Published via Ecency

(source: tmdb.org)

Cinephiles who appreciate classic spaghetti westerns by Sergio Leone are likely to lament over such films not being made any more. The most obvious reason for that is that it is unlikely that any film maker would be able to precisely match grand talent and stylistic choices of great Italian director, so any attempt to make modern day Leoneosque spaghetti western is doomed to fail. The closest mainstream Hollywood came to it in past few decades is The Quick and the Dead, 1995 film directed by Sam Raimi.

The plot takes place in small Old West town of Redemption around early 1880s and the protagonist, played by Sharon Stone, is Ellen a.k.a. “The Lady”, mysterious young woman who arrives before huge gunfighting competition organised by town’s corrupt and tyrannical “mayor” John Herod (played by Gene Hackman). Herod, who used to be violent outlaw before taking over the town and extorting his citizens, has a reputation of fast and efficient gunslinger and he has put hefty prize of 123,000 US$ for anyone who wins increasingly deadly competition. He intends to take part in competition himself thus not only maintaining his reputation, but also to eliminate any ambitious gunslinger who might be tempted to take him out in less favourable circumstances. The Lady also takes part in the competition and meets all kinds of colourful competitors. The one that catches her attention, however, actually doesn’t want to fight. It is Cort (played by Russsell Crowe), priest and former outlaw who used to ride with Herod, and now is imprisoned and forced to take part in competition against his will.

The Quick and the Dead originated as script by British writer Stephen Moore (best known for lauded television mini-series Traffik), intended as clear homage to Leone’s Man With No Name trilogy with a big twist. Character played by Clint Eastwood in 1960s was in Moore’s version a woman. Moore’s script was taken by TriStar Pictures, big studio which insisted that such role should be played by big star, and one of the biggest female stars of early 1990s happened to be Sharon Stone. She enthusiastically accepted role and became film’s co-produced, apparently thrilled with the idea of experimenting with something new and discarding the image created by erotic thrillers that brought her fame and stardom. Stone played that role well, although some genre purists might consider her simply too beautiful to be credible as worn-down yet deadly Old West gunslinger. Stone, on the other hand, used her clout for casting decisions, most notably in case of young and still relatively unknown Leonardo DiCaprio (who plays over-ambitious and Herod’s alleged illegitimate son Kid) and Australian actor Russell Crowe in the role of Cort. Stone’s character in film has sex with both such characters. Stone, however, refused to film actual scene with DiCaprio (allegedly complaining that the audience would interpret is paedophilia). On the other hand, scene with Crowe was actually filmed and allowed Stone’s male fans to briefly glimpse her naked breasts. Those plot elements make The Quick and the Dead slightly unusual and give certain quirky and slightly feminist flavour to the film, but in the end they are unnecessary distraction. DiCaprio and Crowe, to their credit, play their roles well and Crowe in the end used this film as his big break into Hollywood. The rest of rather impressive cast is also more than solid, which includes Gene Hackman as main villain, although his role isn’t that different the one he had played in Unforgiven few years earlier. Hackman is easily overshadowed by small army of great character actors in minor roles, especially those playing colourful participants of gunslinging competitions, among which Lance Henriksen in the role of Ace Hanlon stands out as the most memorable.

Sharon Stone also played crucial part in choosing the film director and thanks to her it was Sam Raimi, film maker at the time known mostly for low budget horror and science fiction with darkly humorous bent. Raimi couldn’t have competed with Sergio Leone and he later claimed that The Quick and the Dead wasn’t among the best efforts in his filmography. Thankfully, he was quite aware that he wasn’t Leone. He paid due homage to grand Italian master by employing various details that could be interpreted as fan service to cinephiles. That includes scene at the beginning in which veteran actor Woody Strode (playing his last role) play undertaker, character very much like the one introduced at the beginning of A Fistful of Dollars. Raimi is, however, more interested in making Sam Raimi’s film, and the film uses his very personal style with unusual and weird shots, especially in scenes of violence, that create often surreal atmosphere. The Quick and the Dead had large budget for this sort of film and it could been seen in town of Redemption being displayed through elaborate Arizona sets, plenty of authentic period details and production design by Patrizia von Brandenstein. This, together with cinematography by Dante Spinotti, makes this film one of the more visually impressive westerns of its time. Music score by Alan Silvestri, however, sounds a little bit more generic than brilliant and easily recognisable work of Ennio Morricone in Leone’s films.

The Quick and the Dead seriously underperformed at the box office and was met by unenthusiastic reviews, thus putting the end to the mini-renaissance of Western in early 1990s Hollywood. While the genre survived and such films continued to be made to this day, few were as epic and ambitious as this one. From today’s perspective, The Quick and the Dead is, despite its obvious flaws, a very good film that could be appreciated by the fans of Westerns, whether spaghetti or more generic variety.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)