The Quick and the Dead (1995 film)

The Quick and the Dead
Directed by Sam Raimi
Produced by Joshua Donen
Patrick Markey
Allen Shapiro
Written by Simon Moore
Starring Sharon Stone
Gene Hackman
Russell Crowe
Leonardo DiCaprio
Music by Alan Silvestri
Cinematography Dante Spinotti
Editing by Pietro Scalia
Distributed by TriStar Pictures
Release date(s) North America:
February 10, 1995
United Kingdom:
September 22, 1995
Running time 107 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $35 million[1]
Gross revenue United States:
$18.64 million

The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 western film directed by Sam Raimi and starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Writer Simon Moore's script for The Quick and the Dead was purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment in May 1993, and Stone signed on as both star and co-producer. Development was fast tracked after director Raimi's hiring, and principal photography began in Old Tucson Studios in Arizona on November 21, 1993. Distribution duties were covered by Sony-owned TriStar Pictures and Columbia Pictures.

The Quick and the Dead was released in the United States on February 10, 1995, to a dismal box office performance, receiving mixed reviews from critics.

Contents

Plot

"The Lady" rides into the Old West town of Redemption circa 1878. In an attempt at vengeance for her father's death, she enters a single elimination gunfighting contest presided over by Redemption's ruthless leader, John Herod. One of the first men The Lady meets is Cort, a former Herod henchman turned reverend. Herod forces him to enter the quick-draw contest and baits him into fighting by burning down his mission.

The Lady also begins a casual relationship with The Kid, an arrogant young gunslinger who hopes to impress his biological father, Herod. Through donations by Herod and Wells Fargo, the winner of the contest will receive $123,000 in cash. As Cort is persecuted for abandoning his violent past in favor of a peaceful religious life, the first and second rounds of the competition ensue. The Lady and Cort soon understand that Herod's main goal in the contest is to eliminate anyone who might pose a threat to him. During the first rounds, Cort is cornered into fighting and grows more disappointed with himself as his reflexes take over--causing him to win his fights but lose his hope as he breaks his vow.

Each showdown takes place in the street, with contestants unable to draw until the town's giant clock strikes a designated hour. Recognizing The Lady's intense hatred for John Herod, Cort tips her off on the key to getting an edge on the other competitors: the town clock has a click before striking the hourly chime. The Lady, while having exceptional aim, accepts his advice because of her deficiencies in speed. An exception occurs when The Lady angrily shoots it out with a man called Dred after her discovery that he has raped a young girl. Although she spares him, Dred refuses to give up and attacks her from behind in the town Saloon, forcing The Lady to kill him. Afterwards, she leaves town, refusing to continue the contest. Outside town, while searching for her father's grave at a nearby cemetery, she's confronted by the town doctor.

He reveals that he recognizes the Lady as the daughter of the town's former marshal. The Lady, haunted by childhood traumas, reflects on how as a young girl, Herod manipulated her into killing her father. The doctor gives the Lady her father's badge, which gives her the strength to return to town and finish what she started.

One by one, gunfighters are eliminated until only The Lady, Cort, Herod and The Kid remain. The Kid challenges his father to a duel to the death in a final attempt to win his respect. Although he does suffer a minor bullet wound, John Herod ultimately wins, killing The Kid and then questioning the notion that he even was his son. Herod sees to it that The Lady and Cort are forced to face each other. He will have both killed if they refuse to shoot it out. Something has to give and, indeed, The Lady is shot. Doc Wallace declares her dead and takes her body to be buried. In a rage, Cort fights off Herod's henchmen bare-handed and finally lets go of his vow to renounce violence. In retribution, one of Herod's men smashes Cort's right hand with a pistol butt during the night.

In the final round, Herod has just one man now left to defeat, but admits that while he is scared of Cort's speed, he loves the sensation. Seeing the damage to Cort's drawing hand, he kills the henchman responsible and offers to even the odds by using his left-handed draw. He squares off with Cort in the street for their showdown, but at the stroke of twelve, the clock tower, Herod's home, and several town corrupt businesses explode. When the dust settles, The Lady rides back into town. She and Cort have conspired to fake her death, with help from Doc, who knew her father. Her return has clearly unnerved Herod and silenced his usual boasts. Cort eliminates the remaining henchmen so that the The Lady and Herod can square off fairly. As The Lady faces off, Herod tries to unnerve her confidence one last time by stating that she is not as fast as he is, but with her usual determination replies, "Today I am." She shoots it out with him and sends Herod to his grave. Because she has just killed the corrupt mayor of the town, the people look to The Lady unsure of what to do next. Knowing Cort's desire for redemption and his sense of justice, The Lady tosses him the Marshal's badge, declaring that the law has returned. Cort accepts as The Lady rides off into the sunset.

