REVIEW DATE: 3:10:9:9
If you look in the Vault you'll find lots of movies (50 to be exact). Everything from 1930's daikaiju movies to 1990's drama. One thing you wont find however, is a western. The reason for this is quite simple: I don't dig westerns.
Now, before you write nasty letters let me explain myself. Sure, I enjoy a good spaghetti western like the rest of you, but I have yet to encounter a western that I have truly liked. And when you look at westerns there really isn't a great deal of diversity among them. You have the bad guys who are usually rich, the good guys, who are usually poor, and the gunfighter who rides in to town and rights all wrongs. Its the whole knight in shining armor kind of thing. But it does kind of leave me with the "seen one, seen 'em all" kind of feeling. That's why The Quick and the Dead blind sided me.
The Quick and the Dead is not only the most original western I've seen since A Fist Full of Dollars, but it's also greatly executed. And I think that breath of fresh air is supplied by none other then director Sam Raimi. Yep, Mr. Evil Dead himself has taken an almost totally original script written by Simon Moore and turned out a western that manages to inject some life into the old and beaten down myth of the gunslinger.
And the strangest thing about this movie happens to be Sharon Stone. Dressed in full gunslinger regalia and packing heat she rides into town to enter the annual quick draw contest. The contest is held by Herod (Gene Hackman), the rich villain of this movie (well, I didn't say the movie was totally original did I?), who has gained control of a sleepy little town. Stone, the woman with no name, has come to town and enters the contest for the express purpose of killing Herod.Why? Well, I could tell you, but that would spoil the big surprise of the movie.
Instead I'll tell you that you'll be surpised at the number of well known actors pooping up in the cast. The most recognizable will be Leonardo (if you don't know what movie he's been in you've been living in a cave) DiCaprio who plays The Kid, a smart mouthed, quick drawing little bastard who is supposedly Herod's illegitimate son. Also we find Keith (Spawn) David as a gunslinger the local yokel's hire to take Herod down. And batting last is Lance (Millennium) Henriksen as another gunslinger. Though he does play his part well he gets killed by about 10 minuets after he shows up. So mores the pity.
But the best of the cast (besides Hackman, and I don't want to here "Hackman is just playing the same roll from Unforgivin from any of you) is Russell Crowe as Cort, the former outlaw turned priest who is forced into the contest by Herod. Mr. Crowe was last seen in these pages when he stared as SID 6.7 in Virtuosity. This movie just shows you what he can do when he's given a well written character to play.
I thought I would never say this but (*gulp*) Sharon Stone is actually one of the best actors in the cast. Yes, yes, you can all laugh at me for it, but this isn't really a hard role to play. In fact Stone is trying her darndest to do a Clint Eastwood impression. The difference is that her character is actually given motivations by screenwriter Moore. Her reasons for hunting down Herod are the biggest surprises of the movie. She is also one of the most twisted characters I've ever seen. Maybe Stone (much like Dé Ah-nold) is at her best with characters that aren't suppose to be totally human.
Okay, I'll say if first, but this is the only time I want to hear it, okay? Gene Hackman is basically playing the same roll he played in Unforgivin. But that doesn't matter, since he's so damn good at it. I could watch him play this roll in every movie and never get tired of it.
However, the best thing about this movie is the little things, the little Sam Raimi things. The weird ass camera angles, shots that are almost Vertigo inducing, and truly warped characters are all the signs of a good Sam Raimi movie. I would gladly place Sam among my list of fav directors. If I ever sell a script to Hollywood I want him in the Directors chair.
And to you guys out there, while your girlfriends are drooling over Leo DiCraprio don't despair. Why? Because, about one hour into the movie Leo gets shot. YES!!!, WOOHOO!! It's a gut shot too and that's that kind that reeealy hurt. Faster bullets, kill kill!
Past the obvious entertainment value watching Leo die generates the rest of the movie is highly entertaining, too. If your look for a good, fun, weird western the this is the movie to see.
RATING (OUT OF A POSSIBLE FIVE)
AND ANY MOVIE THAT KILLS LEO IS OKAY BY ME.