Taglines: You can’t ignore her. You can’t beat her. You can’t resist her. You can’t win…
The Quick and the Dead movie storyline. Ellen (Sharon Stone), 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.
The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 American 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 US on February 10, 1995 to a dismal box office performance, receiving lukewarm reviews from critics.
This was Russell Crowe’s American film debut. This 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 Book of Common Prayer and its version of the Apostles’ Creed, describing the final judgement. 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.
About the Story
An unnamed gunslinger known only as The Lady enters the Old West town of Redemption circa 1881, where she enters a single elimination gunfighting contest held by Redemption’s ruthless mayor and former outlaw John Herod. She encounters the Blind Shoeshine Boy and the repulsive escaped convict named Scars, whose proposition she harshly rebuffs.
That night in the saloon it is made clear that all contestants are free to indulge in whatever they want in town and the rules of the competition are explained: if a contestant is challenged they cannot refuse, each contestant must fight once a day, and the fight ends when a contestant yields or is dead While there she meets Cort, a former Herod henchman turned preacher whom Herod has captured and forced to enter the contest.
During her first night in town, The Lady saves Cort’s life by shooting through the rope Herod’s men had used to hang him. She drunkenly spends the night with “The Kid”, a brash young man who runs a gun store and who hopes to impress Herod. The Kid believes Herod is his father and that he can earn his father’s respect by entering and winning the contest.
In the first round of duels The Kid defeats a Swedish quick-draw champion while Herod kills a braggart named Ace Hanlon, who had taken credit for some of Herod’s own accomplishments. The Lady defeats an enemy she had previously left shackled to a wagon. Cort, who has renounced violence and doesn’t have a weapon, is taken to the Kid’s store. Herod buys Cort a cheap rusty gun and decrees that Cort (an exceptionally skilled gunfighter) can only have one bullet at a time so that he doesn’t shoot his way out of town.
Despite telling everyone he wouldn’t fight Cort draws his gun, to his own amazement, and wins his first round fight. During a rainstorm Herod meets with Clay Cantrell, a professional gunfighter hired by the townspeople to kill Herod. Before they duel, Herod changes the rules and proclaims that all contests are now to the death.
After killing Cantrell, Herod angrily addresses the townspeople and informs them that he will continue to raise his taxes on them until they understand that he is in charge of everything. During a rainstorm that evening The Lady faces off with Eugene Dred after he rapes the saloon owners young daughter. She shoots him in the genitals but spares his life and returns to the bar, but Dred ambushes her and she is ultimately forced to kill him.
The next day, Cort is slated to fight Spotted Horse, an American Indian who claims he “cannot be killed by a bullet”. The Lady, still upset over killing Dred the night before, saddles up and rides out of town before Cort’s fight. Cort narrowly beats Spotted Horse after having to beg for a second bullet.
The Lady is found at a nearby cemetery by Doc Wallace, who tells her that he recognizes her and knows why she is there. During flashbacks, it is revealed that the Lady’s real name is Ellen, and father used to be the Marshal in Redemption until Herod invaded, killed all the deputies and had him strung up. Herod gave Ellen a pistol and three shots to try and break the rope her father was hanging from, but she accidentally killed him with the first shot, something Doc Wallace witnessed.
The reason Ellen returned to Redemption was to avenge her father, but the trauma of Dred’s death has made her reconsider her decision. Doc Wallace tells her that Herod’s men dug up her father’s body and burned it. He hands Ellen her father’s old badge and begs her to come back and help rid the town of Herod, as she and Cort are now Redemption’s only hope.
The Quick and the Dead movie trailer.
The Quick and the Dead (1995)
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Roberts Blossom, Kevin Conway, Lance Henriksen, Pat Hingle, Gary Sinise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Fay Masterson
Screenplay by: Simon Moore
Production Design by: Patrizia von Brandenstein
Cinematography by: Dante Spinotti
Film Editing by: Pietro Scalia
Costume Design by: Judianna Makovsky
Set Decoration by: Hilton Rosemarin, Brian Stewart
Art Direction by: Steve Saklad
Music by: Alan Silvestri
MPAA Rating: R for western violence
Distributed by: TriStar Pictures
Release Date: February 10, 1995
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