How many people did Wyatt Earp kill on his tombstone

Kurt Russell's Wyatt Earp is portrayed as a dangerous and deadly lawman in the 1993 western classic Tombstoneand racks up a surprisingly high body count as he seeks a reckoning on his brothers' behalf. The memorable performances of Tombstone are a big part of why the Western has become so widely celebrated in the three decades since its release, and none are more powerful than Russell's furious, vengeful Wyatt Earp. In his pursuit of Curly Bill Brocius and the rest of the outlaw Cowboy gang, Earp dispenses indiscriminate justice with his engraved Peacemaker gun.

Earp actually refuses to return to the law during the first half of Tombstonecontent to settle down with his brothers and their fiancées and become a successful businessman in the prosperous western city. However, after his brother Morgan is killed and his brother Virgil is paralyzed, Wyatt loses all sense of peace. He recovers his badge and gun, and from then on the Cowboys are doomed; Earp's quest for revenge takes him through the hills of Arizona, leaving a trail of bodies in his wake.

Wyatt Earp kills 14 people during tombstone

Figure is based on photos directly from Earp

Although the number of deaths that can be attributed to Wyatt Earp is debatable due to the fact that some of his victims were shot by more than one person, Earp is directly responsible for at least 14 deaths based on the way the film is cut. Earp's first death does not occur until the 1:13:00 mark of the film, when he kills an unidentified Cowboy during the shootout at the OK Corral. The frantic camerawork of the shootout makes it difficult to discern exactly who is responsible for the deaths of each of the unidentified Cowboys.

Based on how it was cut, Wyatt Earp plays a role in at least three other deaths besides Frank Stilwell during that scene. He then attacks a Cowboy on the train platform as Virgil leaves Tombstone, which formally begins the Earp Vendetta Ride, which is a key part of the true story of Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp. Earp kills Curly Bill Brocius and three other Cowboys in the river in his defiant stance against the outlaw gang that has his group imprisoned, and at least six more on his quest to wipe out the remaining Cowboys.

Some estimates put his death count as high as 23 if you take into account the deaths Earp "shares" with other members of his group, or cases like Billy Clanton, who was shot by Earp and Doc Holliday. Scenes in which many bullets fly from both sides make it difficult to attribute deaths, which is true as it happened in reality (most witness accounts discuss groups of men approaching the victims). However, when it comes to presumed deaths that specifically result from Wyatt Earp's shooting, the number is 14.

How the Death Count on Wyatt Earp's Tombstone Compares to Real Life

The real Wyatt Earp was much less lethal than his on-screen counterpart. In the real Old West, Earp was indeed a feared lawman and gunslinger, but due to the relatively low level of lethality of weapons in that period and his propensity to use less than lethal tactics to subdue criminals, he only killed one person. before the events of Tombstone. Between this, the Earp Vendetta Ride and his long career as a lawman, It is reported that Earp only killed five people in his lifealthough the lack of evidence and first-hand accounts makes it impossible to know for sure.