The Quick and the Dead

I'm sorry, but when Sharon Stone's character knocks her antagonist 20 feet with a slow right cross, the movie lost me. Further, the western town seemed more like a scene from Harry Potter, than an actual believable locale. Why can't Hollywood accept that women are women, not small men, and celebrate this? Further, the weapons used, and the way the characters use them, seem more in line with 21st century laser assisted Gloks than actual firearms from the period. The reports from each reminded me of the impact of LAWS rocket on armored targets. The plot was about as believable as most of these films where women overpower men in their own arenas, ridiculously overstaged and hopelessly unbelievable.

A great western by Sam Raimi starring some super power talent in Russell Crowe, Sharon Stone, Leo Di Caprio and Gene Hackman. The cinematography is really good and clearly a homage to The man with no man movies. Direction is crisp and Sam Raimi should be applauded for that. On the cinematography, the great Ebert wrote that it reeks of biblical vengeance. Just watch this for the setting.

Sorry but this is a vent more then a comment. How could anyone call this a western. It may have taken place in western times but the stupidity of the plot is incredible. A contest where people compete by a quick draw shoot out. Not very well done I might add. Oh please. I admit the final shoot out at the fort was entertaining but you have to suffer through the entire move to get there. I was offered a free copy of this movie but refused to include it in my collection. Maybe I should have accepted that way I could have trashed the DVD.

Peculiar Western with spectacular gun battle between Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman . The title "The Quick and the Dead" comes from the King James translation of the Bible, I Peter 4:5, which admonishes the believer from behaving like pagans, "who shall give account to Christ that is ready to judge the quick and the dead" . This violent Western is set on a township called Redemption , the star is a mysterious female revenger , ¨a woman without name¨ (Sharon Stone as Clint Eastwood-alike interloper) who has a secret agenda of her own . It deals about a gunfighter arriving a little town , it has the usual shops and buildings, as General merchandise, Livery stable, boarding house , Hardware , Barber shop, Saloon , Hotel and Church . The western town owned by a ruthless gunslinger (Gene Hackman) hosting an elimination tournament to find the fastest gun in the West , as Lady avenger comes to the aid of embattled citizens as well as searching vendetta . The excitement starts at the duel when the hands point straight up . This offbeat Western contains thrills , parody , black comedy , hilarious set-pieces , and breathtaking duels . This special Western picture concerns upon a deadly gun-battle pits two individualist characters and it results to be an enjoyable as well as hyperbolic homage to the style and vengeance fantasy of Sergio Leone Spaghettis ; as it takes parts from ¨Dollars trilogy¨ : ¨For a fistful of dollars¨, ¨For a fistful of dollars more¨ and ¨The good , the bad and the ugly¨, along with ¨Once upon a time in the West¨. But it has nothing to do with the Spaghetti maestro , the great Sergio Leone . There is also an impressive roaring climax with an amazing final showdown . All of the actors on the set in the gunfight scenes were instructed in the art of the quick draw by a stunt coordinator . The violent gun-play is heightened by a slick , often amazing use of F.X. , plenty of blood and gore . However , the film is pretty well but it doesn't work at all and packs endless close-ups, sluggish scenes , flaws , gaps and many scenes reveal nothing . So many good actors , such excellent actors as Kevin Conway , Keith David , Lance Henriksen , Pat Hingle ,Gary Sinise , Mark Boone Junior , Robert Blossom's last role in a theatrical feature and final film by Woody Strode who appears briefly as a coffin maker in the opening scene . And Russell Crowe's first American feature, he has a hot sex scene with Sharon , but director Sam Raimi decided that it wasn't a necessary part of the story , the scene was not included in the American release of the film, but international versions do include it. The lion's share of the acting meat deservedly goes to Gene Hackman as an unrepentantly nasty . And a very young Leonard DiCaprio is surprisingly effective as a rookie gunslinger . Exciting and fitted to action musical score by Alan Silvestri . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Dante Spinotti .The motion picture was well produced by Sharon Stone . Sharon was given a lengthy list of directors that had been approved to direct this film, so that she could choose the directors she thought would work , Sharon sent back a list with a single name , Sam Raimi ; she said it was because she liked Evil Dead and Army of Darkness , among Raimi's other works.

