Director Report Card: Sam Raimi (1995)

6. The Quick and the Dead

“Army of Darkness” didn't exactly set the box office on fire but Sam Raimi remained a filmmaker many people wanted to work with. In the aftermath of “Basic Instinct,” Sharon Stone was suddenly a huge star. Sony would purchased Simon Moore's spec script, “The Quick and the Dead,” specifically to develop it as a project for Stone. Signing on to both star and produce, Stone would handpick Raimi as the director. (Apparently she was a fan of “Army of Darkness” and his other films, an unexpected revelation.) Considering his love of various retro genres, it's unsurprising to learn that Sam Raimi was a fan of westerns. Though essentially working as a hired gun – pun fully intended – Raimi would manage to make “The Quick and the Dead” his own.

The Western frontier town of Redemption is ruled with an iron fist by Sheriff Herod, a former outlaw. The town is currently holding a quick-draw competition, attracting gunslingers from all around the country. Among them is a mysterious Lady, wandering into town seemingly to fulfill a personal vendetta against Herod. She meets other shooters, like the the Kid, who is young and eager to prove his skill, and Cort, a pacifistic priest slowly drawn back into the violence. As the competition goes on, Herod becomes more ruthless, insisting the matches become battles to the death.

“The Quick and the Dead's” influences could not be more obvious. The film is an extended love letter to the spaghetti western and Sergio Leone's films in particular. That general premise, of a nameless gunfighter wandering into a frontier town and resolving the problems there, is maintained. The way Lady's grudge against Herod is slowly explained through flashbacks, which involve an extended lynching, brings “Once Upon a Time in the West” to mind. With its morally ambiguous characters and story of vengeance, it's obvious the Italian westerns of the sixties inspired the film, more so than the traditional American westerns. This act of homage is completed with Alan Silvestri's score, a fantastic Ennio Morricone riff full of calling trumpets and strumming guitars.

The spaghetti western brings with it a certain visual language, that “The Quick and the Dead” is happy to communicate with. Dante Spinotti's cinematography is full of warm Old West colors, with many wide and immersive shots of the flat, rolling desert. The director certainly employs some of the close-ups, zooms, whip pans, and expressive wide shots that Leone was famous for. Yet Raimi brings his own frenetic style to the table. A simple scene of someone being thrown a glass of water is electrified by Raimi's use of point-of-view shots. A number of gun fights are summarized through a thrilling montage, bullets and pistols falling across the scene as we see the fights play out. The camera is rarely still for long in “The Quick and the Dead,” Raimi determined to stay true to the first part of the film's title.

Unsurprisingly, the gun fights are vividly brought to life. As you'd expect, the director of “Evil Dead” certainly adds a little more flair and gore to the shoot-outs. The squibs are a little juicier in this flick than you'd expect from a typical western. Bloody gashes are blown in hands. A disproportionately large hole is blasted through someone's head. Some of the most memorable moments are saved for the big finale, where a bullet hole in seen in someone's shadow. Or a gunshot to the eyes tosses an opponent head-over-heels. The film even manages to toss in some massive explosions, by setting up a barrel of TNT early on in a rather amusingly ham-fisted way. In-between Raimi's stylistic approach and the bloody special effects, “The Quick and the Dead” certainly proves an exciting action film.

Made during Sharon Stone's brief stay atop the A-list, “The Quick and the Dead” was an attempt to show the actress was more than a seductive sexpot. At the time, some reviewers were quite harsh towards her performance. In retrospect, it's quite obvious what Stone is doing. Though the character's name is eventually revealed as Ellen, she's just called Lady throughout most of the film. She doesn't speak as much and instead glares at her opponents, gruffly and bluntly barking answers to them. This is, of course, not dissimilar to Clint Eastwood's performances as the Man with No Name. Stone does a surprisingly good job of filling the role of a stoic western gunslinger, being convincingly tough, conveying the mystery of the character, but hinting at the anger she feels underneath those tense stares.

Casting a woman as the lead in an action-packed western, a genre traditionally dominated by men, was a bold move and ahead of the curve in some ways. In other ways, “The Quick and the Dead” is painfully of its time. Despite spending most of the movie as a bad-ass in a cowboy hat and chaps, there's still a gratuitous sequence where Stone is dressed in a glamorous gown. (Raimi and his team at least had the sense to cut a steamy sex scene between Stone and Crowe, which added nothing to the story.) Among the gun fighters is a lecherous, ugly man who repeatedly hits on a young girl, eventually doing something awful to her off-screen. This results in a sudden shoot-out, Stone quickly shooting the pervert to death. It's a ham-fisted moment in questionable taste. Does child molestation really have a place in a colorful, comic book-y western? It feels a lot like the kind of faux-empowered “girl power” that was commonplace in the nineties and has aged poorly.

