The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Very well executed

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Totally unrelated to the Sam Raimi directed Sharon Stone film of the same title and much better too. The Quick And The Dead is a very under rated made for HBO western starring very authentic cowboy actor Sam Elliot. The film is very well made, looks great and is based off a book by Louis L'Amour. The pace is quick and is action packed. Performances are good and the dialogue is sharp. The film is very much in the same style as Shane and Pale Rider. Matt Clark of The Outlaw Josey Wales fame was a great villain. Sam Elliot was a natural for this role and was excellent here as leading man. The Quick And The Dead is excellent entertainment and will not let down fans of the genre.

Sam Elliott who is doing his level best to keep the western alive as an American art form stars in The Quick And The Dead which has nothing to do with the film Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, and Leonardo DiCaprio did. But it has one great western pedigree as the story is from the pen of Louis L'Amour.In fact there are some elements in this story that are most similar to L'Amour's most famous western Hondo. Although Sam Elliott isn't quite the G-rated cowboy John Wayne was.Tom Conti, Kate Capshaw and their son Kenny Morrison are traveling west to settle and work the homestead that Conti's late brother had in Wyoming territory. But they run afoul of some outlaws led by Matt Clark and the outlaws mean to them harm.If you remember in Hondo the mutual attraction of the frontier scout and the settler's wife who is waiting for her husband to get home. That's going on big time here only Conti is very much on the scene. Elliott thinks him a worthless tenderfoot at first, but Conti's character develops over the course of the film and the more you see, the more you realize there's a lot to him. A lot more than there was to Leo Gordon in Hondo.Nice location cinematography in Arizona standing in for Wyoming territory. The roles are well cast and cowboy heroes don't come any better than Sam Elliott.

I'm amazed that no one really disliked this movie here, in the "user reviews" and the "message board." (Though the two external reviews are tepid.) I was bored out of my mind. The production values were good (scenery, etc.). The actors were notable. The big killer is the story and dialog. Everything is drained out -- from the beginning you see where the story is going, and it never deviates, no surprises or depth.Eight bad guys are after a pioneer settler family (husband, wife, son) making their way west alone on their covered wagon. They follow and menace the family, but peculiarly never really ever catch up. The family is protected by the mysterious stranger (Sam Elliott) who pops up now and then to sprout advice, sage remarks, insults and leers at the wife, Kate Capshaw, who might be a beauty on the lone prairie, but here looks pretty haggard.Avoid this unless you are a fan of the actors and film makers.

The kid is called a "rugrat" by the bad guy. Not an 1880s term. Barrett should know better. Otherwise it isn't a bad Western. Thank God they filmed in in the good ol' USA. 1987 was before the Canadian government pulled all the production out of Hollywood.