The Quick and the Dead

"The Quick and the Dead" is a "splatter Western," directed by horror vet Sam Raimi (whose latest, as of this writing, is "Spider-Man," but who cut his teeth on the "Evil Dead" trilogy). It's set in the oh-so-ironically named lawless town of Redemption, a haven of grotesques that gives us an idea what the wild West would've looked like if had been painted, not by Frederic Remington, but by Heironymus Bosch.

In a surfeit of Biblical nomenclature, the town's mayor/owner/capo is named Herod (Gene Hackman at his oiliest, complete with bad hair). Into town there rides a mysterious stranger, not Clint Eastwood this time but Sharon Stone. I'm not the world's biggest Stone fan, but this movie and "Total Recall" indicate that she has her uses in kick-butt action roles that make no demands on her limited thespianic skills. As gunslinger Ellen, she's doubly armed--with a six-shooter, and with an axe to grind; even her "inner child" packs a gun. She enters Herod's to-the-death fast-draw tournament, a no-win, no-exit, potentially no-survivors affair, with an agenda on her mind other than just winning the prize money.

This is an overripe, over-wrought movie, but it mostly works. Raimi all but erases the slim wall between the horror and Western genres: Redemption is another Transylvanian village of simple peasants lorded over by by an evil baron, and the atmosphere--palpably oppressive and claustrophobic--could be cut with a knife. Leonardo di Caprio and veteran character actors Lance Henriksen and Roberts Blossom effectively round out the cast, and the action scenes--exaggerated, mythic, often darkly humorous--deliver. If you're more of a horror fan than a Western fan, this may be the Western for you.

Not a bad movie at all, but it does take a bit to really settle into. For a while, Sharon Stone is really trying to sell the macho gunslinger with baggage, but she's doing it with her Hollywood looks and pearly whites; she's missing grit. And that does improve later on, but like I said, patience is needed.

That said, Sam Raimi is clearly having fun in a sandbox full of Western cliches. The draws, the face zooms, the shots. It looks fantastic. If that's not enough, then it's worth a look for Gene Hackman's performance. No trace of Unforgiven here; dude's a genuine scumbag.

Peculiar Western with spectacular gun battle between Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman . The title "The Quick and the Dead" comes from the King James translation of the Bible, I Peter 4:5, which admonishes the believer from behaving like pagans, "who shall give account to Christ that is ready to judge the quick and the dead" . This violent Western is set on a township called Redemption , the star is a mysterious female revenger , ¨a woman without name¨ (Sharon Stone as Clint Eastwood-alike interloper) who has a secret agenda of her own . It deals about a gunfighter arriving a little town , it has the usual shops and buildings, as General merchandise, Livery stable, boarding house , Hardware , Barber shop, Saloon , Hotel and Church . The western town owned by a ruthless gunslinger (Gene Hackman) hosting an elimination tournament to find the fastest gun in the West , as Lady avenger comes to the aid of embattled citizens as well as searching vendetta . The excitement starts at the duel when the hands point straight up .

This offbeat Western contains thrills , parody , black comedy , hilarious set-pieces , and breathtaking duels . This special Western picture concerns upon a deadly gun-battle pits two individualist characters and it results to be an enjoyable as well as hyperbolic homage to the style and vengeance fantasy of Sergio Leone Spaghettis ; as it takes parts from ¨Dollars trilogy¨ : ¨For a fistful of dollars¨, ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨ and ¨The good , the bad and the ugly¨, along with ¨Once upon a time in the West¨. But it has nothing to do with the Spaghetti maestro , the great Sergio Leone . There is also an impressive roaring climax with an amazing final showdown . All of the actors on the set in the gunfight scenes were instructed in the art of the quick draw by a stunt coordinator . The violent gun-play is heightened by a slick , often amazing use of F.X. , plenty of blood and gore . However , the film is pretty well but it doesn't work at all and packs endless close-ups, sluggish scenes , flaws , gaps and many scenes reveal nothing . So many good actors , such excellent actors as Kevin Conway , Keith David , Lance Henriksen , Pat Hingle ,Gary Sinise , Mark Boone Junior , Robert Blossom's last role in a theatrical feature and final film by Woody Strode who appears briefly as a coffin maker in the opening scene . And Russell Crowe's first American feature, he has a hot sex scene with Sharon , but director Sam Raimi decided that it wasn't a necessary part of the story , the scene was not included in the American release of the film, but international versions do include it. The lion's share of the acting meat deservedly goes to Gene Hackman as an unrepentantly nasty . And a very young Leonard DiCaprio is surprisingly effective as a rookie gunslinger .

