Doc Holliday

This is not a terrible movie, but could have been better. The biggest problem is that the actor playing Doc is not playing Doc, he's playing Val Kilmer playing Doc. Not sure if this was the actors decision or the directors, but it was the wrong decision. The story is ok, a little slow at times but all in all not bad, the score is pretty cool and the drab scenery fits in well with the story line. It's important to remember that this is not a remake of tombstone, but a prequel and the way it ends, leading right up to the start of Tombstone is also pretty cool. Again, not terrible but not great either. 5/10.

Why oh why do low budget director do this to themselves? I understand that sometimes a person doesn't have money and that doesn't stop them from wanting to make something to put their names on and that's fine. But why this? Why take already established characters that have been portrayed better in better movies and make something this bland with them? You've already doomed your film to failure unless you have one heck of a talent which writer and director Brett Bentman doesn't seem to have. Tombstone this is not. Derrick Redford is no Kurt Russell and Tom Zembrod as the leading man certainly can't live up to Val Kilmer. Again, better versions of these characters and stories already exist with better storytellers and actors and the low budget here doesn't help to elevate. The camera work is a little more advanced than you would expect from something with this budget but its probably the only positive aspect to be mentioned. Even if the creators had told an original story I doubt it would have been much given what this is, but at least we wouldn't have had anything else to compare it to. Skip this and watch Tombstone or any other movie featuring these characters instead.

I didn't necessarily see Zembrod's Holiday as a copy of Val Kilmer. For me I saw more Dennis Quaid than Val. In fact when I first saw him and heard him speak Quaid immediately came to mind. Also had I saw a movie still of Zembrod at any point in this picture I would bet somebody's farm, not mine Lol, that it was Quaid. As far is his accent goes it reminds me more of Douglas Fowley from The Life and Times of Wyatt Earp TV show in the late '50s than VK's. Sure, it could have been better because all portrayals are now stacked up against Kilmer's. For the most part I like "almost" all Holiday portrayals over the decades, including this one, even though a number of scripts took liberties on real events and people.

It felt like the person who prorated Doc Holiday was a cosplayer pretending to be Val Kilmer's Doc Holiday. The writing was a mess, everyone's performance is just down right silly, and the action was dull enough to put everyone asleep. Also wasn't Holiday supposed to be a great gun slinger? Because I've lost count on how many times he has missed a shot against the two main villains in the end. This was definitely a low budget film that didn't really the viewers anything new about Doc Holiday. Oh and drink every time that someone mentions that Doc holiday is a dentist. You'll be drunk by the end of the movie.

You're better off watching Tombstone again for the millionth time.

I had not heard about this 2023 Western titled "Doc Holliday" prior to sitting down to watch it here in 2025. I stumbled upon the movie by random luck, and it did seem like an interesting enough Western, given its focus on John Henry Holliday, and thus I opted to give the movie a fair chance.

The storyline in the movie, however, was a bit sluggish, and the narrative suffered from that. Writer and director Brett Bentman seemed to take his sweet time going from A to B, but managing very little in the process. I have to admit that I was starting to zone out about halfway through, as there simply wasn't enough action or interesting storytelling going on.

The only face on the screen that I was familiar with was actor Billy Blair. I will say, though, that the acting performances in the movie were fair.

A good thing about the movie was that it definitely looked and felt like a Western movie. So thumbs up for the movie makers for accomplishing that.

"Doc Holliday" was a watchable enough movie, sure, but I am willing to bet that diehard Western fans will enjoy writer and director Brett Bentman's movie more than I did as a casual viewer. This is by no means a movie that I will return to watch a second time.

My rating of "Doc Holliday" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.