QUICK THE DEAD SILVERADO-QUICK THE DEAD SILVERADO (DVD)

The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 American revisionist Western film directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. The screenplay was written by Simon Moore but includes contributions from Joss Whedon. The story focuses on The Lady (Stone), a gunfighter who rides into the frontier town of Redemption, controlled by John Herod (Hackman). The Lady joins a deadly dueling competition in an attempt to exact revenge for her father s death.

Simon Moore s script was purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment in May 1993, and actress Sharon Stone signed on as both star and co-producer. Development was fast tracked after director Sam Raimi s hiring, and principal photography began in Old Tucson Studios in Arizona on November 21, 1993. The film was distributed by TriStar Pictures and was released in the United States on February 10, 1995, to a dismal box office performance, receiving mixed reviews from critics. In later years, however, the film has earned critical praise especially for the performances, direction, cinematography and musical score, with some critics noting it as underrated in Raimi s catalog.

This was Russell Crowe s American Western film debut and was Woody Strode s final performance (the film is dedicated to him), as well as the last theatrical release of Roberts Blossom who died in 2011. The phrase the quick and the dead is from the Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:1) in various Bible versions, including the King James Bible, describing the final judgment. The plot of this film bears no resemblance to that of the 1987 film of the same name, which was based on a western novel by Louis L Amour.

Plot

In 1881, a wanderer known only as The Lady arrives in the Old West town of Redemption, which is ruled by a ruthless outlaw named John Herod. Herod announces a fast draw single elimination shooting tournament with the following rules: any contestant may challenge any other, no challenge can be refused, every contestant must fight once per day, and a fight continues until one contestant either yields or dies. The Lady announces her participation, insisting that she is only interested in the large cash prize.

During the sign-up, Herod s henchmen arrive with Cort, a former member of their gang with exceptional gunfighting skill. Cort has given up violence to become a preacher and refuses to participate in the tournament. Herod and his men attempt to lynch him, but The Lady shoots through the rope, saving his life.

The Lady meets The Kid , a brash young gun dealer who believes Herod is his father and hopes to earn his respect by winning the tournament. She wakes up in the Kid s bed, and notices barrels of dynamite under it. In the first round, Herod, The Kid, and The Lady easily defeat their opponents. Herod gives Cort a cheap gun and declares that he can only have one bullet at a time, to prevent him from shooting his way out of town. Despite previously swearing not to draw, Cort reflexively does so when threatened and wins his first-round duel.

Before the second round, Herod meets with Clay Cantrell, a professional gunfighter hired by the townspeople to kill him. Herod declares that all duels are now to the death and proceeds to kill Cantrell with three precise shots. The Kid goes next, and also wins. That evening, The Lady faces off with Herod s associate Eugene Dred after he rapes the saloon owner s young daughter but refuses to kill him until forced to defend herself. Horrified by having taken a life, she rides out of town.

The next day, Cort duels a Native American gunfighter named Spotted Horse. Cort shoots his opponent, but Herod refuses him a second bullet to finish the wounded Horse as the native stumbles around firing wildly. However, Cort is tossed a cartridge by a blind sundries boy and succeeds in finishing Spotted Horse, much to Herod s amusement and satisfaction at turning the preacher back into a killer. Doc Wallace finds The Lady at a nearby cemetery and tells her that he recognizes her and knows why she is there. Flashbacks reveal that the Lady s real name is Ellen. Her father was the marshal in Redemption until a young Herod and his gang left him to hang. Herod gives Ellen his own custom pistol (similar to the one she carries as an adult) to shoot the rope and save him, but Ellen accidentally shot her father instead. Doc hands Ellen her father s old badge and begs her to help rid the town of Herod.

Ellen rides back to town and convinces Cort to help her defeat Herod. Ellen challenges Herod, but he has already accepted a challenge from The Kid. As Ellen and Cort are the only fighters left, Herod orders them to fight, threatening to kill them himself if they refuse. Herod urges The Kid to withdraw, but he refuses. He wounds Herod but ultimately loses the duel. Herod coldly refuses to take his hand while he dies, only saying that it was never proven that he was the Kid s real father.

