but I'll have to think about that. I don't want readers feeling the same way about her that I feel about Doc.
So anyone else lurve Tombstone with the fire of a thousand suns like me (makes me want to write a Western romance, I swear)? How about not-heroes you love and maybe even wrote fan fiction for (hmmm, now that's an idea)? Anyone run out and buy our pal Elizabeth Hoyt's new historical today? I was nowhere near a bookstore, but I've a Borders gift card burning a hole in my pocket...
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8 comments:
Love that movie...IIRC the line is, "I'm your huckleberry."
I love that movie so much, I own it. Ebenstone's right - I'm your huckleberry. But Doc also says, "Who's your daisy", so you mixed the two. =o) I love the end of Ringo. Too cool. Another hot Western is Silverado. Kevin Kline makes a scruffy beard look good. I think the hero of that movie is supposed to be Scott Glenn, but Kevin steals the show.
Wow, that's like the most horrific error ever, LOL. Because I've seen that movie about a thousand times! Fixed. Thanks ebenstone and B.E.
Yeah, the end of Ringo is pretty sweet. Talk about a ginormous cast of great actors.
Still shaking my head over huckleberry. Gah!
I've never seen Tombstone, Darcy, but you've made me want to!
I'm having a hard time coming up with a "not the hero" character along the lines of the Doc Holiday character. I suppose the closest I can come off the top of my head is the secondary characters in the original Star Trek series. William Shatner/James Kirk was obviously the star, but I always found Spock and Bones way more appealing.
You know I'd love to see you write Ivy's book, of course, but I do appreciate that one can't write everything. That's a huge problem of mine lately, lol.
As for Elizabeth Hoyt's latest, I picked it up at Borders LAST week (although I'm ashamed to admit I haven't cracked it open yet).
LOL, Jackie. You should be ashamed to admit you bought it last week (when it wouldn't affect her numbers). But if you didn't run home and devour it, then that does compound things because what was the point!?
IHEART Tombstone. The best scene, hands-down, is when Doc makes Ringo look like an absolute ass at the saloon with his cup routine. Sigh. Still not sure how Val manages to make pasty, sweaty and ill look so damn good, he just does. It's a gift, I suppose, unique only to Val. He did it at certain points with The Doors too. So maybe I should add an I HEART Val.
So true! I adore Doc. He is absolutely amazing, proving that a hero with a witty comeback is all important. The Anti hero is my fave. Who doesn't love the mysterious, dark, witty hero ie. Mr. Rochester. OR heck even Percy Blakeney, the scarlett pimpernell. Or how about El Mariachi from Desperado? Yum. At any rate, Tombstone is a fantastic film.
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