The greatest sport in the world – which is forbidden since the days of the Old West – is fast-draw aka quick-draw. Well the deadly version at least. It is still played with special blanks or wax bullets nowadays. Not so exciting. I only wish there was a great movie about the true art of gunslinging.
Wait a minute: there is! ‘The Quick and the Dead’, a 1995 western directed by nobody less than Sam Raimi, the man who gave us the outrageously entertaining horror comedies ‘The Evil Dead’ and sequels back in the eighties and early nineties. ‘The Quick and the Dead’ featured great actors, such as Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio. It is a magnificent revenge western in the style of ‘Once Upon a Time in the West’, but then Raimi style, featuring plenty of razzle dazzle and jaw dropping camera moves.
It is also a sport movie. Perhaps it is understandable that we don’t see this type of competition anymore, because there are some major drawbacks obviously. For example, unless you are the best you don’t get to play it many times. And even if you win, there won’t be many people around to witness your great victory. Better to stick with this movie then.
So who are the outlaws that battle it out in this underrated quick-draw flick? To refresh your memory about the participants and outcomes of this tournament see below (spoilers obviously):
Round 1
Round 2