When Cort and Ellen face off, Cort shoots her in the chest and Doc declares Ellen dead. Cort angrily demands to fight Herod immediately but settles for dawn of the next day. That night, one of Herod s men, Ratsy, breaks Cort s right hand. Before the duel, Herod personally kills Ratsy for dishonoring the tournament. Herod confesses that he fears Cort, which is why he forced him to enter the tournament. As a matter of honor, he offers to fight Cort left-handed, but still instructs his henchmen to kill Cort if he wins.

At the moment Herod draws, several buildings explode, including Herod s house and the clock tower. Ellen emerges from the smoke and flames, having faked her death and planted The Kid s dynamite with help from Cort, Doc, and the blind sundries boy. Cort kills Herod s remaining henchmen while Ellen faces off against Herod, revealing her identity by throwing her father s badge at his feet. Herod wounds Ellen but she shoots him through the chest and finishes him off with a bullet to the eye. Tossing the badge to Cort, she says, The law s come back to town , then saddles up and rides away.

Cast

• Sharon Stone as Ellen The Lady Stacy Linn Ramsower as Young Ellen
• Stacy Linn Ramsower as Young Ellen
• Gene Hackman as John Herod
• Russell Crowe as Cort
• Leonardo DiCaprio as Fee The Kid Herod
• Pat Hingle as Horace, The Bartender
• Kevin Conway as Eugene Dred
• Keith David as Sergeant Clay Cantrell
• Lance Henriksen as Ace Hanlon
• Mark Boone Junior as Scars
• Tobin Bell as Dog Kelly
• Raynor Scheine as Ratsy
• Lennie Loftin as Foy
• Fay Masterson as Mattie Silk
• Olivia Burnette as Katie
• Roberts Blossom as Doc Wallace
• Gary Sinise as The Marshal
• Sven-Ole Thorsen as Swede Gutzon
• David Cornell as Simp Dixon
• Josef Rainer as Virgil Sparks
• Arturo Gastelum as Carlos Montoya
• Scott Spiegel as Gold Teeth Man
• Woody Strode as Charlie Moonlight
• Bruce Campbell as Wedding Shemp
• Jonothon Gill as Spotted Horse
• Jerry Swindall as The Blind Boy

Production

Development

Writer Simon Moore finished his spec script for The Quick and the Dead in late 1992, writing it as a homage to the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, particularly the Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood. The writer decided the lead character should be a female. When you introduce women into that kind of world, something very interesting happens and you have an interesting dynamic straight away, Moore commented. The names of the lead villain (Herod) and the town (Redemption) were intentional allusions to the Bible. Moore considered directing his own script as an independent film and shooting The Quick and the Dead on a $3–4 million budget in either Spain or Italy.

Sony Pictures Entertainment purchased Moore s script in May 1993 and approached Sharon Stone to star in the lead role in July 1993. Because Stone also signed on as co-producer, she had approval over the choice of director. Sam Raimi was hired to direct because Stone was impressed with his work on Army of Darkness (1992). The actress told the producers that if Raimi did not direct the film, she would not star in it. Although she had mixed emotions on Raimi s previous work, she believed that the director still had yet to showcase his talents, feeling that The Quick and the Dead would be a perfect opportunity to stretch the limits of his technical and creative ability. Moore was also enthusiastic over Raimi s hiring, based on his previous work with the Evil Dead film series.

When Sony began fast tracking development of The Quick and the Dead, the studio commissioned a series of rewrites from Moore. The writer was eventually dismissed and replaced with John Sayles, who, according to Moore, took Sony s orders of making more of an American Old West film. Moore was rehired with filming to begin in three weeks because Sayles script was approaching a 2.5 hour runtime. When rewriting the shooting script, Moore simply omitted Sayles work without Sony noticing. A week before shooting, Sony considered the script good so that Moore described the rewrites a completely fucking pointless exercise.

