Movie review: ‘The Quick and the Dead’

FloridaGator80

I know it is heresy in American cinema, but I’m not a big fan of Westerns. However, there’s no getting around that there are great motion pictures in the genre such as Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” or Clint Eastwood in either “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (click here to read my review) or “Unforgiven.” So, I thought I’d review “The Quick and the Dead” today after watching it again recently on cable. It has a superior cast from headliners Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman (she gets billing over him because it was her project down to being able to get the director of her choice and a say in casting) down to a little-remembered but solid turn by a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Although it has a bunch of great pieces, it never comes together like it should. Check it out – it’s a tour-de-force by Hackman.

‘The Quick and the Dead’
(1995; 107 minutes; rated R; directed by Sam Raimi and starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman and Russell Crowe)

SHE’S GOT ONE MAN ON HER MIND … AND IN HER GUNSIGHT

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and updated links on Jan. 19, 2024. I updated the review on Feb. 27, 2025, to note the death of Gene Hackman.)

I found a lot of things to like about “The Quick and the Dead,” even though it’s a Western. Its cast is top-shelf; its dialogue plays to each actor’s strength; and the actors play well off each other. However, it is a film of somewhat disparate parts – when it works, it works; but when it doesn’t, it just reeks of a director trying to force a scene or mishandling the situation between actors.

(CLICK here … for all my reviews of movies)
(CLICK here … for a chronological list of my reviews)
(CLICK here … for all my reviews of ‘007’ movies)
(CLICK here … for all my reviews of sports movies)
(CLICK here … for all my reviews of war movies)
(CLICK here … for all my reviews of Christmas movies)
(CLICK here … for all my reviews of horror movies)

As westerns go, “The Quick and the Dead” didn’t ring and hasn’t still run any chimes, even for those who love the genre. It didn’t do well at the box office – it was 85th in 1995 and came in behind such classics as “The Brady Bunch Movie” – and, frankly, it contained few, if any, surprises for the audience to elevate it to even an acceptable level for westerns.

The main problem is that director Sam Raimi (you’ll know him better for his “Spider-Man” work and he was chosen personally for “The Quick and the Dead” by headliner Sharon Stone) just doesn’t know how to do a western and whatever effect through cinematography he was obviously seeking didn’t work at all – the quick cuts to actors’ eyes looks more as if it were a 1970s kung-fu flick. Unless that’s what he sought and then it would be even worse since the effect comes off as just silly. I guess, then, the movie’s biggest failures are as much Stone’s as Raimi’s since she had just about complete say over everything.

The heart of “The Quick and the Dead” story is about a woman gunfighter, Stone as “Ellen,” who is looking to wreak a whole lot of vengeance on Gene Hackman, who plays “John Herod.” Hackman’s character’s name is just one of the bushel of cheesy ways “The Quick and the Dead” fumbles just about everything: his name is obviously a reference to Herod the Great, who wasn’t exactly the most likable ruler in history (click on this link to learn about him). The story is framed by a town’s gunfighter contest that brings a bunch of surly characters together in a deadly match for money.

The single-elimination gunfighting tournament comes to its obvious and pretty much expected ending and so closes a so-so film that could have been much better.

Not only is Hackman’s and Stone’s talents wasted, but so are some simply wonderful characters and work by their actors, such as Lance Henriksen, who plays gunfighter “Ace Hanlon” and finds himself on the losing end to Hackman’s cruel streak. The screenwriter did a good job in assembling the necessary eclectic supporting characters; the actors do a good, if not great, job; but Raimi fails to make any success with the whole of the film.

Worse yet, Raimi wasted his opportunity with Russell Crowe, who would two years later in “L.A. Confidential” show what he might have been able to accomplish in this one (click here to read my review of that film).

On the plus side, there are neat little details such as how each dead gunfighter’s body is stripped of anything of value (once right down to his underwear) and pithy comments by those looting the body (like one who observes that they’ll have to bury one deep because of the lowlife’s pungent, overpowering body odor). He also had an interesting witness – a boy who’s blind – that wasn’t bogged down by stereotype, but Raimi managed to fumble this one, too.

So, with the broad-brush strokes out of the way, here’s a rundown of the work of some in the principal cast:

