The Quick and the Dead is director Sam Raimi having a good time in his first non-horror/action movie up to that time in his relatively young career (he was 34 or 35 when he directed this film). He looks at the Western and thinks, 'OK, let's throw in some Sergio Leone Spaghetti fun in here, from the opening ala Fistful of Dollars, and the main crux of the vengeance plot can have something to do with Once Upon a Time in the West- flashback included, of course.' While he thinks this, he's also still making the film his own in a lot of ways, notably in the gunfights. It's mostly a serious film though, not a dark comedy like Evil Dead or silly like Army of Darkness, even if there is a sense of subtle self-parody among some of the actors cast.
Oh, a note about the cast: this is one of the strangest but, on the whole, most effective ensembles of the 1990's. You've got everyone here you'd want to see in a "guy" movie from the time, with a few surprises: Keith David, Lance Henrikson, Woody Strode (also from 'Once Upon a Time'), Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio (yes, back when he was, to the girls, 'Leo', here aka "The Kid"), Tobin Bell (yes, again, Jigsaw from Saw). But to top it off are two stars at the top of the bill (shared with Crowe and DiCaprio) that is a truly mixed bag. Both of the stars contribute, and take away, from the merits of the story, about a gunslinger competition that is more akin, to anything, of a Gladiatorial competition as it's to the death and run by a ruthless quasi-emperor (you can even see Crowe in a pre-Maximus role here as the Preacher).
It's stars Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone that makes this compelling and curiously uninteresting at the same time. Hackman is one thing: he's taking on a role that is far more actually evil (if not quite as scary in his humane way in Unforgiven), as the head of the town who strikes fear into everyone so much that you can feel the chill in the room in blazing hot weather. Hackman's delivery of the dialog is better than any other conceivable actor in the role, and he also is there in one of the movie's best scenes- maybe the one truly genius one all-around- where we see the first time that someone is shot rather gruesomely, and there's a slight pause from the onlookers, and then the most forced-polite applause ever seen. Watching Hackman alone is perhaps reason enough, even if you're not a Sam Raimi fan, to see Quick and the Dead.
Sharon Stone, on the other hand, is another story. For all of her glaring looks and her quiet would-be Clint Eastwood vocals, I just never bought her as a gunslinger-bad-ass like she is here. It's not that the part is poorly written (some of the lines of dialog could have been reworked, but such as a Western happens sometimes), but that she can't really carry the role well enough - not compared to everyone else around her, who fill in their roles (even DiCaprio) like it's nothing at all. It's forced work that soon becomes kind of boring, with the only slight saving grace being the final showdown gun battle between the hero and villain. The film might not have been truly great without her anyway, but she's really the one thing, for me, keeping it from being a true must-see rather than just a very fine curiosity.
By a 'very fine curiosity' I mean that if you're hanging out on a Sunday night with your Dad (and you know the one, who loves Westerns so much he'll even forgive the crappy ones by John Wayne), possibly with a few brews, and Quick & Dead comes on TV, you should watch it. It's that kind of movie, and a interesting, if flawed, genre departure for Raimi.
Oh, a note about the cast: this is one of the strangest but, on the whole, most effective ensembles of the 1990's. You've got everyone here you'd want to see in a "guy" movie from the time, with a few surprises: Keith David, Lance Henrikson, Woody Strode (also from 'Once Upon a Time'), Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio (yes, back when he was, to the girls, 'Leo', here aka "The Kid"), Tobin Bell (yes, again, Jigsaw from Saw). But to top it off are two stars at the top of the bill (shared with Crowe and DiCaprio) that is a truly mixed bag. Both of the stars contribute, and take away, from the merits of the story, about a gunslinger competition that is more akin, to anything, of a Gladiatorial competition as it's to the death and run by a ruthless quasi-emperor (you can even see Crowe in a pre-Maximus role here as the Preacher).
It's stars Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone that makes this compelling and curiously uninteresting at the same time. Hackman is one thing: he's taking on a role that is far more actually evil (if not quite as scary in his humane way in Unforgiven), as the head of the town who strikes fear into everyone so much that you can feel the chill in the room in blazing hot weather. Hackman's delivery of the dialog is better than any other conceivable actor in the role, and he also is there in one of the movie's best scenes- maybe the one truly genius one all-around- where we see the first time that someone is shot rather gruesomely, and there's a slight pause from the onlookers, and then the most forced-polite applause ever seen. Watching Hackman alone is perhaps reason enough, even if you're not a Sam Raimi fan, to see Quick and the Dead.
Sharon Stone, on the other hand, is another story. For all of her glaring looks and her quiet would-be Clint Eastwood vocals, I just never bought her as a gunslinger-bad-ass like she is here. It's not that the part is poorly written (some of the lines of dialog could have been reworked, but such as a Western happens sometimes), but that she can't really carry the role well enough - not compared to everyone else around her, who fill in their roles (even DiCaprio) like it's nothing at all. It's forced work that soon becomes kind of boring, with the only slight saving grace being the final showdown gun battle between the hero and villain. The film might not have been truly great without her anyway, but she's really the one thing, for me, keeping it from being a true must-see rather than just a very fine curiosity.
By a 'very fine curiosity' I mean that if you're hanging out on a Sunday night with your Dad (and you know the one, who loves Westerns so much he'll even forgive the crappy ones by John Wayne), possibly with a few brews, and Quick & Dead comes on TV, you should watch it. It's that kind of movie, and a interesting, if flawed, genre departure for Raimi.