Great Film: The Quick and the Dead
The Good & Bad Of 'The Quick And The Dead'
Like the western "Wild Bill" that also came out around this time, this
is a pretty wild, almost cartoon-like western. It has many pluses and
minuses.
GOOD - Great sound, interesting camera angles and very stylishly shot.
The visuals and audio make it interesting alone. Add a simple but
interesting story filled with wild cartoon-like characters and you have
a fun, fast-moving film. Western purists will hate the movie because
it's filled with over-the-top characters. The most interesting, I
thought, was Gene Hackman as the villain and Russell Crowe as the
good-guy "preacher" named "Cort." Sharon Stone's character, "Ellen," is
very reminiscent of the one she played in "The Specialist," a movie
which came out the previous year in which - as in this movie - revenge
is her main motive.
BAD - This is only bad if you are religiously-inclined. The "preacher"
in here is questionable as such. No real preacher uses the Lord's name
in vain which Crowe did twice here. His theology also is not
Biblically, more like clueless Hollywood stereotypes. Also, there was a
bit too much of the feminist slant in here. Then again, since Stone
co-produced the film, it's not surprising. Actually, her character -
especially when she begins to soften a bit - is interesting, too.
OVERALL - Despite the usual bias, the movie is fun to watch and
entertaining.
Cast
- Scars played by Mark Boone Junior
- Cort played by Russell Crowe
- Ellen "The Lady" played by Sharon Stone
- Ratsy played by Raynor Scheine
- Ace Hanlon played by Lance Henriksen
- John Herod played by Gene Hackman
- Sgt. Clay Cantrell played by Keith David
