The Quick & The Dead

Introduction

 
The town of Redemption is controlled by John Herod (Gene Hackman), who rules the roost with an iron fist.  He imposes tax rates that even Gordon Brown would baulk at, 50c in the $, and for this privilege he allows the town's residents to merely survive.  Every year, this master of the quick draw also imposes a competition where the fastest gunslingers all compete for lots of cash but can wind up wounded or dead.
 
This year, a blonde stranger rolls into town with a secret.  The Lady (Sharon Stone) is here to kill John Herod but finds that she has to enter the competition in order to do this.  Stone is joined by ex-bandit, now preacher, Cort (Russell Crowe); a man who used to run with Herod before the life and Herod's cruelty got too much for him.  Herod has arranged for Cort to be brought to Redemption in chains in order to force him to take parting the contest.
 
Also up for the big prize money is Herod's son The Kid (Leonardo DiCaprio), flash gunslinger Ace Hanlon (Lance Henrikson) and Sgt Clay Cantrell (Keith David).
 

Picture

 
As with Striking Distance, the picture is a pretty solid but unremarkable high definition picture.  There were some frames that you could really see were worthy of BD, but others that just looked ordinary.  Some of the sky shots had far too much grain in them as well.
 

Overall

 
Have to say, I'm not a big fan of this Sam Raimi-helmed Western.  That's not to say it doesn't have it's good points but the plot to this film is rather thin and despite that, the protagonists still rigidly to it with Stone's character not looking to kill Hackman outside of the contest.  Stone herself is quite believable as the vengeful cowgirl, forgoing all the makeup that leading actresses tend to be enveloped in for a more natural and windswept look.  Kudo's to her for that.
 
It's also good to see both Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio just prior to hitting it big in Hollywood, DiCaprio in particular looks extremely young here - even though he does in most of his roles, he looks about 14 here.  The other cast members are extremely impressive too with Keith David and Lance Henrikson in particular looking pretty good value for money, joined by a coiffeured Sinise in a minor but important role (can you guess what it is yet?).
 
The problem with this film is that it's too fast paced with photography tricks that just seem out of place in a Western and some quite laughable effects that would have seemed fine in the horror genre but, again, not in a Western.
 
I hoped I might like this when I got it, having never seen it before, I was wrong…