The Quick and the Dead

**_Mythic Western about a quick-draw contest in a town with an all-star cast_** Sharon Stone stars as a grim, nonchalant woman who, curiously, enters a dueling contest in a remote Southwest desert town "ruled" by outlaw Herod (Gene Hackman). A pacifist preacher is forced by Herod to participate in the contest, but he ain't no conventional minister (Russell Crowe). Other notables include: Leonardo DiCaprio, Lance Henriksen, Tobin Bell, Keith David, Gary Sinise and Pat Hingle. "The Quick and the Dead" (1995) was co-produced by Stone and she was responsible for getting the youthful & skinny DiCaprio in the cast, she even paid his salary (?!). Stone also apprehended New Zealander Crowe with this being his first American feature. When dressed in her tight leather pants Sharon was unable to sit down (lol). Interestingly, she fired her hottie stand-in because she was getting more attention from the crew on set (!). She later confessed that Crowe was her favorite on screen kisser, but kissing DiCaprio was like kissing her arm (lol). The tone is mythic in the manner of those spaghetti Westerns of the 60s, but with superior production values and obviously seminal to Tarantino Westerns ("Django Unchained" and "The Hateful Eight"). While the vibe isn't exactly realistic, the cast members take the material seriously and ham it up with gusto. You can tell they all had a great time. The movie's town bound and comic booky with larger-than-life characters, but it's not campy or comedic, although it's somewhat silly. The film's title is presumably taken from 1 Peter 4:5 of the KJV translation of the Bible, which details how Christ "is ready to judge the quick and the dead." The phrase also appears in the Apostle's Creed with the same meaning. In both cases 'quick' is an Old English term for "living." The movie's title clearly plays off both the modern and archaic meanings in that there are two kinds of gunfighters in the Old West: those who are quick (that is, fast and alive) and those who are dead. It runs 1 hour, 47 minutes, and was shot completely in Arizona (including Old Tucson). GRADE: B+