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My weekends, like most of us, tend to run on the busy if not hectic side.
Between the funeral home, logging time in a studio for a radio show and/or voice work, writing this column, church or saving baby seals in Alaska, I’m always busy. OK, I made that last one up.
This past weekend, I was able to carve out some time to just veg out and watch a couple of classic movies that have become part of the fabric of our lives. I did so because last Tuesday we lost Val Kilmer, a vastly underrated actor, who chiseled into our memories some great characters. Kilmer was only 65.
In between my various duties and tasks, I decided to watch two of Kilmer’s best movies, “Tombstone” and the second installment of “Top Gun: Maverick.” I like the sequel to the first Top Gun much more than the original. Admittedly, part of the reason is because Anthony Edwards, also of ER fame, is NOT in this sequel. Sorry, I have always found Edwards to be kind of a whiny actor and was probably the only one in the theater to quietly celebrate his demise in the first Top Gun, but let’s move on.
“Tombstone” is one of the best modern-day westerns ever released. The movie is loosely based on the escapades of Wyatt Earp and his brothers and the events surrounding “The Shootout at the OK Corral.” By way of context, the “shootout” refers to a battle between some hoodlums called the Cowboys, who were one of the earliest examples of organized crime in this country, originating from Tombstone, Arizona.
Kilmer played Doc Holliday in the movie, one of the most memorable cinematic characters ever. In real life, Doc Holliday was a dentist, turned gambler, who became friends with Earp. Historically, the “shootout” only lasted a couple of minutes, but since that would be a pretty short film, lots of side stories were added. Kilmer’s tag line for the movie was “I’m your Huckleberry,” which also is the name of his memoirs released in 2020. Holliday was diagnosed with tuberculosis shortly after he graduated from dental school, and it was that disease that ultimately claimed his life. Spoiler: Doc dies at the end of Tombstone.
“Top Gun: Maverick” was the second to last movie Kilmer made, the last being “B’twixt Now and Sunrise”, a movie I had not heard of before researching for this column.
In Maverick, Kilmer reprises his role as Tom Kazansky or “Iceman” now an admiral in the Navy. Maverick, played by Tom Cruise, is called back into service to train an elite group of pilots for a tricky mission into enemy territory. We later find out that Iceman has been watching Maverick’s back for years, cementing a relationship we never saw coming. It’s that relationship that gives this version of Top Gun a heart and an emotional revelation.
Kilmer did that. Looking poorly and having to communicate through a keyboard, unable to speak, Iceman turned out to be as vulnerable as the rest of us. Even with his status in the admiralty, he longed to be in the air, going fast, flying jets with his friend. Kilmer’s character also died towards the end of Maverick.
Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014. The official COD is listed as pneumonia, a complication from the cancer. As mentioned above, he was only 65.
Thanks, Val Kilmer, for sharing your talents with the world. You will be missed.
RIP, Iceman.
Jonathan Freeburg is an Ottawa transplant for the past two decades-plus and a regular contributor to 1430 WCMY Radio. He can be reached at newsroom@shawmedia.com.