The Quick and the Dead (1995) Movie Review

The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 action western movie directed by Sam Raimi and written by Simon Moore (with contributions by Joss Whedon). It stars Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and a young Leonardo DiCaprio. Originally written by Moore in 1992 as a tribute to earlier spaghetti westerns but with a female protagonist, Sharon Stone decided Sam Raimi should be the director after watching his work on Army of Darkness (1992) and the film got a slightly more campy tone in a similar vein to Raimi's other films in the Evil Dead series. While production company Sony wanted a less serious tone and hired John Sayles to do rewrites, Moore came back and pretty much stuck closer to his original vision regardless. The film became a notable box-office bomb when it was released but it has since been reevaluated as a good post-modernist western and a homage to the films of Sergio Leone.

A mysterious female gunslinger named Ellen "The Lady" McKenzie arrives in an old west town named Redemption to seek revenge on John Herod, a dangerous and criminal leader who runs the place. She enters a fast-draw shooting tournament Herod has set in order to win the prize. Ellen meets an ex-gang member turned priest and a young gunslinger as she blasts her opponents in this ruthless town.

Turns out Raimi's eclectic and kinetic style of constant movement and weird angles perfectly fits the artificial and unique cinematic conception of the western by the likes of Sergio Leone and other spaghetti western directors. This film delivers awesome action by creating several highly fragmented segments of events, actions and reactions and joining them together through editing in order to achieve a certain effect or convey some meaning. The dutch angles and zooms are done in such a way that very few other westerns, especially American ones, can even come close to, it's totally unfamiliar in that aspect.

The story and characters are portrayed in a very two dimensional cartoonish manner, following tropes and archetypes but slowly charging them with some gravitas or charm due to the performances. Stone's character is a perfect example as she is, on paper, a very basic character: the mysterious, silent loner who arrives at a violent town and disturbs the social order (this element is more radical here because she is a woman) but by the end it is revealed that she is looking for revenge as the characters personal relationships are exposed and explored. However, Stone is such a good performer that her stoicism works and is believable, which gives her character more of a presence and layers.

A fancy split diopter shot.

It's not a well rounded film, it's sometimes too clunky in its storytelling and pacing, slowing down at points or focusing on the least interesting parts of its storyline, but it has some top notch production design and art direction as well as cinematography and camera work (something expected from Raimi), elements that certainly help at giving the film not only very distinctive look but also to become slightly lyrical and beautiful at moments, details like the way they shoot the rain falling down or the large skies decorated with clouds are always a joy to gaze at. 

Very recommended for western movie fans since it will not only give you some expected action but it gives the conventions an interesting twist, creating the needed element of variation and originality that good movies from a genre need.