It begins with a lone rider crossing the open prairie, and ends with that same lone rider fading off into the horizon after leaving behind a dusty frontier town. Sam Raimi’s 1995 western The Quick and the Dead embraces the genre’s traditionalism while also applying Raimi’s gonzo filmmaking approach. The result is in one of the best and most distinctive westerns of the past 30 years.
Sharon Stone stars as the requisite mysterious itinerant gunfighter, known for most of the movie simply as the Lady, and the supporting cast is absurdly stacked, including Gene Hackman riffing on his Oscar-winning Unforgiven role as the villain, plus Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio at their early-career hunkiest. They join the likes of Lance Henriksen, Mark Boone Junior, Keith David and Tobin Bell as participants in a deadly quick-draw contest, all with their own hidden agendas.