Cast

Development

Writer Simon Moore finished his spec script for The Quick and the Dead in late 1992, writing it as a homage to the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, particularly the Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood. The writer decided the lead character should be a female. "When you introduce women into that kind of world, something very interesting happens and you have an interesting dynamic straight away," Moore commented.[2] The names of the lead villain (Herod) and the town (Redemption) were intentional allusions to the Bible.[2] Moore considered directing his own script as an independent film and shooting The Quick and the Dead on a $3–4 million budget in either Spain or Italy.[2]

Sony Pictures Entertainment purchased Moore's script in May 1993 and approached Sharon Stone to star in the lead role in July 1993.[2] Because Stone also signed on as co-producer, she had approval over the choice of director. Sam Raimi was hired to direct because Stone was impressed with his work on Army of Darkness (1993). The actress told the producers that if Raimi did not direct the film, she would not star in it. Although she had mixed emotions on Raimi's previous work, she believed that the director still had yet to showcase his talents, feeling that The Quick and the Dead would be a perfect opportunity to "stretch the limits of his technical and creative ability."[3] Moore was also enthusiastic over Raimi's hiring, based on his previous work with the Evil Dead film series.[2]

When Sony began fast tracking development The Quick and the Dead, the studio commissioned a series of rewrites from Moore. The writer was eventually fired and replaced with John Sayles, who, according to Moore, took Sony's orders of "making more of an American Old West film".[1] Moore was rehired with filming to begin in three weeks because Sayles' script was approaching a 2.5 hour runtime. When rewriting the shooting script, Moore simply omitted Sayles' work without Sony noticing. A week before shooting, Sony considered the script good so that Moore described the rewrites "a completely fucking pointless exercise".[1]

Production

Russell Crowe originally auditioned for a different role in the film before Sharon Stone asked that the actor try for the lead male role. "When I saw Romper Stomper (1992), I thought Russell was not only charismatic, attractive and talented but also fearless," Stone reasoned. "And I find fearlessness very attractive. I was convinced I wouldn't scare him."[4] Raimi found Crowe to be "bold and challenging. He reminds me of what we imagine the American cowboy to have been like."[4] On working with Raimi, Crowe later described the director as "sort of like the fourth Stooge".[2]

Sony Pictures was dubious over Stone's choice of Crowe because he was not a famous actor in the mid-1990s.[2] In order to get Gene Hackman to portray Herod, the film's antagonist, TriStar Pictures changed the shooting location from Durango, Mexico to Tucson, Arizona.[5] Sam Rockwell auditioned for The Kid, a role which ended up going to Leonardo DiCaprio.[6] Sony was also dubious over DiCaprio's casting. As a result, Stone decided to pay for the actor's salary herself.[2]

Filming was originally set to begin in October 1993,[7] but was delayed because Crowe was busy on another film in Australia.[2] Principal photography for The Quick and the Dead lasted from November 21, 1993 to February 27, 1994.[7][8] Locations included Old Tucson Studios in Arizona[2] and Mescal, 40 miles southeast of Tucson.[1] Production was briefly halted at times over weather problems.[9] Thell Reed, who was hired as the gun coach and weapons master,[2] worked with the cast through over three months of training.[1] To age Cort's Colt 1851 Navy Revolver and the other guns used, Reed experimented with simple measures. "I took them out by my swimming pool and dipped them in chlorine water to let them rust," he explained. "They looked rusty and old, but were brand new guns."[9] Such detail, including the nickel plating and ivory handles on Ellen's Colt Peacemakers, was accurate to the time period.[9]

The town of Redemption was designed by Patrizia von Brandenstein, known for her work on Amadeus (1984) and The Untouchables (1987).[1] Raimi's first choice as the visual effects supervisor was William Mesa, his collaborator on Darkman (1991) and Army of Darkness (1993). Instead, Sony choose The Computer Film Company to created the VFX sequences.[2] Pick-up scenes took place through November - December 1994. This included an extended duel between Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman.[10]

Release

A sex scene involving Stone and Crowe was deleted from the final cut in the United States prior to the film's release. The actress/co-producer believed the scene did not fit in with the picture's established reality.[1] The Quick and the Dead was released in the US on February 10, 1995 in 2,158 theaters, earning $6,515,861 in its opening weekend. The film eventually grossed $18,636,537 in US totals[11] and was declared to be a box office bomb. However, writer Simon Moore acknowledged that the film performed modestly in Europe.[1]

The Quick and the Dead's dismal box office performance can be attributed to competition from Billy Madison, The Brady Bunch Movie, Just Cause and Heavyweights.[12] Director Sam Raimi later blamed himself and his visual style for the film's failure. "I was very confused after I made that movie. For a number of years I thought, I'm like a dinosaur. I couldn't change with the material."[1] TriStar Pictures also showed The Quick and the Dead as an "out-of-competition" film at the May 1995 Cannes Film Festival.[13] A novelization written by Jack Curtis was published by HarperCollins in September 1995.[14] The Region 1 DVD release came in September 1998.[15]

