Rating: 
Summary: Much better than advertised
Review: Anytime you got Gene Hackman as a heavy totin' a 6 gun you've got some serious potential. Here you've got a real unappreciated gem I guess cause a feminist gunfighter smacks the genre right in the mouth. However, Sharon Stone manages somehow to be credible...it still blows my mind having grown up with classic westerns. This movie is pure entertainment and I even enjoy Leonardo DeCaprio prancing around and showing off for his (spoiler alert) estranged father in Mr.Herod, self appointed king of the local 'ville'. Fun, funny, and with healthy doses of action. Lance Henricksen is one of my favorites as a cocky gunslinger that enjoys doing aerobics off the back of his horse. I can't even deduct points for my natural dislike for Russell Crowe cause he's actually very good as a reformed killer, and handles a six gun pretty spiffilly. A fun movie if you can muster a new set of eyes when you watch. 5 cartridges
Rating: 
Summary: Plenty of action to keep this western spoof interesting
Review: This 1995 film is certainly not to be taken seriously. It's a western that's a spoof of westerns and sure is enjoyable. There's a big name cast - Sharon Stone as the avenged lady gunfighter, Gene Hackman as the cruel boss of the town, Leonardo DiCaprio as the son of the boss, and Russell Crowe as a former gunfighter turned preacher. There's a big contest going on, with pairs of gunfighters fighting to the death until there's no one left standing. And plenty of action as yet another poor loser bites the dust. Cinematography is excellent and so is the directing. This is the typical western town etched in all of our minds. But the characters use some modern slang. And Sharon Stone wears designer sun glasses. The acting is good and the story moved fast. It held my interest throughout and I recommend it as good escape viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Quick Flick
Review: Yadda, yadda, yadda...this movie has been picked apart by every film critic for the lack of a "deep story" or "not adhering" to the rules of how a true spaghetti western should be created. One can see why Sharon Stone seemed to immensely enjoy her role; she broke the age old "western" notion/tradition that the town's mysterious stranger has to be a man. Her role as Ellen/Lady is both sexy and intelligent (albeit at times her moves and mannerisms too choreographed and lines predictable...so what).This role is far from her glamorous usual roles (yet she still looks good !). What's enticing about this film is how the pace of action and story telling moves at an alarming rate without losing the viewer's interest.The entire cast is great, almost too great for a mere 108 minutes of film time. But that's the beauty of this flick. Also, the direction or production is pure Raimi style with the intense close ups and bigger than life picturesque back scenes. Yet, an underlying tone of tongue in cheek caricaturism of the typical spaghetti western style exists ;it's almost an homage. Hackman is at his evil best as Herod (think of King Herod from the bible) and a young DiCaprio shows he's not just a young kid playing "The Kid". This was also one of Russel Crowe's lesser or better known roles before Gladiator or The Insider. Early versions of this dvd do not bare his name or photo on the front cover as later versions do after making it to Oscar status for Gladiator. Crowe's laid back and reluctant character Cort has that seething hatred and vengeful agenda hidden beneath his cool and composed surface just as Stone's character does. While this film is nowhere near the classics by Eastwood it is engrossing entertainment at its best that engages a viewer to find out what's going to happen next. Yes, the ending may be too neat and tidy but overall it's a great rental at best and maybe somewhat a keeper for those who like this genre or the actors...maybe both !As far as the technical aspects of the dvd transfer, both video and audio are clean and void of any major artifacts that plague so many dvds in this great digital, almost perfect age. The 5.1 surround is spectacular ! It truly demonstrates what surround speakers and a subwoofer are for. You will be thrilled with the rocking explosions, bullets ricocheting,wind howling, rain pouring, thunder and lightning dancing around. You will hear dogs barking behind you and a gamut of other special efects that will put some newer, bigger budgeted action dvds to shame ! Bravo for the sound mixers and editors for their Dolby Digital wizardry for this dvd !!!...
Rating:
Summary: Raimi's vision of the west
Review: It took me many years to finally decide to watch The Quick and the Dead. It didn't look that interesting, and I thought had the potential to be a bad film. But Sam Raimi did direct it, so I knew there was potential for it to be good. And it is. Raimi is the man who directed the Evil Dead series, Spider-Man, Darkman, and The Gift, and helped to bring us Xena and Brisco County. So this western has the Raimi flair. It's a straightforward story of redemption and revenge, told with Raimi's stylistic flair. Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe give good performances, and Gene Hackman does a great job as the main baddie (no surprise there). Even Sharon Stone does a good job of portraying Ellen with the right amount of anger, fear, and uncertainty. But Stone's performance isn't quite as convincing as the other actors'. There's something missing from her performance. But it is a solid movie. The dvd contains no extras.
Rating:
Summary: Family Conflicts and the Wild West
Review: I admit that the reason I first watched this movie was because of Leonardo DiCaprio, but then I got to appreciate it for what it was really worth. Sharon Stone does a fantastic job and it was her performance in this that got me interested in seeing her other movies. Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and Leo were also very good.
