Review of The Quick and the Dead (1995) by Drew H — 30 Dec 2007
Very entertaining homage to original spaghetti westerns is a lot better than I originally thought it would be. First of all, the plot and script are excellently conceived. The characters are all very typical for this genre (with the exception of a female lead) and the dialogue is surprisingly decent.
An unknown female gunslinger (Stone) rides into a depressing town run by the despicable Mr. Herod (Hackman). Seeking revenge for her father's death when she was a young girl, she enters a quick-draw competition for which the prize is a huge sum of money.
A lot of interesting characters show up throughout the course of the competition, including an outlaw-turned-preacher who refuses to fight (Crowe), and a young arrogant man who thinks he's the fastest (DiCaprio).
But only one can win the competition...and only one can survive. Raimi's stylish direction is full of marvellous close ups that resemble those of spaghetti westerns, and he gets decent performances from the cast (most of which are pretty big names).
The first hour or so is solid, but it soon moves into the world of clichés and becomes a little stupid towards the end. Still, the final battle is a lot of fun and very entertaining. The film took a lot of panning when it was first released, and now that I've viewed it I can't understand why.
Because I found 'The Quick and the Dead' to be a very fun and entertaining western romp that is very underrated.
This review of The Quick and the Dead (1995) was written by Drew H on 30 Dec 2007.
The Quick and the Dead has generally received positive reviews.
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