If you've seen 1993's Tombstone, you know it features one of the greatest visual effects ever seen in a western. No, it's not about the explosive gunfights in the film, nor the shots of teams of horses riding over precarious terrain. Instead, it's the wonderfully weird, hirsute and downright manly mustache that almost every male actor in the movie sports. Tombstone is a movie about capital-D Dudes, and the actors' mustache game is so strong it has the power to change lives. Take me, for example; I was primarily a beard man for many years, but after revisiting Tombstone during the 2023 holiday season, I made the decision to become a mustache man and have yet to look back.

It just so happens that the power and influence of the mustache in Tombstone was 100% intentional. There was no incident or idle hair and make-up style happening on that set as the film's truly stacked cast list - including Ersatz star (and director) Kurt RussellVal Kilmer, Sam Elliott, Bill Paxton and Charlton Heston - worked on the facial hair to look not only accurate, but as powerful as possible. According to a 2010 interview with Michael Biehnwho portrays educated psychopathic gunslinger Johnny Ringo in the film, the actors had to follow a strict mustache maintenance rule to keep their 'greenhouses'. Not only did this rule encourage actors to grow their own moustaches, but it also allowed their real facial hair to double as a status symbol, leaving at least one actor who was forced to use a fake 'stack' to feel left out. .

As Biehn explained to Movieweb in 2010, the mandate to maintain the mustache came from Tombstone's original director (and still credited writer), Kevin Jarre. According to Biehn, Jarre did not so much insist that all men grow mustaches, but rather that if they chose to, they must follow his specific rule:

"Everyone just grew a mustache." When it comes down to it, this goes back to Kevin Jarre, the original director of the film. He was very particular about how he liked his mustache. He wanted them to bend at the end. "Which means if you grow a mustache, and it grows long enough, you have to use wax on the end of it."

Biehn was quick to point out that the atmosphere on set "wasn't like a mustache styling contest," but seemed to imply that Jarret's rule only served to encourage the actors to grow their mustaches as long as they could. try and stick to the director's preferences. While this may not have fostered any real competition between the actors, it did leave one actor feeling inadequate for having to fake a 'stache', as Biehn explains:

"They were all quite proud to grow their moustaches. There was a guy, John Tenney. He didn't get to grow his mustache because he had work to do first. They had to put a fake mustache on him. I think he always felt like the underdog of the group because it wasn't his real mustache.

Tenney's character of Sheriff Johnny Behan ends up being one of the film's villains, so at least he was able to sublimate this "little dog" feeling in his character, those emotions give the sheriff an added menace and resentment towards Wyatt Earp (Russell). and his proud brothers.

Of course, most discussions of Tombstone have to cite the film's troubled production, as Biehn alluded to in his comments. It turns out that the mustache mandate was far from the only rule Jarre had on set while he was still directing the film, leading to tension between himself, the lead actors, crew and producers, leading to his eventual firing. Bien attempted to explain the problems arising from Jarre being too rigid in his creative choices:

"It was sad for me. I liked Kevin a lot. He was the one who wrote the script. He really wanted that script to be the way he wanted it to be. He wanted to give it the way he wanted to give it. He wanted the saddle to they look the way he wanted them to look He wanted the mustache to be a certain way He wanted everything exactly the way He wanted it.

The controversy doesn't end there, of course, as it has long been implied that Jarre's deputy, George P. Cosmatos was hired to essentially cover for star Russell to take the directorial reins, despite Cosmatos preparing a director's cut of the film (complete with commentary) in 2002. Whatever the ownership of Tombstone, there's no denying that Jarre's influence remains in it—the film fits right in with the screenwriter's penchant for stories about men who have to confront and/or demonstrate their machismo when be caused by extreme circumstances.

In fact, it is thanks to Jarret's work that the film remains however popular and indelible. His signature themes of men struggling with their egos, their responsibilities, and their pride are rife throughout Tombstone. When it has to do with the movie oh-so quotable tough guy dialogue and, yes, that magical moustache, Tombstone is just the kind of movie that can - ahem - really grow on you.