Filming

Russell Crowe originally auditioned for a different role in the film before Sharon Stone asked that the actor try for the lead male role. When I saw Romper Stomper (1992), I thought Russell was not only charismatic, attractive and talented but also fearless, Stone reasoned. And I find fearlessness very attractive. I was convinced I wouldn t scare him. Raimi found Crowe to be bold and challenging. He reminds me of what we imagine the American cowboy to have been like. On working with Raimi, Crowe later described the director as sort of like the fourth Stooge.

Sony Pictures was dubious over Stone s choice of Crowe because he was not a famous actor in the mid-1990s. To cast Gene Hackman in the role of Herod, TriStar Pictures changed the shooting location from Durango, Mexico to Tucson, Arizona. Matt Damon was offered the role of Fee The Kid Herod but declined. Sam Rockwell auditioned for The Kid, a role which ended up going to Leonardo DiCaprio. Sony was also hesitant about DiCaprio s casting. As a result, Stone paid DiCaprio s salary herself.

Filming was originally set to begin in October 1993, but was delayed because Crowe was busy on another film in Australia. Principal photography for The Quick and the Dead lasted from November 21, 1993 to February 27, 1994. Locations included Old Tucson Studios in Arizona and Mescal, 40 miles southeast of Tucson. Production was briefly halted at times over weather problems. Thell Reed, who was hired as the gun coach and weapons master, worked with the cast through over three months of training. To age Cort s Colt 1851 Navy Revolver and the other guns used, Reed experimented with simple measures. I took them out by my swimming pool and dipped them in chlorine water to let them rust, he explained. They looked rusty and old, but were brand new guns. Such detail, including the nickel plating and ivory handles on Ellen s Colt Peacemakers, was accurate to the time period.

The town of Redemption was designed by Patrizia von Brandenstein, known for her work on Amadeus (1984) and The Untouchables (1987). Raimi s first choice as the visual effects supervisor was William Mesa, his collaborator on Darkman (1990) and Army of Darkness (1992). Instead, Sony chose The Computer Film Company to create the VFX sequences. Pick-up scenes took place through November - December 1994. This included an extended duel between Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman.

Stone had a love scene with Crowe removed from the final cut of The Quick and the Dead before the film s release in the United States. The actress/co-producer thought the scene did not fit in with the picture s established reality. It was restored for the home cinema releases of the film.

Soundtrack

The original motion picture soundtrack for The Quick and the Dead, was released by the Varèse Sarabande music label on February 14, 1995. The score for the film was composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri and mixed by Dennis Sands. Kenneth Karman and Thomas Drescher edited the film s music.

The Quick and the Dead: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Film score by Alan Silvestri
Released	February 14, 1995
Length	31:01
Label	Varèse Sarabande

The Quick and the Dead: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

No.	Title	Length
1.	Redemption	3:25
2.	Gunfight Montage	1:41
3.	Couldn t Tell Us Apart	1:17
4.	John Herod	1:21
5.	Ellen s First Round	1:10
6.	Lady s the Winner	0:47
7.	Dinner Tonight	2:11
8.	Cort s Story	1:02
9.	Ellen vs. Dred	1:10
10.	Kid vs. Herod	4:17
11.	I Don t Wanna Die	2:00
12.	The Big Day	2:27
13.	Ellen Returns	3:54
14.	The Law s Come Back to Town	0:49
15.	The Quick and the Dead (End Credits)	3:30
Total length:		31:01

Release

Box office

The Quick and the Dead was released in the U.S. and Canada on February 10, 1995 in 2,158 theaters, earning $6,515,861 in its opening weekend, placing second at the US box office behind Billy Madison by $124,000. It placed number one at the box office for the week. The film eventually grossed $18,636,537 at the US and Canadian box office. Writer Simon Moore noted that the film performed modestly in Europe. The movie grossed $28 million outside the United States and Canada, for a worldwide gross of $47 million.

Director Sam Raimi later blamed himself and his visual style for the film s failure. I was very confused after I made that movie. For a number of years I thought, I m like a dinosaur. I couldn t change with the material. TriStar Pictures also showed The Quick and the Dead as an out-of-competition film at the May 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Additionally, Stone was nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Actress, but lost to Angela Bassett in Strange Days. A novelization written by Jack Curtis was published by HarperCollins in September 1995. The Region 1 DVD release came in September 1998.