Exciting and fitted to action musical score by Alan Silvestri . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Dante Spinotti .The motion picture was well produced by Sharon Stone . Sharon was given a lengthy list of directors that had been approved to direct this film, so that she could choose the directors she thought would work , Sharon sent back a list with a single name , Sam Raimi ; she said it was because she liked Evil Dead and Army of Darkness , among Raimi's other works.

Yes, I know the critics at the time panned it. But if that was the baseline for greatness, films like Wonderful Life and Citizen Kane would be lost to obscurity. Bottom line, this is a "high concept" film that is much more entertaining than you would guess. The timeline is fascinating. In the 1960s, after a half-century run, and massive exposure on the new medium called Television, the classic western started to disappear. But, as they say, nature abhors a vacuum; and at the same time the sun started to set on the traditional western, it started to rise on something called the "italian westerns" or re-imaginings of the genre from Europe. This is for example how Clint Eastwood went from forgotten TV actor (Rawhide) to #1 box office attraction. This new genre lasted barely 15 years or so and soon disappeared as well. Yet out of nowhere, 20 years later someone in Tinseltown gets the idea to re-imagine the ALREADY RE-IMAGINED western, this time starring a female. Sharon Stone was past the apex of her career by this point, making the project more of a challenge. The other talent was awesome. A pre-Oscar Russell Crowe, a pre-Titanic diCaprio, and all backstopped by Hackman, I mean, wow. The big question, did it actually work? Answer yes. It was uneven in parts and an argument could be made that Hackman overdid the "bad guy" role or, alternatively, the part was over-written. Stone was awesome, proving she had the chops to take on a bizarre role and make it hers. Actually gets better with each successive viewing. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Sharon Stone is another gun in the old West town… It seems that she is here to pay off an old score that has haunted her since she was a child… She becomes swept up in a deadly quick-draw contest where anybody can challenge anybody in the windy dusty streets… The fighters must not draw until the clock makes the first chime of the hour… Whoever is standing after the draw is the winner… The prize is $123,000…

The lawless town of Redemption is ruled by a despicable ironfisted gunman called John Herod who takes a lot to scare him… Hackman plays pretty well the kind people hate… He is, here, a fearless, sadistic, cold-blooded killer in charge of everything, who decides who lives or who dies…

Herod wants a preacher in the tournament – even if he has to beat, kick, and knock him to the ground to force him back into it… Cort— humiliated and chained out by the fountain—used to be pretty fast, faster than Herod… But now he wouldn't hurt a fly… He is a man of peace who has renounced violence… Years ago he was an outlaw… In fact, he was only a kid when he hitched up with Herod… He singled him out because he was a little smarter, a little faster than most… Now, he must revert to his former believes to survive…

As Cort, Russell Crowe is saintly when compared to the movie's real villain… Cort tries to redeem himself, but gets enticed into the killing by Herod who is trying to prove that he's a fraud...

Several other men were just running a little errand for Herod… But Herod made an example of them all: the buffoon card shark (Lance Henriksen); the hired gun moseying into town to kill (Keith David); the teenager gunslinger who thinks he is on a different level (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Raimi succeeds through his shots of each gunfighter to show the worried and scared faces of each gunfighter, the clock counting away the time, and Herod's magnified evil smile