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Conference bookie::movies

Title:	Movie Reviews and Discussion
Notice:	Please do DIR/TITLE before starting a new topic on a movie!
Moderator:	VAXCPU::michaudo.dec.com::tamara::eppes

Created:	Thu Jan 28 1993
Last Modified:	Thu Jun 05 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	1249
Total number of notes:	16012

763.0. "The Quick and the Dead" by MDNITE::RIVERS (Whee!) Mon Feb 13 1995 11:54

    "The Quick and the Dead" is can be best described as a quirky and often
    clever western that owes a lot to the Clint Eastwood "spaghetti
    western".
    
    It's not quite comedic enough to be an outright spoof, yet it's not
    quite serious enough to *not* be spoofing the genre.  Directed by Sam Raimi,
    best known for his horror movies (and the likable "Darkman"), it
    definitely displays the touch of the director's weird sense of humor.
    
    It stars Sharon Stone as Ellen, the mysterious stranger who rides into
    the town of Redemption, a miserable, savage little place run by the
    tryannical Herod (oh, I think that was his last name).  Herod (played 
    by Gene Hackman) is the big fish in this town, a merciless, mean, nasty
    gunslinger who's taken over the town, terrified its mostly Mexican
    citizens into sheeplike behavior.  A crueller version of Hackman's
    "Unforgiven" character, Herod has rewrought Redemption into
    his own image.  Redemption is a sort of Gunslinger Superbowl,
    especially when Herod organizes a gunfight contest.  All the less
    savory sorts come to win several hundred thousand dollars, including
    the unwilling Cort (Russel Means), an outlaw turned preacher, literally
    dragged into the contest.
    
    Ellen isn't there for the shootout though -- as a female "woman with
    almost no name", she's there for Revenge, pure and simple.  However,
    nothing is ever straightforward and she also becomes dragged into the
    shootout.   But unlike the usual hero of these sorts of thing, Ellen
    isn't the perfectly emotionless, inscrutable killer who's Done This All
    Before.   She gets scared.  She has doubts.  She's a great shot, she's
    a strong woman, but she's not perfect.  
    
    There's a supporting cast of familiar faces: Leonard DiCaprio as the
    quick-draw Kid with the quick-draw mouth.   Lance Henricksen as a black
    leather-clad gunfighter named Ace.  The late Woody Strode as a
    coffin-maker who gets your height exactly right just by looking at you.
    :)  And so on. 
    
    There is violence and a lot of it is fairly graphic.  However, most of
    the movies funny moments come from the handling of this:  it's graphic,
    all right, but often graphic in an Itchy and Scratchy way.  AKA: it's
    cartoonish.  (Bullet holes perfectly round and allowing the camera to
    see through the body as if it were a peephole, for example).   There's
    weird camera angles and strange shots which are both funny and
    perfectly fitting.   There's louder than they should be sound effects
    (bugs buzzing), straight out of any bad spaghetti western.  And there's
    a hell of a lot of bad teeth.  :)
    
    What there isn't, and it's a relief, is no obligatory sex scene.  As a
    trivia note, one was filmed, but the directory threw it out since it
    had no bearing on the story whatsoever.  The studio protested, but it
    was kept out.   Some showing of leg and a bit of cleavage is about the
    limits of the nudity.   
    
    I really liked it.  I liked the story, I liked the flawed heroine, I
    liked Cort, I like the funky camera angles, I liked the blend of
    silliness with seriousness.  For those who care, the Boston Globe gave
    it a pretty good review, too.  I'd go see it again in a flash.
    
