# The Quick and the Dead (1995 film)
*The Quick and the Dead* is a 1995 American Western directed by [Sam Raimi](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-raimi), in which a woman gunslinger enters a lethal quick-draw tournament in the frontier town of Redemption to avenge her father's death at the hands of the town's ruler. It stars [Sharon Stone](https://www.edgepedia.org/sharon-stone), Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonardo-dicaprio), and was written by Simon Moore for TriStar Pictures.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062) • [2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thequickandthedead)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | February 10, 1995 (Los Angeles and New York openings that week); 103 minutes; rated R[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062) |
| Director / writer | Sam Raimi; screenplay by Simon Moore[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062) |
| Lead cast | Sharon Stone as Ellen ("The Lady"), Gene Hackman as Herod, Russell Crowe as Cort, Leonardo DiCaprio as The Kid[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead) |
| Key crew | Cinematography Dante Spinotti; editing Pietro Scalia; production design Patrizia Von Brandenstein; music Alan Silvestri[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062) |
| Production / distribution | TriStar Pictures (TriStar/JSB Productions)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062) • [2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thequickandthedead) |
| Domestic box office | $18,636,537[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0114214/) |
| Critical scores | 62% Tomatometer from 53 reviews and 54% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; Metascore 49 (mixed or average)[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-quick-and-the-dead/critic-reviews/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
The story follows Ellen, a mysterious woman gunslinger who rides into the lawless town of Redemption to settle an old score: her father was killed by the town's sadistic mayor, John Herod, who is organizing a quick-draw tournament. She enters the competition, joining a field of outlaws and miscreants in a brutal contest in which the loser dies, and must win her way through the duels to reach her revenge.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead) • [2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thequickandthedead) Among the competitors is "The Kid" (DiCaprio), an upstart with his own score to settle with Herod.[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead)
[Sony Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/sony-pictures) describes the film as an "edgy and darkly humorous Western" in which gunslingers from all over put their lives on the line for fame and fortune.[2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thequickandthedead) Roger Ebert, the longtime film critic of the *Chicago Sun-Times*, compared the tournament premise to old Tough Man Contests moved to the old West, and argued that Herod holds the contest because it gives the movie a simple structure: a long series of duels on Main Street in place of other dramatic conflict.[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-quick-and-the-dead-1995)
## Production and cast
**Sharon Stone drove the project.** Coming off the commercial success of *Sliver* and her breakout in *Basic Instinct*, Stone was determined to make *The Quick and the Dead* her own vehicle, and, according to a Los Angeles Times production report, fought for control of the production; the [Chicago Tribune](https://www.edgepedia.org/chicago-tribune)'s review credits her as co-producer as well as star.[7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-30-ca-16945-story.html) • [5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-quick-and-the-dead/critic-reviews/) A 1994 Los Angeles Times industry piece placed the film among the wave of "tough-gal" projects set in motion by *Thelma and Louise*, with Sony's TriStar unit betting on Stone as a Western gunslinger to draw women to theaters.[8](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-26-fi-50531-story.html)
The credited cast pairs Stone, Hackman, and Crowe with DiCaprio, then 21 years old, as The Kid, plus [Tobin Bell](https://www.edgepedia.org/tobin-bell) as Dog Kelly.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062) • [3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead) Contemporary and later accounts also note a deep supporting bench, including [Lance Henriksen](https://www.edgepedia.org/lance-henriksen) as Ace Hanlon, Pat Hingle as Horace the [Bartender](https://www.edgepedia.org/bartender), Gary Sinise as Marshall, and Keith David as Sgt. Clay.[9](https://www.mensjournal.com/news/1995-classic-originally-a-box-office-flop-named-one-of-the-best-western-movies-of-all-time) Raimi, who had made his name with the *Evil Dead* horror films and *Darkman*, brought the energetic visual style of those movies to the genre; the Christian Science Monitor's 1995 review noted that he "juiced up the action with the energetic style he developed in the sardonic horror movies that launched his career."[10](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1995/0213/13131.html)
