Michael Biehn in TombstoneImage via Buena Vista Pictures
The 1990s are generally considered to be a rather disappointing period for Westerns. The genre’s heyday had long passed, and even the iconic Clint Eastwood seemed prepared to hang up his hat. His 1992 epic, Unforgiven, is arguably the best Western of the decade. But two other movies are equally deserving of this title. The less successful of the two is The Quick and the Dead, directed by Sam Raimi and featuring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, and Russell Crowe, along with a juvenile Leonardo DiCaprio. The movie underperformed at the box office, grossing $47 million worldwide against a reported budget of $35 million. But it has cultivated a following in the years since. The other overlooked Western of the 1990s is one that recently saw a spike in popularity on the PVOD market.
This film was released one year after Unforgiven, but it wasn’t able to match the box-office performance of Eastwood’s Oscar-winning epic. While Unforgiven grossed around $160 million worldwide against a reported budget of $14 million, the 1993 film ended its theatrical run with around $75 million worldwide against a reported budget of $25 million. The movie is infamous for its tumultuous production, during which the original director, Kevin Jarre, was fired and replaced by George P. Cosmatos. It was also rumored that the film was ghost-directed by its lead actor.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has immaculate hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone up-to-date arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the up-to-date world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are slim, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: piercing, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re sharp enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
The Most Underrated Western of the 1990s Is Riding a Wave of Success
By now, you’ve probably guessed that we’re talking about Tombstone. The movie dramatized one of the Western genre’s most popular legends — the gunfight at the O.K. Corral between Wyatt Earp and his posse and a group of outlaws who called themselves the Cochise County Cowboys. The movie featured Kurt Russellas Earp and Val Kilmeras Doc Holliday. Western icon Sam Elliott played one of the Earp brothers, whileBill Paxtonplayed another. Tombstone now holds a “Certified Fresh” 76% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “If you’re seeking a stylish modern western with a solid story and a well-chosen ensemble cast, Tombstone is your huckleberry.”
According to FlixPatrol, Tombstone was one of the most popular movies on the domestic iTunes and Google charts this week. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
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