Diagonaldi Very well executed

Micitype Pretty Good

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Mathilde the Guild Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

meritcoba With a title that was later reused for another movie, one would expect that this western would show at least one gun fight, you know like the one at the OK corral, but this movie hasn't one. What the title is referring to is a mystery and that is probably the key word for this western.Now the first mystery is the mysterious stranger played by Sam Elliott. Sam Elliot? Yep, the same. I am probably like many other people who instantly respect a man like Sam Elliott without actually knowing why. Sam Eliott is known, but if you ask me to tell you what from I have a hard time to tell you. Sam Elliott is a decent actor, but apparently not considered to be able to carry a leading part in a major movie. Or at least.. I can't recall one. But never mind about that. Here Sam has a leading role. Now the mysterious part about the mysterious stranger points to an overarching mystery. The question to ask is: why? Why does Sam Elliot help this family that is riding out, all alone, into the wilds? Why is this family braving the wilds on there own? The reason supplied is that they go to some place to breed cattle on the invitation of a family member, but still.. is traveling on your own such a good idea? Why are the bad guys sitting around in some forlorn village, consisting of 4 houses, lacking any inhabitants? Were they waiting for this single family to happen along so they could rob them, kill the men (a man and his son) and rape the woman? It remains a mystery.Another mystery: there is an half breed Indian helping them.. why? He just happens along, gets a drink and he is the best of mates with these bad dudes. Again we don't know why.So these bad dudes steal the horses of the family.. and thus the story kicks in. The husband of the family gets the horses back, covered by the mysterious stranger who shoots one of the bad dudes. And the bad guys then want revenge. While the family treks through the wild hoping to outrun the bad dudes, the bad dudes try to catch up with them. Several times they do catch up, which results in some fighting which whittles down the group of bad dudes.. who thus thirst even more for blood. The story then follows a rather linear plot and ends in a predictable way. It is nothing to write home about. And again another mystery rises: the family went out in the wilds to do some cattle raising. Where is the cattle? They didn't bring any along.. and the hut they end up in seems to be in some valley in between mountains. Not the kind of country one would associate with cattle raising.The whole story is like that: a mystery as to why people do what they do. But the greater mystery is just the failure to make more of this story. The mysterious stranger confesses himself to be a half breed, just like the half breed Indian who helps the bad guys. One would expect something to result from this. They could have been brothers. They could have been anything more than adversaries, but nothing develops. There is a potential conflict between the mysterious stranger and the husband in the family, but even that sizzles out to nothing.The story is bland. It is not the acting that makes this movie mediocre on it's own. It is the lackluster plot that is pretty linear and shies away from anything interesting.This movie is a forgettable movie.

Wuchak RELEASED IN 1987 and directed by Robert Day, "The Quick and the Dead" is a made-for-HBO Western starring Sam Elliott as Con Vallian, a mysterious stranger who helps a family heading West with their conflict with a group of ne'er-do-wells. Vallian's desire is piqued by the wife (Kate Capshaw) and the interest seems mutual. Will the family make it to the Bighorn Mountains alive-and-well or will violence and adultery destroy them? If you don't remember Kate Capshaw, she was the blond in 1984's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and later married director Steven Spielberg.In any event, I was impressed with this little-known Western. Although made for cable, it's based on a Louis L'Armour book and is actually better than some theatrically released Westerns. There are some flaws, like the kid's questionable acting skills and the fact that the film was noticeably shot in Northern Arizona rather than Eastern Wyoming, but -- all things considered -- this is a solid realistic Western in the tradition of "Shane" and "Will Penny." Don't expect the mythic spaghetti tone of 1995's big-budget Western of the same name. Highlights include the breathtaking cinematography, a believable and mature tone, Kate's beauty, a hackneyed plot redeemed by quality characters (like Tom Conti as the settler husband/father), insightful drama & plot surprises and, of course, Sam Elliott as the quintessential Westerner. Really, Elliott is as good or – more likely – better than any Western icon you care to name (Wayne, Eastwood, Cooper, Scott, Stewart, Costner, etc.).There are mature and insightful themes, like the undeniable connection of Vallian and Susanna. Most of us can relate: You stumble across someone of the opposite sex and instinctively sense a palpable connection, some kind of profound mutual fascination, yet—for whatever reason—pursuing an intimate relationship is not an option. In an entire lifetime you will only experience a handful such 'connections,' or less. These exchanges are permanent because they are so potent they are forever burned into one's psyche."The Quick and the Dead" may not be a top-notch Western like "Dances With Wolves" or "The Outlaw Josey Wales," but it's certainly a quality Western and well worth your time.THE MOVIE RUNS 91 minutes.GRADE: B