Critical reception

The Quick and the Dead received mixed reviews from film critics. Based on 40 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 58%, with an average rating of 6.01/10. The site s consensus states: The Quick and the Dead isn t quite the draw that its intriguing premise and pedigree suggest, but fans of nontraditional Westerns should have some rootin tootin fun. Metacritic calculated an average score of 49/100, based on 21 reviews.

Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised Stone s performance and Raimi s directing. Stone s presence nicely underscores the genre-bending tactics of Raimi, the cult filmmaker now doing his best to reinvent the B movie in a spirit of self-referential glee. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times criticized the film for being overtly cliché, but praised Raimi s direction and Dante Spinotti s cinematography. Critic and Raimi biographer Bill Warren wrote that the film is a very conscious (though not self-conscious) attempt to recreate some of the themes, style and appeal of Sergio Leone s majestically operatic Spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s, especially the Man with No Name trilogy that starred Clint Eastwood. It s brisker, more romantic and somehow more American than Leone s movies.

Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader observed that Raimi tries to do a Sergio Leone, and though The Quick and the Dead is highly enjoyable in spots, it doesn t come across as very convincing, perhaps because nothing can turn Sharon Stone into Charles Bronson. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt that The Quick and the Dead plays like a crazed compilation of highlights from famous westerns. Raimi finds the right look but misses the heartbeat. You leave the film dazed instead of dazzled, as if an expert marksman had drawn his gun only to shoot himself in the foot.

Legacy

Critical reassessment

Although having a mixed critical reception upon release, The Quick and the Dead has received praise from both critics and fans alike. Tom Reimann of Collider considers the film as one of Raimi s best movies: The movie is so unabashedly bonkers that it’s impossible not to have a good time. Scott Hallam of Dread Central praised Raimi s directing and versatility in multiple genres of film and the cast. Jay Royston of WhatCulture.com praised the film and considered it one of Raimi s finest movies by saying, ...I have to put it in the top 3 Raimi movies, maybe because it is so unlike other Raimi films yet combines all three of the best qualities of a director already mentioned; working with actors, innovating camera shots and telling a good story visually. Bill Gibron of PopMatters said, This was the geek breaking point for many a certified Raimaniac. First off, it was a Western in the days when the genre was more or less struggling for life. In addition, it starred a yet to be hot Leonardo DiCaprio, a question mark named Russell Crowe, and the sexually inert Sharon Stone. About the only thing it had going for it was Raimi s manic direction, and even that seemed…showy. Still, in retrospect, this is a good film, undermined by forces outside itself. Richard Schertzer of MovieWeb considered the film as one of Raimi s best films: With it s energy, a subversive female lead from Stone, and its surprising violence, The Quick and the Dead makes for a strong entry in his repertoire as a filmmaker and a wondrous first time western for him. Patrick Philips from Looper also praised the movie and considered it a cult classic : Of all the films on Sam Raimi s delightfully left-of-center resume, this is the one that deserves to be rediscovered by the cinematic world — if only via midnight screenings. BJ Colangelo of /Film also praised the movie and considered it one of Raimi’s most underrated films: “There are enough dutch angle dolly zooms in this film to make someone feel disoriented, but it works. The Quick and the Dead has the heart of a classic Western, but revamped for modern audiences with snappier taste.“ The eponymous critic at Film Critic: Adrian Martin remarked, Sam Raimi’s The Quick and the Dead is a feminist Western starring a gun-toting Sharon Stone a terrific scene where Lady goes berserk and challenges a guy who has just sexually abused the teenage daughter of the sad saloonkeeper. Raimi takes us straight from Stone’s split-second outburst of recognition to the sight of her racing forward in the pelting rain, both guns firing in righteous fury, screaming from the depths of her soul. Leone himself couldn’t have done that bit any better.