It's hard to explain why I liked this movie so much. I appreciated the way it started off slow and then built up to its stunning conclusion, which was rather unexpected. I think many people didn't like how it sort of trudged along, but I found that the long wait to the end was rather enjoyable. There are some great one-liners as well as touching conflicts between father and son, and in a way, father and daughter (conflicts from beyond the grave). And revenge. The ingredients to a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: The Quick and the (Evil) Dead
Review: This is the sort of movie that strikes you as just plain odd when you first see it (fairly typical of Raimi flicks, really). But also typical of Raimi flicks, this film rewards you the more you watch it. Everything in this film (with the possible exception of the Swedish gunslinging champ Gutzon) is an archetype from the movie Western: Gene Hackman as Herod is as evil as anyone could be; Russel Crowe as Cort, the gunslinger-turned-preacher; Leonardo DiCaprio as The Kid--every fast talking quick-draw teen; Lance Henriksen is Ace, the fame-seeking showman; and on and on, down to the blind shoeshine boy, the bartender, the undertaker, and the grizzled ol' doc. And then, into this mix, they throw The Man With No Name--in this case a woman, Sharon Stone. She rides into town looking for vengeance but she doesn't have the squinty-eyed serenity of a Clint Eastwood. She has a desperate, feminine quality. In-between her world-weary cynicism is a kind of innocence, fear, self-doubt, self-loathing--things far out of the usual band of emotions for a spaghetti western. And all these characters are played straight, with no winking at the camera, no self-referential humor, nothing. In the hands of a more pedestrian director, it probably would have come off as a movie-of-the-week feminist statement about empowerment or something. Instead, we have Sam Raimi, and in his hands, well, we have something completely different. In his hands, the genre itself becomes a character: zooms, close-ups, long-shots from boot level, bullet-cams, and myriad other dizzying techniques that result in a western like no other. Ultimately we end up with a film that blurs the edges which, to my mind, explains the tepid reception this film got (and continues to get from some) in the USA. We like our Westerns to be Westerns. If it's going to break genre conventions, we want something like "Unforgiven", where it still more-or-less looks like any other Western, but gives us some unusual content. So if you're just an average movie-goer looking for an average Western, this probably isn't the film for you. If you're a film fan, though, this is a must-see.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining but not true Old West
Review: Very entertaining film of a most implausible gunfighters' contest. Highlights include director Raimi's over the top camera work as well as an outstanding back-up cast including Lance Hendrickson, Jonothan Gill, Pat Hingle, Tobin Bell, Roberts Blossom. No, Bruce Campbell is not visible even though he's listed in the credits. Authentic armaments: when was the last time you saw a "My Friend" knuckle-duster in a movie? Great score too! This was Woody Strode's last film.
Rating: 
Summary: Oh, those wacky westerns!
Review: Other than being a Sharon Stone vanity piece, this is okay. Stone's performance actually winds up being the worst thing about the movie. She plays Ellen (I don't know if she's actually named throughout the movie, but the box says Ellen), a drifter seeking revenge on the gang that killed her pappy. She runs across a small western hamlet where the undertaker is the busiest man in town. Herrod (Gene Hackman) has the town in an iron grip. As a coincidence, Herrod is the leader of said gang. To top it all off there is a gunfighters tournament with a crazy assortment of characters dueling to the death. The supporting cast is a who's-who of before-they-were-stars. Gary Sinise, pre-Lt. Dan, as Ellen's father. Leonardo DiCaprio, pre-Titanic, as "The Kid". Russell Crowe, pre mug-shot, as the preacher (!). I guess Stone's performance wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't directly ripped from Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name Trilogy. Also, Crowe seems to be playing the same stoic put-upon character and doing a better job of it. Lance Henrikson is the main standout as "Ace". He puts an ace in his deck for every man he kills. That's pretty cool. I was hoping for him to make the finals, but it was not to be. If you like traditional westerns this probably isn't for you. If you like Sam Raimi's loopy direction (you can see through the bullet hole in someone's skull at one point) you'll want to pick this one up. If you're looking to see what a lot of these actors were doing before they "made it" you could do a lot worse. Recommended for fans of quirky movies, but not for fans of traditional westerns.
Rating:
Summary: Another under appreciated Raimi film.
Review: Sam Raimi delivers a nice film about a woman who comes to a town called Redemption to get revenge for the death of her father and the local tyrant of the town played by Gene Hackman. This is an ensemble piece. Lot's of big stars, a lot of fun action. This film also has one of my favorite shots in a film. Where a prison escapee rides into town, thrashes into a bar, beats some guy up and tosses him out, the guy terrified hops on a horse and rides off, the prison escapee (named Scars, because, well he has scars) walks out and sees the man riding off, downs a brew, then shoots the man on the horse. This is all in one shot and I really think this is one of the great Raimi films and for some reason it catches a really bad wrap. The film features, Russell Crowe, Sharon Stone, Lance Henrikson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Keith David, and the incomperable Gene Hackman. As for the DVD, as with most "bare bones" DVDs this on is somewhat over priced. This has nothing but a theatrical trailor and full and wide screen versions on each side of the disc.
Rating:
Summary: GENE HACKMAN IS NO GUNSLINGER
Review: THIS WESTERN HAS POTENTIAL, BUT IT NEVER GOT EXPLORED. ....
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