If this movie doesn't get your pulse running from the very beginning then you are dead already. One of the best westerns of all time. Director Sam Raimi makes art out of every shot. Everything is thought out to perfection and the cast is almost unbelievably crammed with star power. Sharon Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Lance Henriksen and more great character actors than you can shake a cowboy hat at. Every part of this highly underrated movie is enthralling and cinematic.

Sharon Stone is another gun in the old West town… It seems that she is here to pay off an old score that has haunted her since she was a child… She becomes swept up in a deadly quick-draw contest where anybody can challenge anybody in the windy dusty streets… The fighters must not draw until the clock makes the first chime of the hour… Whoever is standing after the draw is the winner… The prize is $123,000 The lawless town of Redemption is ruled by a despicable ironfisted gunman called John Herod who takes a lot to scare him… Hackman plays pretty well the kind people hate… He is, here, a fearless, sadistic, cold-blooded killer in charge of everything, who decides who lives or who dies Herod wants a preacher in the tournament – even if he has to beat, kick, and knock him to the ground to force him back into it… Cort— humiliated and chained out by the fountain—used to be pretty fast, faster than Herod… But now he wouldn't hurt a fly… He is a man of peace who has renounced violence… Years ago he was an outlaw… In fact, he was only a kid when he hitched up with Herod… He singled him out because he was a little smarter, a little faster than most… Now, he must revert to his former believes to survive As Cort, Russell Crowe is saintly when compared to the movie's real villain… Cort tries to redeem himself, but gets enticed into the killing by Herod who is trying to prove that he's a fraud... Several other men were just running a little errand for Herod… But Herod made an example of them all: the buffoon card shark (Lance Henriksen); the hired gun moseying into town to kill (Keith David); the teenager gunslinger who thinks he is on a different level (Leonardo DiCaprio). Raimi succeeds through his shots of each gunfighter to show the worried and scared faces of each gunfighter, the clock counting away the time, and Herod's magnified evil smile

With The Quick and the Dead, Sam Raimi approaches the old west with a very new/contemporary style. With its brisk energy and competitive characters, the story often feels like a sports movie with lots of photography tricks. If you want a top western, this might not be your film, but if what you seek you is good old pistol-whippin' American fun, this might do the trick. Thanks to James Cameron, since T2, there has been nothing sexier than a woman with a gun. Sharon Stone actually brings a fairly macho 'Sarah Conner' quality to her character. She plays Ellen, a young cowgirl who rides into a mysterious town for a very special event, a gunslinging competition. The mayor of the town is a dangerous fella and one of the most feared gunslingers around. It is this man who Ellen is after. The question is, why? In order to fight him, she must beat everyone else in the competition. There will be blood, for sure. In order to make up for his superficial plot, Sam Raimi has a lot of tricks up his sleeve. One of his most recognizable through his career is going over the top in an amusing way, which he does here too, mostly at the climax. He doesn't make great movies, but he makes clever and entertaining ones, which this is.

I can recommend this film highly to everyone!! If you are having trouble sleeping, that is. How this junk got out to the public I can't fathom. It offered nothing in the way of drama; it did offer, however, some of the silliest 'comedy' which was not intended to be comedy. At least I don't think it was meant to be so. I expected a realistic movie about gunfighters; and got a bunch of overgrown boys playing at being Billy Badass. And Sharon Stone! Gad, this woman needs a new profession. Miscast maybe, or perhaps no actress could do much with such a stupid, overdone role. Gene Hackman, usually one of my favorite players, was simply boring and unbelievable. But again, he didn't have much to work with. This was an idiotic film, I give it 3 thumbs down.

What a waste of talent! This western was the worst Sharon Stone(yes worst than 'Basic Instinct') and Leo DeCaprio movies I've ever seen. The plot was garbage and the special effects contributed to the boredom. I wished it had been in 3-d so one of the bullet could have put me out of my misery. I recommend seeing this if you are mentally unstable or if all the Christopher Walken movies are rented at the video store.

Not even Evil Deads' Sam Raimi could help this pitiful excuse for a spaghetti Western. Sharon Stone comes back to seek revenge years after the death of her father. Gene Hackman seems to be the only one not going through the motions and actually giving us a decent performance. However the script written by Simon Moore is so incoherent and dull. The characters are characters you've seen in every revenge movie ever. But Sam is a bit to blame as well. Holes in heads big enough to see the person who put them there and people doing backflips after getting shot were just a few of the very unbelievable things in this movie. Sam should just stick to Spider-Man.