The Quick And The Dead [Blu-ray] [2009] [Region Free]

A film I have always intended to watch but until now had passed me by until now, noticed it on Prime Video and set it as one to watch, not sure why given the brilliant cast-listings I have somehow not seen before.Among Its key-cast -Sharon Stone - The LadyGene Hackman - John HerodRussell Crowe - Cortand (pre-Titanic) Leonardo DiCaprio - The Kid.The story tells of how 'The Lady' rides into the town of Redemption with revenge for her Father's death when still a child in mindHer target John Herod a former ouindtlaw who seemingly owns the town and the people in it, Herod, not only a fast-gun he has several gunmen to back him up.Cort, a prisoner of Herod who is chained-up like an animal, Herod has a point to prove, Cort also a fast-gun used to ride with Herod who now wants to prove himself the better man.The Kid, also a fast-gun is Herod's son who doesn't believe his father cares/ really sees him.John Herod with the lure of a big cash prize has set up a fast-draw elimination contest for those brave enough toenter, the rules- You cannot refuse a challenge, You must fight once each day, You win if you kill your opponent or your opponent yieldsThe Lady enters the contest claiming only to be interested in the prize money, Cort however who is now a preacher doesn't want to take part but, Herod threatening to hang Cort forces the former gunman to do so but only after The Lady shoots the rope away from Cort's neck and saves him.The Lady and the chained-up Cort begin to talk.As the contest progresses, Herod changes the rules, the gunfight is to the death, the winner lives to fight another day.The inevitable semi-final is set up with The Lady and Cort drawn to face each other, however, both vow not to kill the other, will Herod force their hand?Who will prevail when the contest concludes?A fun and action-packed Western in which Gene Hackman is as usual outstanding.Not the best Western you'll ever see, however certainly worth a glance.

Love the details of silver guns in this movie. And also details costumes

I'm glad that I have the chance to be the first reviewer of this movie, for in general it was considered as a failure both for S Stone and S Raimi to resurrect style and hype of spaghetti-westerns.Despite its several flaws (like numerous annoying shots of the main characters' eyes staring intently at each other to enhance suspense, Ms Stone's at times blank face when it should reflect stronger emotions, some characters so bad and revolting that they make you chuckle), I've seen it for the second time and it made me grab my chair in childish excitement.The plot is stark simple (see above, but in short a dozen rascals participating in a lethal shooting contest till last man standing), as well as the reasons driving the main characters to participate in the murderous contest: Ms Stone - to avenge her father, the Kid (L d Caprio) - to win his father's respect, Herod (J Hackman) - to keep townsfolk submissive and to teach his best and repented "pupil" Cort (R Crow) a lesson of abeyance, others - for money (but they don't matter).True, leading actors carry out the plot on their steady shoulders: * R. Crow emanates sexual charisma and suppressed prowess (long before world wide fame as macho Maximus the Gladiator) even if he spends all the movie shackled and beaten. ...*L de Caprio is well into the shape of boyish and outside haughty/inside weak-trying-to-prove-he's-better-than-his-father, long before downpour of post-Titanic fame. *J Hackman isthe perfect scoundrel,ageing scavenger, full stop. As to * Sh Stone, she remains one of the sassiest and talented actresses for me(praise her, fore she spends 2/3 of the movie rather disheveled), despite several movie flops she's participated in. She's carried her role well, with mixed feelings of despair, indifference and revulsion (at least I can't imagine any other actress in this role).The end is unexpected and is not a usual annoying happy-end. What more do you need? Watch and enjoy and don't compare this movie with any earlier masterpieces. ...it may count S Raimi's best movie so far.

There are great movies, sad movies, moving movies, emotional movies, thrillers, comedies, feel good and cathartic movies. And then there are silly movies. This is a silly movie. I don’t know what Gene Hackman was thinking when he signed up to this. Sharon Stone tries to play a quiet “woman with no name” character and totally fails to develop it. Leonardo di Caprio probably just wanted to be in a western with Hackman and never bothered to read the script. It’s worth three stars max.

Raimi has a style and here he puts it to good use making a western. Is it the best western ever, no, does it have a ton of stereotypical western cliches, yes. But thats the point, it's not meant to be thought provoking because it's just a fun movie with lots of shoot outs. The visual style is superb, the way the close ups and zoom in's are handled give it a unique look which really works well. The acting is on point but then considering the case it would have to be, lol.There are a few minor niggly story elements that don't make any sense. For example why would Ellen wait so long to come take her revenge and if she only wanted Herod dead why go through the whole competition where she might get killed at any time? She doesn't care about the town people, she makes that obvious several times. The end is a little weird and makes no sense. She just got shot, is in pain and bleeding and yet she mounts her horse and rides out of town ... a town she just freed from tyranny and in which she is a hero now. Of course she did blow half of it up (why exactly?) so maybe she is worried someone might get annoyed at that, LOL.