The Quick and the Dead (1995)

A female gunfighter returns to a frontier town where a dueling tournament is being held, which she enters in an effort to avenge her father's death.

Director:

Sam Raimi

Writer:

Simon Moore

Stars:

Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Sharon Stone	...	Ellen
Gene Hackman	...	Herod
Russell Crowe	...	Cort
Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Kid
Tobin Bell	...	Dog Kelly
Roberts Blossom	...	Doc Wallace
Kevin Conway	...	Eugene Dred
Keith David	...	Sgt. Cantrell
Lance Henriksen	...	Ace Hanlon
Pat Hingle	...	Horace the Bartender
Gary Sinise	...	Marshall
Mark Boone Junior	...	Scars
Olivia Burnette	...	Katie
Fay Masterson	...	Mattie Silk
Raynor Scheine	...	Ratsy

Storyline

Ellen, an unknown female gunslinger rides into a small, dingy and depressing prairie town with a secret as to her reason for showing up. Shortly after her arrival, a local preacher, Cort, is thrown through the saloon doors while townfolk are signing up for a gun competition. The pot is a huge sum of money and the only rule: that you follow the rules of the man that set up the contest, Herod. Herod is also the owner, leader, and "ruler" of the town. Seems he's arranged this little gun-show-off so that the preacher (who use to be an outlaw and rode with Herod) will have to fight again. Cort refuses to ever use a gun to kill again and Herod, acknowledging Cort as one of the best, is determined to alter this line of thinking ... even if it gets someone killed ...

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Plot Keywords:

female gunfighter | arizona | street shootout | showdown | gun duel | 

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Taglines:

In this town, you're either one or the other

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Genres:

Action | Romance | Thriller | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for western violence

Details

Country:

Japan USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

10 February 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Quick and the Dead

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$32,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,515,861, 12 February 1995

Gross USA:

$18,636,537

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures, Japan Satellite Broadcasting (JBS), IndieProd Company Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS (8 channels) Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

With twelve other Westerns filming in 1994, the crew faced a shortage of Old West costumes.

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Goofs

Watching the Swede load his cap and ball percussion revolver, I noticed that he put the powder, then the ball and then a patch and tamped it down. It's powder, patch then ball and tamp.

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Quotes

John Herod: All I hear from you, you spineless cowards, is how poor you are; how you can't afford my taxes. Yet somehow, you managed to find the money to hire a gunfighter to kill me. If ya got so much money, I'm just gonna have to take some more. Because clearly some of you haven't got the message! This is my town! I run everything! If you live to see the dawn, it's because I allow it! I decide who lives and who dies!

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Alternate Versions

During the dinner scene with Herod and Ellen, he gives two different versions of his family history. In one, he says that his father found out his mother was unfaithful, and infers that he killed her. In the other version, he says his father was a judge who made him and his mother watch hangings. One day, his father decided there was too much evil in the world, so he put one bullet in a gun and pointed it at his wife, his son, and himself in turns, pulling the trigger each time. He ended up "blowing out the back of his head."

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Connections

References Army of Darkness (1992)

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Soundtracks

Un Mexicano En El Norte
Written by Demetrio Farias
Performed by El Mariachi Tepalcatepec De Michoacan
Courtesy of Discos Dos Coronas
(A Division of Two Crowns International Inc.)

User Reviews

Thrilling Western in Spaghetti style in which a mysterious stranger female arrives in a township where takes place a quick-draw competition

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.