QUICK AND THE DEAD, THE
(director: Sam Raimi; screenwriter: Simon Moore; cinematographer: Dante Spinotti; editor: Pietro Scalia; music: Alan Silvestri; cast: Sharon Stone (Ellen), Gene Hackman (Herod), Russell Crowe (Cort), Leanardo DiCaprio (Kid), Tobin Bell (Dog Kelly), Roberts Blossom (Doc Wallace), Kevin Conway (Eugene Dred), Keith David (Sgt. Cantrell), Lance Henriksen (Ace Hanlon), Pat Hingle (Horace the Bartender), Gary Sinise (Marshall), Mark Boone Junior (Scars), Woody Strode (Charlie Moonlight, coffin maker), Olivia Burnette (Katie), Raynor Scheine (Ratsy), Fay Masterson (Mattie Silk), Jerry Swindall (Blind Boy), Scott Spiegel (Gold teeth man), Jonothan Gill (Spotted Horse); Runtime: 108; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Joshua Donen, Patrick Markey, Allen Shapiro; TriStar Pictures; 1995-USA/Japan-in English & Spanish)
“Homage/parody to spaghetti Westerns.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Sam Raimi (“Evil Dead”/”Spider-Man 3”) directs this homage/parody to spaghetti Westerns (in particular to Sergio Leone). It’s a cartoonish amoral action-packed B-film that has a gender twist, where Sharon Stone is the gunfighter playing the Clint Eastward role of the stranger gunfighter. But Stone is miscast, as she doesn’t have the acting chops to pull it off.
The Britisher Simon Moore is the screenwriter, who keeps the story trashy.
Raimi makes the most of this offbeat story by keeping it stylish. Despite being a mess, is still entertaining enough because of its inventive gun duels.
John Herod (Gene Hackman), a former outlaw, a sharpshooter and a nasty dude, runs an annual quick-draw contest in the Arizona town of Redemption, in 1878, where he’s the dictator mayor running a protection racket pocketing in taxes half the income from the locals.
The contestants compete for money prizes they receive when they kill their opponent in the gun duel. This draws to town a number of gunslingers, sharpshooters and pretenders looking to either make a rep or die trying.
Ellen (Sharon Stone) is the bad-ass saddle-tramp stranger who rides into town packing her guns for a mysterious revenge mission, that’s eventually revealed through flashbacks of her life (to avenge the death of her marshal father-Gary Sinise). When she temporarily saves the life of a preacher, Ellen’s allowed to enter the contest. She must also fight off the sexual advances and marriage proposal of the slimy mayor.
Some of those drawn to the contest include the wormy bullshitter Ace Hanlon (Lance Henriksen); the mayor’s cocky gunfighter son, “the Kid” (Leonardo DeCaprio); Spotted Horse (Jonothan Gill), the gunslinger hired by the town; and Cort, the outlaw-turned-preacher, Herod’s former friend, whose in chains and vows to never kill again even when forced to fight.
Hackman is obnoxiously good playing the villainous gunslinger, who always wins the contest he sponsors except when he doesn’t. His star presence makes this unbearable film maybe a little bit more bearable.
REVIEWED ON 3/16/2025 GRADE: C+
dennisschwartzreviews.com