The Quick and The Dead is a western released in 1995. It was directed by Sam Raimi. He is best known for the Evil Dead trilogy, the Spiderman trilogy, and Drag Me to Hell. This movie has a star studded cast which includes Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Blossom, Keith David, Gary Sinise, and Lance Henriksen.
The plot of the movie revolves around a gunfight tournament in the town of Redemption. The tournament is financed by John Herod, played by Gene Hackman, who is an outlaw who runs the town with an iron grip. He is the deadliest gunslinger in the old west, and a participant in the tournament. The main character of the story is The Lady, play by Sharon Stone. She has a score to settle with John Herod, so she entered the tournament to get even. Others in the tournament include Cort, play by Russell Crowe. He is a preacher and a former outlaw who has promised never to kill again. He is being forced to join the tournament by John Herod. The Kid is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. He is a brash and cocky shooter. He joined the tournament to get respect from his father, John Herod.
I have give Sharon Stone credit, she is excellent in this movie. Before this film I had only seen her in a few movies: Basic Instinct 1 and 2, Total Recall, and The Specialist. In all of those movies her performances have been passable, but that’s about it. She wasn’t horrible, but beyond her looks she didn’t stand out. So I dismissed her as just another pretty face that came and went. But I guess I was wrong. In this movie she shows acting range: The Lady is strong yet scared. Although she is a badass, she is over her head, and she knows it. It’s not an easy performance, but she pulls it off. It only makes me wonder if Sharon Stone was a victim of type casting.
The rest of the cast is great in their roles. Gene Hackman is always awesome in everything that he does. Leonardo DiCaprio is a good fit for the cocky kid, although he looks like he’s 15 in this movie. Russell Crowe gives better and most likeable performances. The movie is also filled with a lot of great background characters: a Native American that can’t die via gunshot, a trick shooter played by Lance Henriksen, a badass bounty hunter played by Keith David. You’ll defiantly find quite a few likeable characters in this movie.
So if this movie is so awesome, why did it bomb? Well, I think that it has to do with the greatest strength and weakness of this movie: it’s directed by Sam Raimi. Like all of Sam Raimi’s work it’s a greatly entertaining cartoon. Its fun, it’s full of great characters, and it doesn’t follow the laws of physics. Today’s audiences are more receptive to this style, for example Drag Me to Hell was a hit, but this type of movie simply wasn’t cool in the mid 90’s. After all this was right in the middle of the Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger era. I’m pretty sure that if this movie came out today it would be way more successful. The stiff competition from Billy Madison and The Brady Bunch Movie during the opening weekend, and the fact that westerns didn’t do well during the 90’s didn’t help either.
Overall I can’t praise this movie enough. If you like spaghetti westerns then you’ll like this movie. If you like revenge flicks then you’ll like this movie. If you just want to see a fun, and entertaining action flick then you’ll love this movie. My rating for it is 5 out 5. This is a movie that is just begging to have a cult following.
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