weezeralfalfa Sam Elliott's Con Vallian is the classic wandering western frontiersman loner, who keeps popping up to save one lone traveling immigrant family(McKaskels) from a small gang of vultures(shabby Shabitt, kin and associates), who are intent on extracting vengeance for Vallian's killing of one of them when they are about to murder the man of this family(Duncan) for trying to retrieve the two horses they stole from him. Vallian makes clear periodically through the film his reason for wanting to protect this family from harm. He's mightily attracted to the beautiful, wholesome, Suzanna(Kate Capshaw); Duncan's wife. At one point, he catches her alone in the woods and extracts a passionate kiss from the ambivalent Susanna. Although Vallian saves their lives from the Shabitt gang several times, and they help save his life after he is wounded by this gang, Duncan sometimes wishes he would get lost, correctly suspecting he's trying to steal his wife's heart, and fed up with Vallian constantly giving them advice on what to do next, and criticizing Duncan's reluctance to use a firearm. Eventually, they become somewhat more comfortable with each other, after Suzanna assures Duncan that she is not tempted to have an affair with Vallian. It's clear during their parting conversation that Vallian still enjoys the strong admiration of Suzanna, if not her physical intimacy.Vallian might aspire to replace Duncan in Suzanna's life. However, he makes no effort to hasten Duncan's demise, protecting him as well as her from harm. Besides, he wouldn't be willing to settle down as a sedentary family man, even with a fantasy woman like Suzanna. As he details at the end, he has to feel free to wander as he pleases, living life on the edge each day, with occasional opportunistic female encounters: normally with squaws. Vallian supposedly is a half breed, but certainly doesn't look or act it. On the other hand, the supposed half breed Ute, who serves as tracker for the Shabitts, clearly has lived as a Native American, but is clearly played by a full Caucasian.The McKaskels supposedly left their native Ohio to help forget the horrors Duncan witnessed participating in the Civil War. Well, since this story clearly takes place in 1876, dated by the reported current massacre of Custer's 7th cavalry, including Suzanna's brother, they sure took their time escaping the 'dangerous' East. Another big problem with this explanation is that the Big Horn region of northern Wyoming was still regarded, by treaty, as Native American territory: off limits to European settlement. Thus, historically, the story about Suzanna's brother building them a well made cabin (complete with glass windows!) out in the middle of this 'Indian' territory isn't plausible. The NAs would have burned it down, as they had the forts built in this region 10 years earlier. As demonstrated by the 7th cavalry fate, if they were looking for a peaceful hideaway, the Big Horn region wasn't it at this time! The concurrent influx of gold seekers into the Black Hills, to the east of this region, was stirring up renewed conflict between Europeans and NAs in this general region.The 'reluctant buddy' plot device used here is quite common in westerns and comedies. It tends to provide a more interesting screen play than films that feature a pair well attuned to each other..... The feature of a small group of nasty 'hyenas' pursuing a moving target for revenge or profit or both has also been rather common in westerns. Examples from the period of classic Hollywood westerns include : "Wagon Master", "The Cowboys", "Will Penny", "Along the Great Divide", "Ride Lonesome" and "Ride the High Country". Often a sexual encounter with a woman included in the victim party is part of what they want and, often, as in the present case, the woman is forced to learn to use a firearm effectively to help defend herself.The location shooting in northern Arizona provides a scenic surrounds, with varied topography , from red cliffs and spires, to desert vegetation, to thin woods, and sometimes with snow-capped mountains in the background. This is a significant plus for me.

kmallen1 Beautiful scenery of Sedona and Flagstaff AZ, not Wyoming in 1876 as advertised. Good acting and quality filming. Casting was pretty good especially Sam Elliott and the bad guys but the half breed Indian looked like a runway model. The Louis Lamour plot was, as usual for the genre, a little contrived as Sam Elliott's character lives a charmed life in the film. I recommend it if you are a sentimentalist and believe in honor, valor, unrequited love and taking on the bad guys. I might mention that one item in the movie about Custer's last stand where one of the characters relatives was assumed to be killed could have had a more hopeful outcome as not all of the Seventh Regiment was killed at Little Bighorn since Custer split his command and several hundred survived.