Based on 27 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of the critics enjoyed The Quick and the Dead with an average rating of 6.2/10.[16] By comparison, Metacritic calculated an average score of 49/100, based on 21 reviews.[17] Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised Stone's performance and Raimi's directing. "Stone's presence nicely underscores the genre-bending tactics of Raimi, the cult filmmaker now doing his best to reinvent the B movie in a spirit of self-referential glee."[18] Critic and Raimi biographer Bill Warren wrote that the film "is a very conscious (though not self-conscious) attempt to recreate some of the themes, style and appeal of Sergio Leone's majestically operatic Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s, especially the Man with No Name trilogy that starred Clint Eastwood. It's brisker, more romantic and somehow more American than Leone's movies."[3]

Jonathan Rosenbaum from the Chicago Reader observed that "Raimi tries to do a Sergio Leone, and though The Quick and the Dead is highly enjoyable in spots, it doesn't come across as very convincing, perhaps because nothing can turn Sharon Stone into Charles Bronson."[19] Roger Ebert criticized the film for being overtly cliché, but praised Raimi's direction and Dante Spinotti's cinematography.[20] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine felt that "The Quick and the Dead plays like a crazed compilation of highlights from famous westerns. Raimi finds the right look but misses the heartbeat. You leave the film dazed instead of dazzled, as if an expert marksman had drawn his gun only to shoot himself in the foot."[21]

Stone was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actress but lost to Angela Bassett in Strange Days.[22]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 John Kenneth Muir (2004). The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi. New York City: Applause: Theatre & Cinema Books. pp. 180–189. ISBN 1-55783-607-8. 
  2. ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 Muir, pp. 171-179
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Bill Warren (2000). "Blood Still in the Viens". The Evil Dead Companion. London: Titan Books. pp. 162–179. ISBN 0-312-27501-3. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Jamie Diamond (1995-03-26). "Straight Out of Australia, to L.A.". The New York Times. 
  5. ↑ Army Archerd (1993-08-16). "Douglas wows 'Greedy' cast, crew". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117862241. Retrieved 2009-03-07. 
  6. ↑ Rebecca Murray; Fred Topel. "Sam Rockwell Talks About Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". About.com. http://movies.about.com/library/weekly/aaconfessionsintb.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-07. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Army Archerd (1993-10-13). "Lemmon enjoying fruitful outings". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117862363. Retrieved 2009-03-07. 
  8. ↑ Army Archerd (1994-02-25). "Friends stunned, saddened by Shore's death". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117862435. Retrieved 2009-03-07. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Muir, pp.190-197
  10. ↑ Army Archerd (1994-12-20). "H'w'd pumped for sequel to 'Gump'". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117862606. Retrieved 2009-03-07. 
  11. ↑ "The Quick and the Dead (1995)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=quickandthedead.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-10. 
  12. ↑ "The Top Movies, Weekend of February 17, 1995". The Numbers. http://www.the-numbers.com/charts/weekly/1995/19950217.php. Retrieved 2009-03-10. 
  13. ↑ "Festival de Cannes: The Quick and the Dead". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/3381/year/1995.html. Retrieved 2009-09-08. 
  14. ↑ "The Quick and the Dead (Paperback)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Quick-Dead-Jack-Curtis/dp/0006496512. Retrieved 2009-03-09. 
  15. ↑ "The Quick and the Dead (1995)". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0767817710/. Retrieved 2009-03-09. 
  16. ↑ "The Quick and the Dead (1995)". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead/. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  17. ↑ "Quick and the Dead, The (1995): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/quickandthedead. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  18. ↑ Janet Maslin (1995-02-10). "The Quick and the Dead". The New York Times. 
  19. ↑ Jonathan Rosenbaum. "The Quick and the Dead". Chicago Reader. http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/12414_QUICK_AND_THE_DEAD. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  20. ↑ Roger Ebert (1995-02-10). "The Quick and the Dead". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19950210/REVIEWS/502100302/1023. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  21. ↑ Peter Travers (1995-03-09). "The Quick and the Dead". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/5948697/review/5948698/the_quick_and_the_dead. Retrieved 2009-03-11. 
  22. ↑ "Past Saturn Awards". Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films. http://www.saturnawards.org/past.html. Retrieved 2009-03-09. 

External links

Films directed by Sam Raimi
1980s
The Evil Dead (1981) · Crimewave (1985) · Evil Dead II (1987)
1990s
Darkman (1990) · Army of Darkness (1992) · The Quick and the Dead (1995) · A Simple Plan (1998) · For Love of the Game (1999)
2000s
The Gift (2000) · Spider-Man (2002) · Spider-Man 2 (2004) · Spider-Man 3 (2007) · Drag Me to Hell (2009)