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The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio. Cinematography by Dante Spinotti. Edited by Pietro Scalia. Produced by Joshua Donen, Patrick Markey, and Allen Shapiro. Written by Simon Moore. Directed by Sam Raimi.
In the late nineteenth century the small town of Redemption plays host to a deadly quick draw competition. The winner gets over one hundred thousand dollars in cash while the losers end up dead. Among those participating is John Herod, the town’s richest man and the host of the contest, The Kid, Herod’s teenage son, and Cort, a former henchman of Herod turned preacher. As the contestants line up to enter the deadly exhibition, a mysterious woman known only as “The Lady” rides into town. She quickly joins the men as one of the participants in the quick draw competition. With the town ramping up for the festivities, the contestants begin to subtly investigate those who will soon either kill or be killed.
In the late 1980’s and early 1990’s, the western was enjoying a revival of sorts. Spurred by the success of Pale Rider in 1985 andYoung Guns in 1988, film producers begin to take an interest in the once lifeless genre. This gunslinging resurrection resulted in films like Young Guns II in 1990, Tombstone in 1993, and Wyatt Earp in 1994.
Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven even went as far as winning best picture at the 1993 Academy Awards. So it is of little surprise that actress Sharon Stone took quick notice of Simon Moore’s twist on the “spaghetti western” called The Quick and the Dead in early 1993. At that time Moore had almost given up on selling the screenplay and was contemplating shooting it himself as a B-movie. But his patients paid off when the call came from Columbia Pictures to fly to Hollywood and begin the endless cycle of rewrites before production began in the fall.
With a little uncredited help from filmmaker John Sayles, The Quick and the Dead was hammered through many revisions in the few short months leading up to the shoot. Meanwhile, Stone was making a bid for her choice as the film’s director. Hoping that his independent spirit would bring a freshness to the project, Stone selected Sam Raimi to helm the production. Raimi eagerly accepted the job and for the first time in his career he was working as a “hired gun”.
Working with A-list Hollywood personalities can be tough for a young director. With big names and a big budget at risk, The Quick and the Dead afforded Raimi less creative freedom than he had become accustomed to. But despite the restrictions that hovered over his head, Raimi was able to craft a highly stylized, visually strong, and lightning fast action movie. Unfortunately, his efforts wouldn’t pay off in the box office run.
The Quick and the Dead opened to wavering reviews which resulted to poor audience turn out. Some blamed Raimi’s ostentatious direction for the film’s failure, but the reality is that by the time his film hit theaters westerns were already becoming un-chic. The Quick and the Dead was just a casualty of the audience’s loss of interest. But in retrospect, the picture is a lot of fun to watch and makes a nice addition to Raimi’s filmography.
Budget: $32,000,000
Total US Gross: $18,552,460
Genre: Western
Runtime: 107 Minutes
US Release Date: 2/10/95
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Awards: none
Tagline: Think You’re Quick Enough?
Quote: “I'm so damned fast I can wake up at the crack of dawn, rob two banks, a train, and a stage coach, shoot the tail feathers off a duck's ass at three hundred feet, and still be back in bed before you wake up next to me.”
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