The Quick and the Dead (1995)
64%RT Audience Score: 53%
Awards & Nominations: 1 nomination
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
The Quick and the Dead is a wild ride through the Wild West, with enough gun-slinging action to make even the most stoic cowboy crack a smile. Sure, the plot may be a bit thin, but who needs a complex storyline when you’ve got Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman facing off in a battle of wits and bullets? Sam Raimi’s direction is as inventive as ever, with plenty of visual gags and clever special effects to keep you on the edge of your seat. So grab your hat and your six-shooter, partner, and get ready for a rootin’ tootin’ good time!
Production Company(ies)
Backup Media, Big Farm Broadcasting Authority of Ireland
Distributor
Columbia Tristar, TriStar Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Old Tucson – 201 S. Kinney Road, Tucson, Arizona, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for western violence
Year of Release
1995
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Color:Color
Black and White -
Sound mix:Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 45m
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Language(s):English, Spanish
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 10, 1995 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 29, 2001
Genre(s)
Western/Action
Keyword(s)
starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobin Bell, Roberts Blossom, directed by Sam Raimi, written by Simon Moore, Western, Action, box office performance, budget, reviewed by Owen Gleiberman, Derek Adams, Janet Maslin, Peter Travers, Matt Ford, Kenneth Turan, David Nusair, Brian Costello, James Plath, Jeffrey M Anderson, Chuck O’Leary, produced by Allen Shapiro, Patrick Markey, Joshua Donen, R MPAA rating, revenge, gunslinger, quick-draw tournament, miscreants, outlaws, sharpshooters, showdown, death, sadistic mayor, upstart, score to settle, nontraditional Westerns, eyeball-to-eyeball fireworks, black comedy, Leone oater, visual style, special effects, Henriksen’s part, cocky Billy the Kid archetype, rogues gallery, character actors, beat em up, shoot em up, tournament, corny, dubious acting, glossy, homage to Sergio Leone, top horror movies, MCU movies, Netflix series, TV premiere dates, worst horror movies, Fandango
Worldwide gross: $18,636,537
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $36,646,138
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,473
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 3,996,307
US/Canada gross: $18,636,537
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $36,646,138
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,197
US/Canada opening weekend: $6,515,861
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $12,812,527
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 870
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $32,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $62,923,515
Production budget ranking: 655
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $33,884,313
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$60,161,690
ROI to date (est.): -62%
ROI ranking: 1,759
Gene Hackman – John Herod
Russell Crowe – Cort
Leonardo DiCaprio – The Kid
Tobin Bell – Dog Kelly
Roberts Blossom – Doc Wallace
Director(s)
Sam Raimi
Writer(s)
Simon Moore
Producer(s)
Allen Shapiro, Patrick Markey, Joshua Donen
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
1 nomination
Academy Awards
All Critics (40) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (17)
The plot of this low-camp revenge thriller is little more than an excuse to line up one badass cowboy (or girl) opposite another and let the eyeball-to-eyeball fireworks fly.
September 7, 2011 | Rating: C
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly
TOP CRITIC
A deadpan black comedy, Sam Raimi’s fast-paced movie looks and sounds like a Leone oater but more so.
June 24, 2006
Derek Adams
Time Out
TOP CRITIC
Mr. Raimi is limited by a sketch mentality, which means his jokes tend to be over long before his films end. But his tastes for visual mischief and crazy, ill-advised homage can still make for sly, sporadic fun.
May 20, 2003 | Rating: 3/4
Janet Maslin
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
What Raimi can’t find is a center. He hankers for us to giggle at the brutal archetypes he’s parodying and to warm to them, too. It won’t wash, pardner.
May 12, 2001
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
The whole film has tremendous visual style, and the frequent bursts of violence are delivered with a clever and often hilarious use of special effects.
April 17, 2001 | Rating: 4/5
Matt Ford
BBC.com
TOP CRITIC
Rarely dull, it is not noticeably compelling either, and as the derivative offshoot of a derivative genre, it inevitably runs out of energy well before any of its hotshots runs out of bullets.
February 13, 2001 | Rating: 2/5
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
TOP CRITIC
…a pared-down premise that’s employed to predominantly entertaining (and sporadically spellbinding) effect by Raimi…
October 2, 2020 | Rating: 3/4
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews
Frequent gun violence in quirky ’90s Western.
March 11, 2015 | Rating: 4/5
Brian Costello
Common Sense Media
Sam Raimi does a lot of interesting things in The Quick and the Dead and Sharon Stone plays a convincing female gunfighter, but the one-horse plot with no subplots to generate additional interest becomes a drag.
September 19, 2009 | Rating: 6/10
James Plath
Movie Metropolis
Raimi’s movie borrows heavily from classic spaghetti westerns, but Raimi has a style of his own, and plenty of it.
February 3, 2007
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid
October 9, 2005 | Rating: 2/5
Chuck O’Leary
Fantastica Daily
Raimi’s gimmicky but endlessly inventive direction gives it plenty of gas, and the excellent cast takes it the rest of the way.
September 2, 2005 | Rating: 4/5
Rob Vaux
Flipside Movie Emporium…
Plot
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 …
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
The Quick and the Dead boasts a star-studded cast including Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
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