  • An Oscar nominee (not for this one), Stone was a solid casting choice by herself for “Ellen,” who is also known as “The Lady.” She does a good job conveying the character’s aching desire to wreak vengeance on Hackman. It’s too bad that the close-ups of her eyes (as well as the rest of the cast who receive the treatment from Raimi) cheapens her effort. Stone works well with both Hackman and Crowe in their one-on-one scenes and she’s effective throughout the film. She was nominated for Marin Scorsese’s “Casino” from the same year as “The Quick and the Dead” and I liked her best in two little-remembered and offbeat films such as the remake of “Gloria” and wonderfully wonderful “The Muse” with Albert Brooks. Of course, Stone simply sizzled in her most recognized work: “Basic Instinct.”
  • A two-time Oscar winner and three-time nominee (not for this one), Hackman does his usual superb job playing the cruel town potentate who takes great pleasure in both determining life and death as well as taking life. Every time I watch Hackman work I am more impressed. He is so good that it is scary – and he also makes it look so easy that you can easily forget just what it takes to do work this good. Hackman uses it all: the intonation of his voice; his expression and the cool confidence only a supremely talented actor can show. He won his first Oscar for “The French Connection” (click here for my review) and the second for “Unforgiven” with Clint Eastwood – and the characters have a similar cruelty between them. He was also nominated for the iconic “Bonnie and Clyde,” “I Never Sang for My Father” and “Mississippi Burning.” Hackman has won three Golden Globes and has been nominated for five others. I liked him in “Runaway Jury” (click here to read my review) with Dustin Hoffman and the little-remembered but surprisingly great “Target” (click here to read my review) with Matt Dillon. Hackman, who was a native of California, was found dead at him home in New Mexico in February 2025 at the age of 95.
  • The first surprise in “The Quick and the Dead” for me was the job Oscar winner (not for this one) Crowe brought to the character “Cort,” who has earned the hatred of Hackman and who has renounced violence and become a minister (he’s also called “Preacher” here). Crowe tries to bring to this film the simmering emotion that he did so well in “A. Confidential.” Alas, he came up short. But that’s not a criticism – he does more with less than any actor here. Crowe won for “Gladiator” and has been nominated for two more – “A Beautiful Mind” and “The Insider.” He has also won two Golden Globes and has been nominated for four others.
  • At 21 when “The Quick and the Dead” was released, a future Oscar winner and six-time nominee (not for this one), DiCaprio was in just his fourth film and knocks it out of the park with more than just a bit of élan. DiCaprio had earned his first Oscar nomination the year before in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?” and he breezes through this one. He plays “Fee ‘The Kid’ Herod” and winds up in a showdown with his father (Hackman). DiCaprio easily exudes confidence and arrogance until his climactic scene with Hackman, where his vulnerability comes through. Of course, DiCaprio has about as hot as can be right now and I liked him best in Scorsese’s “The Departed” (click here to read my review). He was in the wildly over-the-top “The Wolf of Wall Street” and I also thought he did some of his best work in “Blood Diamond” (click here to read my review) and for Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” (click here to read my review).
  • Veteran character actor Henriksen does his usual excellent job as gunfighter “Ace Hanlon,” who is a man with braggadocio and just more than a bit of deceit. Henriksen’s talent is that he is adaptable to any role and he especially looks the part here. He’s a horror movie staple (try “Pumpinkhead”) but more noticeable in “Aliens” (click here for my review) and “The Terminator” with Arnold Schwarzenegger. One of his most underrated films is the wonderful vampire flick “Near Dark” (click here for my review). He is also a three-time Golden Globe nominee for the TV series “Millennium.”
  • Keith David plays “Sgt. Cantrell” and has no trouble being the calm and confident mercenary who the townspeople have hired to come kill Hackman. I would have enjoyed seeing David get a bigger slice of the pie to work with here since he was obviously so competent and comfortable in the role. However, there was only so much supporting action here. David was also in “Platoon” and “ & Mrs. Smith.”

Although there are several more really nice efforts from the supporting cast, especially from Roberts Blossom as “Doc Wallace” – you’ll most likely remember him as the old, scary neighbor in “Home Alone” (click here to read my review of the original and sequel) or possibly in the horror flick “Christine” (click here to read my review). Blossom was in his final film with “The Quick and the Dead” and he died of a stroke at 86 in 2011.

In the end, Raimi fumbled a chance at making a mark with a wonderful western. I’m not much of a fan of the genre and other Westerns I’ve enjoyed include “Silverado” (click here for my review) and “The Long Riders” (click here for my review). So, all the pieces were available to Raimi for “The Quick and the Dead” and he didn’t bring it off.

“The Quick and the Dead” was the 85th ranked film at theaters in 1995 with $18.6 million in ticket sales, according to Box Office Mojo. It was made on a budget of $35 million, according to Wiki, and even with Hollywood’s “creative” accounting, “The Quick and the Dead” wasn’t a big hit with investors. The No. 1 film of the year was “Toy Story” with $191.7 million. Other films from 1995 that I’ve reviewed include:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Raimi’s original ending didn’t work for him so he asked Sony Pictures for a writer to script a new ending. I’d say he should have also asked for another director to advise him on how to direct “The Quick and the Dead.” The film would have been much better.
  • A scene of physical intimacy between Stone and Crowe was filmed (and released on international versions of “The Quick and the Dead”), but was cut from the U.S. release of the film.
  • As Stone rides into town, the undertaker says, “5-foot-eight” and claims he’s never wrong. Stone is 5-foot-8½, according to her bio on IMDb.com.
  • Look close at the “Marshal” (Stone’s father in the film and who is killed by Hackman when she was a girl). It’s Gary Sinise, although he has a hair style more attuned to today’s pitching staff of the New York Mets than a frontier lawman. Of course
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “Sharon Stone was so insistent that Leonardo DiCaprio appear in the film that she paid his salary personally.”
  • Although Stone is reported to have demanded DiCaprio for the film, it was also noted by some that Matt Damon turned down the project. I’d say, with no disrespect to Damon, that Leo was the man for the job.
  • “The Quick and the Dead” is also a TV movie from 1987 starring Sam Elliott and Kate Capshaw and was adapted from a Louis L’Amour classic western. The film I’m reviewing isn’t a remake and the title has been used in a variety of works.

© Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples
©2016,  ©2024, ©2025
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without
express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner
is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that
full and clear credit is given to Chuck Curry and A Gator in Naples
with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Unknown's avatar

Published by FloridaGator80

Leave a Reply