Condition

New

Age group Format

DVD

Amazon ASIN

B00G4SBLN2

UPC / EAN

043396182387

Year

1995

ReleaseDate

1995-02-10

RuntimeMins

108

RuntimeStr

1h 48min

Awards

Awards, 1 nomination

Directors

Sam Raimi

Writers

Simon Moore

Stars

Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe

Produced by

Chuck Binder, Joshua Donen, Toby Jaffe, Patrick Markey, Allen Shapiro, Sharon Stone, Rob Tapert

Music by

Alan Silvestri

Cinematography by

Dante Spinotti

Film Editing by

Pietro Scalia

Casting By

Francine Maisler

Production Design by

Patrizia von Brandenstein

Art Direction by

Steve Saklad

Set Decoration by

Hilton Rosemarin

Costume Design by

Judianna Makovsky

Makeup Department

Fred C. Blau Jr., Meg Brennan, Kimberly Felix, Robin Jacobs, Paul LeBlanc, Gary Liddiard, Anne Morgan, Douglas Noe, Bunny Parker, Tricia Sawyer, Tina Sims, Kathe Swanson, Christine M. Guararra, Loretta James-Demasi

Production Management

Carole Fontana, Karen Hughes, Patrick Markey

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director

Sarah Addington, John Cameron, Terry Leonard, Lisa C. Satriano, Denis L. Stewart, Bob Wagner

Art Department

Chris Alvarez, Chris Barnes, Daniel Boxer, Helen Britten, Jeffrey DeBell, Vicki Dittemore, David Elliott, Richard Fernandez, Ellen Freund, Paul Arthur Hartman, Christopher Hayes, Ralph Horn, J. David Keefe, Larry D. Koszakovszky, Bill Land, Doug Lefler, Saul Lieberman, David McKlveen, Thomas Moffitt, Paul Penley, Armando Quiroz, Lee Ross, Phillipa Sledge, John Snow, Brian Stewart, James F. Truesdale, Chris Ubick, Tim Y. Wetzel, Mark Wieringa, Andrea Cantrell, Nell Dickerson, Samuel Hughes

Sound Department

Christopher S. Aud, James Beshears, Noah Blough, Scott Burrow, David B. Cohn, John T. Cucci, Valerie Davidson, Patrick J. Foley, John Fundus, Nerses Gezalyan, Jeremy J. Gordon, Mark Gordon, Gary A. Hecker, Nicholas James, Fred Johnston, Jay Kamen, Mark Lanza, Dennis Maitland, Mark L. Mangino, Larry Mann, Dan O Connell, Steve Olson, Sergio Reyes, B. Tennyson Sebastian III, Steven Ticknor, Gregory H. Watkins, David Williams, Marshall Winn, Tim Gomillion

Special Effects by

Jack Davis, Al Di Sarro, Bob Graham, Michael Meinardus, Joe D. Ramsey, Kevin Russell, Andrew Sebok, Karl Swauger, Evan Campbell, John Gillan, Mike Sasgen, Wayne Toth

Visual Effects by

James Balsam, Peter Donen, David Fuhrer, Pete Hanson, Rob Hodgson, Janek Sirrs

Stunts

Robin Baldwin, Alan Becker, Moore Brian, Troy Brown, Kurt Bryant, R.J. Chambers, Tori Davis, Thomas Dewier, Dennis Dion, Doc Duhame, Doc Elliot, Teri Garland, Chuck Henson, James Alan Hensz, Ronald LaCaria, Robert Lee, Terry Leonard, William Morts, Francis Rockwell, Dean Smith, Jeff Smolek, Byron Wilkerson, Megan Wilkerson, John Hudkins, Ronald LaCaria, Lane Leavitt, Monty L. Simons, Neil Summers

Camera and Electrical Department

Dan Bennett, Erik L. Brown, Philippe Carr-Forster, Murray Close, Keith Collea, Pam Connor, Gerrit Garretsen, Daniel R. Haizlip, Bob Hall, Gary Huddleston, W.C. Chunky Huse, Robert Jason, Gary Jay, Mansur Johnson, Peter Kuttner, Brian LeGrady, Duane Charles Manwiller, Susie Masterson, Kelsey Shaw McNeal, Ted Morris, Louis Niemeyer, Rod Robertson, Monty Rowan, Kyle Rudolph, Gary W. Shaw, Mark Spath, David St. Onge, Andrew Taylor, Tiffany Toby, Clifton Dance, Glen Holland, Richard Kelley, Jason Newton