    ***.5 out of ****  
    
    kim

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
763.1		WDFFS2::SHOOK	the river is mine	`Sun Feb 19 1995 22:27`	14
	saw this today and liked it a lot. if you liked the spaghetti westerns made about 25 years ago, you'll like this too. sharon stone is quite good, as is gene hackman. a very entertaining movie that will be missed by many who are afraid it might be another "the real mccoy." (kim basinger in a groin kicking frenzy.) "the quick and the dead" gets three stars, with an extra half star for cutting the big sex scene and sticking with the action (as the basenoter mentioned.) i too plan on seeing this one again. bill
763.2		RDGE44::ALEUC8		`Mon Feb 20 1995 07:05`	8
	>What there isn't, and it's a relief, is no obligatory sex scene. As a >trivia note, one was filmed, but the directory threw it out since it >had no bearing on the story whatsoever. The studio protested, but it bet Sharon was real happy about that ! "oh great make me roll around in the buff for nothing" ric
763.3		BUSY::BUSY::SLABOUNTY	Trouble with a capital 'T'	`Mon Feb 20 1995 09:08`	5
	Probably not the 1st time. 8^)
763.4		RDGE44::ALEUC8		`Mon Feb 20 1995 09:37`	7
	.3 tee hee (wonder if you can buy a pirate ?) ric$sicko
763.5	Sharon Stone: the next Pia Zadora!	LOADQ::HALLYB	Fish have no concept of fire	`Mon Feb 20 1995 13:04`	12
	> (wonder if you can buy a pirate ?) You mean a "director's cut", don't you? .2> bet Sharon was real happy about that ! "oh great make me roll around in .2> the buff for nothing" Near as I can tell, Sharon Stone DID get paid for the movie. No star gets to control the editing. It won't be the first time an actress complains her best scene was cut... :-) John
763.6		OOTOOL::CHELSEA	Mostly harmless.	`Mon Feb 20 1995 14:30`	2
	I read a quote from her about it. She said it was a good scene, but that it just didn't work with the rest of the movie.
763.7		RDGE44::ALEUC8		`Tue Feb 21 1995 06:40`	10
	.5,.6 aw, c'mon you know wot i meant can't believe any worker enjoys doing work (paid or not) that eventually ends up unused can't believe any actor enjoys doing nude scenes ric
763.8		OOTOOL::CHELSEA	Mostly harmless.	`Tue Feb 21 1995 13:22`	7
	It's not like Sharon Stone would be hurting for screen time. She said herself that the scene wasn't right for the movie. If you're acting in a movie, you want the picture to work. As for nude scenes, I wouldn't say that Stone enjoys them, but my impression from interviews is that she's not exactly uncomfortable with them either.
763.9	Another Thumbs Up	BABAGI::LYSETH	Kevin Lyseth 237-3318	`Mon Sep 11 1995 16:58`	9
	Rented this over the weekend and enjoyed it very much. All of the characters were well picked, IMHO. I do hate seeing Gene Hackman playing a bad guy, but he was good. Wasn't "the kid" the actor who played Arnie in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape"? This movie was a cross between "Unforgiven" and "Once Upon a Time in the West". Well worth the rental price. -Kevin
763.10		UHUH::MARISON	Scott Marison	`Mon Sep 11 1995 17:20`	18
	> -< Another Thumbs Up >- I rented this over the weekend too... I don't think I can give it a thumbs up... While I did like some of the Sam Rami-typical camera work, I just didn't care about the story... In fact, I found it to be just too predictable. Not that I was expecting something original from it, but I could just tell what was gonna happen long before it did... I knew long in advance who was gonna fight who. All the fights were painfully predictable as well. It wasn't bad... I thought the best character was "the Kid". It made me wish that actor (can't remember his name!) was the one to play Robin in the newest Batman flick... I give this a "thumbs neutral" rating, or **1/2 /scott
763.11		SUBSYS::NEUMYER	Love is a dirty job	`Tue Sep 12 1995 10:43`	4
	The kid was Leonardo Dicaprio (sp) ed
763.12		BUSY::SLABOUNTY	As you wish	`Tue May 28 1996 16:34`	13
	I saw the last 1/2 or so of this last night on cable ... I liked it. Sure, it was predictable, but what do you expect with the number of big-name stars? They pretty much had to be there at the end, you know? It didn't take anything away from the movie for me. And when the camera was closing in on Cort, the 1st thing I thought was "Sam Raimi!!" ... good to see that I was right. I'll have to watch for this to air again so I can see the whole thing.
763.13	any others of Raimi's?	SUBSYS::MSOUCY		`Thu Jul 25 1996 08:28`	6
	Any other Sam Raimi movies out there with similar filmatography? Along the lines of Evil Dead preferably! When I saw part of this, I thought the same thing. Glad I was right too!
763.14		BUSY::SLAB	Would you like a McDolphin, sir?	`Thu Jul 25 1996 10:52`	3
	Check out "Crimewave", if you can find it.
763.15	Sam Raimi!	SUBPAC::GOLDIE	Resident Alien	`Thu Jul 25 1996 11:23`	6
	better still...check out the first "Darkman" movie! ian