I seem to be pulling a Marty McFly folks. I’m stuck in the wild west and the only way out is copious amounts of cliche one-liners, bleak and beautiful cinematography as well as the required 6-shooter duel to the death. For this weeks foray into the tumbleweed towns of the frontier, I’ve chosen The Quick and The Dead.
This movie is a small nugget of gold for the western genre. Allow me to prove my claim.
Our wild ride begins with Ellen (Sharon Stone whom you might know if you watched a lot of mediocre movies from the 90’s), as our western rose and badass plains-woman. Ellen seeks revenge upon the owner of a small town and once ruthless murder turned, well, ruthless murderer Herod (Gene Hackman), she stumbles into a gun blazing, fight to the death, tourney of gunslingers. Offering a prize of $123,000 attracts all kinds including every archetype in the wild west. A foreigner, a gambling show off, an escaped convict, a cocky Kid (Leonardo DiCaprio), an invincible Indian, a hired gunman, our vengeance seeking lady, an outlaw turned pastor forced into participating, Cort (Russell Crowe), and the usual gun-toting western scum make up a bracket of colorful participants.
In a movie with the motto, “We aim, we fire, you die.”, you know entertainment value exists.
*Yup. A great shot. Er, from a cinematography standpoint.
I have six shots, let me only hit the most vital of targets. (MINOR SPOILERS)
- This film isn’t necessarily predictable but it does make sure to touch as many cliches as possible in a throwback to old school western films. From flashbacks to a vengeance driven plot, this movie has it all.
- These heavy hitting stars lead a cast that has so many familiar faces in film it’ll spin your head like a revolver’s bullet chamber.
- Normally I’m all for women and men alike to explore their sexuality but when sex is used in unnecessary situations it becomes a turn off to certain characters. Yes, Ellen is indeed an unlikable and hard to identify with protagonist. I mean, you might have sworn vengeance on the leader of a vicious outlaw gang, but even so, you are the minority.
- A no holds barred tournament. Each fight has a different conclusion, some seemingly impossible but each entertaining in their own way.
- They pull a Game of Thrones before it was cool. Characters you like die and characters you dislike thrive in several instances. This is frustrating.
- This movie is from 1996 so they worked with what they had. It has a corniness that is both endearing and awful at the same time.
*Look at baby DiCaprio. Not a strong actor yet, but knowing where he is now allows this performance to slide.
Am I suggesting this movie? Yes. Am I suggesting this movie is a great western? No. This is a movie that holds itself up with a strong cast that make the best of the cliches they are forced to speak as well as enough gun fights to ignore the worst of the plot points.
7 out of 10 gunfighters dead in the street. Feeling generous, 8 out of 10 perfectly executed cliches uttered.
movies before and after 