Casting Department

Kathy Driscoll, Robin Gurland, Cecily Jordan, Michael Stumpf, James Velasquez, Sylvia Vidaurri

Costume and Wardrobe Department

Dallas D. Dornan, Sarah Edwards, Bruce Ericksen, Blanca Garcia, Carrie Hollinger, Glenn Ralston, Barbara Shiff, Raquel Stewart, Rebeka L. Roberts

Editorial Department

Tom Barrett, Quincy Z. Gunderson, Chris Innis, Devon Miller, David Orr, Chisako Yokoyama

Location Management

Carole Fontana

Music Department

Chris Boardman, Tom Boyd, Tom Brown, James B. Campbell, Sandy DeCrescent, Thomas S. Drescher, Bruce Dukov, Daniel Gold, Sean M. Hickey, Jim Hoffman, Kenneth Karman, William Ross, Dennis S. Sands, Steven Scott Smalley, Steven L. Smith, Jacqueline Tager, James Thatcher

Script and Continuity Department

Trudy Ramirez, Mamie Mitchell, John Sayles

Transportation Department

Wayne Jones, Brian Steagall, Tom Whelpey, Kip Wolverton, David G. Todd

Additional Crew

Derek Adleta, Lesley Brander, Stanley Brossette, Kim Burke, Mark Burner, Kimberly Burns, Julie Cameron, Robert Dawson, Tamara Dow, Susan Dukow, Bill Getzwiller, Tony Giglio, Monica Goldstein, Adam Gomez, Kristine Harlan, James Alan Hensz, Jackie Jacobson, Jake Johnson, Bob Lester, Erin Maguire, K.C. Marsh, Matt Marx, Karen L. McFadden, Donald Murphy, Brian O Kelley, David Pollison, Susan Powell, Shauna Reed, Thell Reed, Tina Reynolds, Barbara Rosing Hoke, Pat Becannon Sarver, Burton Sharp, Molli Simon, Horst Steiner, Tink Ten Eyck, Frank J. Trigani, Joseph D. Urbanczyk, Sharon Vise, Brenda Wadsworth, Heather Wray, Sonia Apodaca, David Bifano, Alex Daniels, Pat Larkin, Angela Michelle Navarro, John Peel, Ivan Raimi, Joss Whedon

Thanks

Woody Strode

Genres

Action, Romance, Thriller

Companies

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

Countries

USA, Japan

Languages

English, Spanish

ContentRating

R

ImDbRating

6.5

ImDb Rating Votes

95574

Metacritic Rating

49

Short Description

The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 American revisionist Western film directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. The screenplay was written by Simon Moore but includes contributions from Joss Whedon. The story focuses on The Lady (Stone), a gunfighter who rides into the frontier town of Redemption, controlled by John Herod (Hackman). The Lady joins a deadly dueling competition in an attempt to exact revenge for her father s death.

Simon Moore s script was purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment in May 1993, and actress Sharon Stone signed on as both star and co-producer. Development was fast tracked after director Sam Raimi s hiring, and principal photography began in Old Tucson Studios in Arizona on November 21, 1993. The film was distributed by TriStar Pictures and was released in the United States on February 10, 1995, to a dismal box office performance, receiving mixed reviews from critics. In later years, however, the film has earned critical praise especially for the performances, direction, cinematography and musical score, with some critics noting it as underrated in Raimi s catalog.

This was Russell Crowe s American Western film debut and was Woody Strode s final performance (the film is dedicated to him), as well as the last theatrical release of Roberts Blossom who died in 2011. The phrase the quick and the dead is from the Second Epistle to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:1) in various Bible versions, including the King James Bible, describing the final judgment. The plot of this film bears no resemblance to that of the 1987 film of the same name, which was based on a western novel by Louis L Amour.

Box Office Budget

$32,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office Opening Weekend USA

$6,515,861

Box Office Gross USA

$18,636,537

Box Office Cumulative Worldwide Gross

$18,636,537

Keywords

Female gunfighter,arizona,revenge,street shootout,showdown