25 thoughts on “MCM: Val Kilmer

  1. I adore Val Kilmer’s Doc Holiday! It was his best historical role, IMO: swaggery, devil-may-care, impetuous, violent, self-destructive, but reflective and devoted to his one and only friend. It was a nuanced interpretation.
    Must watch Tombstone tonight.

  2. Tombstone is one of my favorite movies of all time. Frock Flicks needs to do a post on it. Personally, I find it one of the best costumed Westerns. Kate and Josie have some fantastic bustle dresses. And Kate is actually shown wearing a chemise under her corset. Plus the differences in clothing style between the rancher type Cowboys and urban type Earps and Behan is interesting.

  3. How did I not know about most of these?! Also, yes, absolutely, Doc Holliday is Val Kilmer’s best role (also, however historically inaccurate, it’s the definitive portrayal of Holliday IMHO, since that whole episode of American Western history is more myth than fact anyway).

    And mmmm, Mad Martigan.

  4. I was a huge Val Kilmer fan back in the day. I remember many of these roles. But I adored him as Doc Holliday, however historically inaccurate. He played the Gilded Age Southern Gentleman to a T! Who can forget his iconic line: “I’m your Huckleberry!”? (amongst others). He stole the movie!

    I liked him in The Ghost and The Darkness. I enjoyed the film because it portrayed one of the darker sides of the British Empire no matter how romanticized it was. This wasn’t Oscar Wilde. It was a nice change to the British Costume dramas that were being released at that time. Michael Douglas was in it which was an added bonus.

    Thank you for giving Val his due. I hope he comes to Hartford, CT to the Mark Twain House with that film!

  5. Willow is so not period, but, IT WAS PIVOTAL TO MY ADOLESCENT SEXUALITY SOMEDAY YOU AND I NEED TO WATCH THIS TOGETHER GRRRRRRR

    1. YYYYAAAAASSSSSSSS!!! Maybe a MST3K style Youtube with Patreon supporters so we can ALL relive our nascent sexuality?

    1. Yesss! Real Genius is a cult classic in my family. We quote it constantly. And now we’re pretty much all engineers…

  6. Always thought of him as an undervalued talent. Likewise not a fan of Westerns but love Tombstone and find it endlessly quotable. Every time I introduce it to a new group of people they’ll spend the next week doing Doc Holiday impressions.

    Great entry!

  7. Who can forget Mad Morrigan? Especially the scene in which he’s high and does a car toy bobble when looking at Sorcha?

    I’m not a fan of Westerns – unless John Wayne and Maureen OHara’s in them. But Tombstone looks good.

    And he was the only good thing about Top Gun.

  8. How can I turn off autocorrect? it did it’s abomination It Mad Martigan.

  9. The Spoils of Babylon and its companion/sequel series the Spoils Before Dying are utterly delightful, completely stupid, and absolutely perfect spoofs with great casts. Y’all should definitely check them out!

  10. I am loving the coincidence of Joanne Whalley being in the header image for Friday’s article right next to this one.

  11. Madmartigan was my first celebrity crush. My mom has a friend whose husband reminded me a ton of Madmartigan in the looks department (minus the long hair); consequently, had a huge crush on him as well as a 10 year old.

  12. I really enjoyed The Ghost and the Darkness, not only for Val, of course, but for the rest of the cast. And I love the music, but who can’t love Jerry Goldsmith?!?

  13. And I have to say, I’m so glad you chose Val for MCM. He’s been through a lot recently with his throat cancer, and its nice to see him recognised for his amazing work, instead of his health troubles.

  14. His best role is Doc Holliday in Tombstone. But I also liked him in Comanche Moon. I was reading everything ever written by Larry Mcmurtry during this time and I watched all the movies based on his books. Val Kilmer was great in Comanche Moon too.

  15. Kilmer was perfect for the role of Doc Holiday.
    And he was maybe the best actor in “Alexander”. I didn’t liked the film when it was in the Theater, but I can remember, that Val Kilmer was absolutely ingenius as the king Philipp.

    1. I heard that he was the director’s ideal for Alexander, had it been made a few decades earlier (though technically, according to Stone in some odd comparison, he more or less played Alexander in ‘The Doors’ IDK).

      It’s pretty much consensus at this point, but I’ll add my 2 cents: Tombstone is my all-time favourite Western- as well as the perfect actor-meets-role of Val as Doc, there was Kurt Russell (with his awesome crazy!eyes moment), my mom’s all-time crush Sam Elliott, the late Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, the gorgeously theatrical Billy Zane, Jason Priestley (kid-me remembers 90210!), the venerable Charlton Heston, the voice-over work of of classic actor Robert Mitchum- & it even had a Wyatt Earp descendant as Billy Claibourne!

      Is it true or just a legend that all the lightning & moustaches were real?

  16. Oh, my! Val Kilmer as a Man Candy Monday choice is an absolute surprise and a delectable treat. THIS to the entire post and all the comments! Slight difference: Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison was critical to my adolescent sexuality! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

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