Starring opposite Stone is Gene Hackman as Herod. It's the second western villain role Hackman would play in the nineties, after a similar role in 1992's “Unforgiven.” As in that film, Hackman plays a rotten man who will do anything to hold onto the power he already has. The big difference is that “Unforgiven” was a gritty, grounded deconstruction while “The Quick and the Dead” is a colorful exaggerated homage. Hackman adjusts his performance accordingly.  He plays Herod as a villain who enjoys his own villainy, grinning with evil intent and enjoying tormenting those that earn his scorn. Watching Hackman ham it up is great fun.

Hackman's character also displays another homage to the western's past. A number of spaghetti westerns are notable for injecting politics into the western genre. “The Quick and the Dead” continues this trend. Herod rules over the town of Redemption with an iron fist. His whims and violent impulses directs the lives of the innocent people living there. He lives in an opulent home, wearing fine clothes and eating nice meals. The other citizens are so poor that, any time a gunfighter is shot dead, they strip any valuables they can find off the still warm corpses. This idea is further developed in a subplot where a professional shootist is hired by the townsfolk to kill Herod. This goes poorly, resulting in a monologue where Herod chastises the people who live under him. It's a clear depiction of class divides and add some much appreciated layers tot he film.

Supporting Stone and Hackman are a pair of up-and-coming leading men. Russell Crowe was early in his film career, cast at Stone's insistence. While we associate Crowe with blustery, full-throated performances, his role here as Cort is more mellow and introspective. As a former outlaw-turned-priest who then turns back into a gunfighter by the end, Crowe does a nice job displaying the challenges the character faces. Leo DiCaprio, also pretty early into his film career and a few years from becoming the definitive teen hot throb of his day, plays the Kid. DiCaprio is enthusiastic, nicely balancing the performative cockiness the character uses to cover the insecurity he feels over not being accepted by his father.

The supporting cast, meanwhile, is filled with beloved character actors who are allowed to do their thing. Lance Henriksen is at his most bombastic as a trick shooter who loves to brag and show off, before his act is bluntly dismissed by the villain. Lance is really allowed to cut loose, clearly enjoying the operatic opportunity. Tobin Bell, long before his “Saw” days, appears early as one of the sleazier jerks to vex Stone. Roberts Blossom plays nicely to type as the kindly old doctor who holds the secret to Lady's past. Keith David has a brief but entertaining role as the hired gun, bringing the proper Keith David amounts of grace and style to a small part. Pat Hingle appears as the lonesome barkeeper, forced to do awful things at Herod's insistence, while Kevin Conway is amusingly hammy as a henchman. (That's a Commissioner Gordon and a Batman in the cast together, for those keeping track.) Gary Sinise even shows up for a brief cameo. It's a loaded cast, which is probably why Bruce Campbell's part ended up getting cut though he's still listed in the credits.

Aside from Raimi's always-inventive visual design, what I might admire the most about “The Quick and the Dead” is its speedy pace and straight-ahead story construction. It's a movie about a gun fighting tournament that wastes little time getting to the gun fights. Since most of the characters are archetypes, they are quickly set-up, leaving more room for the action. Just like in many a classic western, once the bad guy has been disposed and the hero marches back out of town, the movie ends. Calling “The Quick and the Dead” a series of gun fights would not be inaccurate. Nor is it a complaint, as there's something to be said for a movie giving the audience what they want and then getting the hell out.

Like most of Sharon Stone's post-”Basic Instinct” vehicles – or most of the westerns released after “Dances with Wolves” and “Unforgiven,” for that matter – “The Quick and the Dead” attracted little attention in theaters. The reviews were extremely mixed at the time, the film being more-or-less dismissed as a failure. In the years since, some have reassessed the movie, realizing Raimi brought a great deal of energy to the script, that the cast is full of entertaining performances, and that the movie succeeds at most of its goals. Perhaps a trifle, “The Quick and the Dead” is nevertheless an amusingly over-the-top riff on western ideas. [Grade: B]