After reading a few posts about the inaccuracy of many Western movies in regards to the shootouts that didn't happen, I'm curious as to the most accurate portrayal of life in the old West in film or TV.
Obviously the day-to-day would be quite mundane, so some drama is expected, but is there a movie or TV series that really nails a lot of the customs, dress, duties, and trial and tribulations of life in the 'Wild West'?
The movie Tombstone is considered to be one of the more historically accurate movies despite it dealing with legendary characters engaging in the iconic alley shootout (which were rare).
Much the accuracy is shown in things like the characters eating Chinese dishes such as noodles, and the Doc playing the game faro instead of the more cliché Texas Hold'em.
The characters drinking more than the typical dirty glass of whiskey is very accurate. Lots of alcohol was imported, and people preferred to drink fancier mixed drinks and beer.
Doc Holiday has TB, and lives in the dry climate the South West. Doctors would commonly advise people with TB to move out to dry climates, and people who moved to Arizona for the dry weather were called "Lungers"
The portrayal of using Laudanum and them smoking opium would have been fairly accurate, but I don't think the drug use for those individuals can be determined. The use of opium was widespread in the world and especially in areas near California with its recently arrived Chinese immigrants.
Opium was marketed towards women during the time, and so it would be typical for a female character to be the one addicted to it.
There are plenty of innacuracies that you can point to though. The story of the eventual shootout, and the movements of the main characters is wrong. The town of Tombstone would have had more people living in tents, and most of the actual building would have been made out of adobe.
I do feel that Tombstone deserves some props for going against many of the classic Hollywood motifs about the old west, and it really does give the movie a refreshing feel to it.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108358/faq
http://askville.amazon.com/factual-errors-made-movie-Tombstone/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=42217978
Another few suggestions of realistic and largely accurate Westerns that could be recommended are The Culpepper Cattle Company http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068435/ Ride with the Devil http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0134154/ Unforgiven http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105695/trivia?tab=gf&ref_=tt_trv_gf
"Bad Company" from 1972 is pretty good. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068245/