Sharon Stone

Gene Hackman

Russell Crowe

Leonardo DiCaprio

Tobin Bell

Roberts Blossom

Kevin Conway

Keith David

Lance Henriksen

Pat Hingle

Gary Sinise

Mark Boone Junior

Olivia Burnette

Fay Masterson

Raynor Scheine

Woody Strode

Jerry Swindall

Scott Spiegel

Jonothon Gill

Sven-Ole Thorsen

Lennie Loftin

Matthew Gold

Arturo Gastelum

David Cornell

Josef Rainer

Stacy Linn Ramsower

Tony Lee Boggs

Scott Ryder

Timothy Patrick Quill

Solomon Abrams

John Cameron

Michael Stone

Butch Molina

Mick Garris

Greg Goossen

Oliver Dear

Ruben Angelo

James Cotner

Allen Shapiro

Sam Raimi

Robert Tapert

Toby Jaffe

Simon Moore

Joshua Donen

Dante Spinotti

Patrick Markey

Pietro Scalia

Al Di Sarro

Fred C. Blau Jr.

Kimberly Felix

Paul LeBlanc

Jay Kamen

Larry Mann

Kathe Swanson

Gary Liddiard

Alan Silvestri

Bunny Parker

Terry Leonard

James F. Truesdale

Helen Britten

Sarah Edwards

Tricia Sawyer

Bruce Ericksen

Richard Fernandez

Chuck Henson

Murray Close

Gary Jay

Stanley Brossette

Phillipa Sledge

Kyle Rudolph

David Orr

Karen Hughes

Ellen Freund

Steve Saklad

Hilton Rosemarin

Dennis Dion

Tori Davis

Judianna Makovsky

Jeff Smolek

James Alan Hensz

Doc Duhame

Alan Becker

Dean Smith

Ronald LaCaria

William Morts

Troy Brown

Megan Wilkerson

Robert Lee

Thomas DeWier

Byron Wilkerson

R.J. Chambers

Robin Baldwin

Patrizia von Brandenstein

Teri Garland

Doc Elliot

Chuck Binder

Francis Rockwell

Kurt Bryant

Moore Brian

Janek Sirrs

Western

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Thriller

The Quick and the Dead

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gunslinger

revenge

prairie

shootout

awestruck

powerful

Nice try from Raimi, but ultimately it creeps just above average.

The Western is a tough genre to tackle in the modern age, more so when it's post Dances With Wolves and  Unforgiven's masterclasses 101. But tackling both these challenges is nothing to the one which director Sam Raimi asks of the audience in his stab at the genre. 

A female gunslinger is here played by a Hollywood beauty, Sharon Stone, but she isn't right for the lead role. She obviously looks gorgeous and she broods and pouts better than most of her modern day peers, but she lacks a menacing streak, a bit of believable nastiness that just might have lifted the film to better heights. We understand and expect the vulnerability she shows, but to succeed here in the testosterone fuelled town of Redemption, she's going to have to convince as a tough gal. And Stone just isn't up to the task.

The film does have good points to enjoy though, very much so. The story, although gimmicky, works well as an entertaining popcorn munching tale, while the cast list reads like a whose who of solid and quality thespers,  (Gene Hackman wandering in from Unforgiven to play Little Bill's ghost, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DeCaprio, Keith David, Pat Hingle & Lance Henriksen). Also into the plus column is the always impressive cinematography from Dante Spinotti, and there is no denying Sam Raimi's keen eye for detail, with his zooming shots a real treat during the shoot out sequences - his Spaghetti Western leanings further enhanced by Alan Silvestri's pasta influenced score.

Yet in spite of this bravado attempt, and acknowledging that the makers have tried something different, The Quick & The Dead isn't quite quick enough on the draw to outlive the leading lady misstep. 6/10

CinemaSerf

Now I saw this in the cinema in 1995 and had somehow managed to completely forget all about it - until I saw it again just last week and realised why. It's not that it is awful, it's just that it is so very derivative and very, very dependant on Gene Hackman ("Herod") who walks a fine line between menace and ham in a none too convincing fashion. He is running a to-the-death gun slinging competition - almost like one of the chivalric jousts of old - with the winner having to face him in the final shoot-out for an huge poke. Sharon Stone ("Ellen") arrives in his dingy town just at the start of the process determined to avenge her father's killer; Russell Crowe is "Cort", a preacher who also has a pretty violent past and "the Kid" (Leonardo di Caprio) who has the clear belief that his youth and skill make him all but immortal are all coaxed, cajoled and threatened into participating in this game of death. Sam Raimi has all the ingredients of a great little western adventure, but the cast don't work well together at all. Stone is well past her potent best and the usual guy-with-a-grudge theme is now so hackneyed as to render this little better than a series of gunfights with characters about whom I could not care less. The cinematography and some of the photographic styles are interesting, though - the film has a classy look to it and Alan Silvestri creates some tension with his slightly untypical (for a western) score; but the whole is nowhere near the sum of the parts leaving us with something that now, more than ever, just looks like it's been made for telly.

**_Mythic Western about a quick-draw contest in a town with an all-star cast_**

Sharon Stone stars as a grim, nonchalant woman who, curiously, enters a dueling contest in a remote Southwest desert town "ruled" by outlaw Herod (Gene Hackman). A pacifist preacher is forced by Herod to participate in the contest, but he ain't no conventional minister (Russell Crowe). Other notables include: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lance Henriksen, Tobin Bell, Keith David, Gary Sinise and Pat Hingle.

"The Quick and the Dead" (1995) was co-produced by Stone and she was responsible for getting the youthful & skinny DiCaprio in the cast, she even paid his salary (?!). Stone also apprehended New Zealander Crowe with this being his first American feature. When dressed in her tight leather pants Sharon was unable to sit down (lol). Interestingly, she fired her hottie stand-in because she was getting more attention from the crew on set (!). She later confessed that Crowe was her favorite on screen kisser, but kissing DiCaprio was like kissing her arm (lol).

The tone is mythic in the manner of those spaghetti Westerns of the 60s, but with superior production values and obviously seminal to Tarantino Westerns ("Django Unchained" and "The Hateful Eight"). While the vibe isn't exactly realistic, the cast members take the material seriously and ham it up with gusto. You can tell they all had a great time. The movie's town bound and comic booky with larger-than-life characters, but it's not campy or comedic, although it's somewhat silly.

The film's title is presumably taken from 1 Peter 4:5 of the KJV translation of the Bible, which details how Christ "is ready to judge the quick and the dead." The phrase also appears in the Apostle's Creed with the same meaning. In both cases 'quick' is an Old English term for "living." The movie's title clearly plays off both the modern and archaic meanings in that there are two kinds of gunfighters in the Old West: those who are quick (that is, fast and alive) and those who are dead.

It runs 1 hour, 47 minutes, and was shot completely in Arizona (including Old Tucson).

GRADE: B+

The Quick and the Dead (1995) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD]

The Quick and the Dead( 1995)

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A review by John Chard

Written by John Chard on Sun May 19 2019

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