Val Kilmer vs Dennis Quaid

In the early 1990's two films were released, Tombstone and Wyatt Earp, about the legendary lawman Wyatt Earp. Both films share many concepts and scenes, perhaps due to the Kevin Costner connection. Costner was originally associated with Tombstone, but moved to work with the director of Wyatt Earp.

According to truewestmagazine.com of the Costner Exit and ensuring power struggle,

Costner had shut down all avenues of release for Tombstone except for Disney, except for Buena Vista. How? Kurt Russell, the actor in Tombstone who portrayed Wyatt Earp, said "He was able to. He was powerful enough at the time, which I always respected. I thought it was good hardball." Doesn't that sound like the consummate professional that has survived in the movie industry for decades? And anyway why wouldn't Russell be that way about it, as Tombstone would go on to trounce Costner's rendition in Wyatt Earp, at the box office.

One of the similarities between the two movies seems to be the iconic and show stealing nature of the Doc Holiday character, played by Val Kilmer in Tombstone and Dennis Quaid in Wyatt Earp.

The Question is who was better, Kilmer or Quaid?

Both performances were excellent and unique in their own ways. Dennis Quaid's portrayal was gritty and realistic where Val Kilmer's was perhaps more true to the legend of Doc Holiday.

But I think it was Kilmer's performance that was the most memorable. It had something, a fleeting quality of something peeking out briefly from a hidden magical area we rarely see. It stretched from "your a daisy if you do" to its farthest reach in the iconic Holiday vs Ringo gun battle, speaking in his most ethereal language "the stress was too much for him", not to mention the bullet in his brain, to slowly retreat to the hidden realm with "This is Funny".

But, what do you think? Was it Quaid's gritty realistic performance or Kilmer's more ethereal perhaps more artistic rendition that was best?