## Release and reception
The film opened in Los Angeles and New York the week of February 10, 1995, distributed by [TriStar Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/tristar-pictures).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062) It earned $18,636,537 at the domestic box office.[4](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0114214/)
**Reviews were mixed.** On the aggregate scores, Rotten Tomatoes records 62% on the Tomatometer from 53 reviews and 54% from audiences on the Popcornmeter, with a critics consensus that the film "isn't quite the draw that its intriguing premise and pedigree suggest, but fans of nontraditional Westerns should have some rootin' tootin' fun."[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 49, labeled mixed or average, from 21 critic reviews.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-quick-and-the-dead/critic-reviews/) Ebert called the film overtly clichéd in its use of Western conventions, while Peter Travers wrote that "Raimi finds the right look, but misses the heartbeat."[6](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-quick-and-the-dead-1995) • [9](https://www.mensjournal.com/news/1995-classic-originally-a-box-office-flop-named-one-of-the-best-western-movies-of-all-time) The Chicago Tribune's Michael Wilmington took the opposite view of the film's self-awareness, calling it a "rousingly grotesque, often wildly entertaining western horror-comedy" whose conscious absurdity was the point.[5](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-quick-and-the-dead/critic-reviews/) A Notre Dame student review of the opening weekend praised the unconventional female heroine as lifting the film above the recent run of Westerns such as *Tombstone*, *Wyatt Earp*, and *Posse*.[11](https://archives.nd.edu/observer/v26/1995-02-13_v26_085.pdf)
## Reappraisal and place in the genre
The film has been reevaluated since its release. Men's Journal later named it among the best Western movies, noting that the former box-office flop starred two actors, Crowe and DiCaprio, who were then little known and later became major stars.[9](https://www.mensjournal.com/news/1995-classic-originally-a-box-office-flop-named-one-of-the-best-western-movies-of-all-time) A Rotten Tomatoes retrospective review described it as "a playful and moderately enjoyable homage to the spaghetti Western," and another recent review called it "clearly ahead of its time."[3](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead)
Scholarship on gender in 1990s Hollywood treats the film as a significant case of a woman occupying the Western hero's role. Patricia Di Risio, in *Gender and Genre in 1990s Hollywood*, analyzes it as an example of unconventional female protagonists reshaping traditionally male-oriented genres.[12](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/gender-and-genre-in-1990s-hollywood-9781350292857/) A study in the *International Journal of Cultural and Social Studies* examines the cowgirl image in the film through Will Wright's classical Western plot structure, and a survey of women in the Western genre argues that by placing a woman in a normally male role, the film "directly overthrows the genre's conventional gender dynamics."[13](https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/intjcss/article/1008046) • [14](https://www.asau.ru/files/pdf/3198979.pdf)
The title is not unique: it should not be confused with [Sam Elliott](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-elliott)'s 1987 film of the same name, and in German-speaking markets the 1995 film was released as *Schneller als der Tod*.[9](https://www.mensjournal.com/news/1995-classic-originally-a-box-office-flop-named-one-of-the-best-western-movies-of-all-time) • [15](https://www.justwatch.com/de/Film/Schneller-als-der-Tod) Sony Pictures has kept it in circulation, releasing it on Digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD.[2](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thequickandthedead)
## References
1. [The Quick and the Dead (1995), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/moviedetails/60062)
2. [The Quick and the Dead, Sony Pictures Entertainment](https://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thequickandthedead)
3. [The Quick and the Dead, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1059629-quick_and_the_dead)
4. [The Quick and the Dead (1995), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0114214/)
5. [The Quick and the Dead Critic Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-quick-and-the-dead/critic-reviews/)
6. [The Quick and the Dead movie review, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-quick-and-the-dead-1995)
7. [ON LOCATION: Meet Six-Gun Sharon Stone, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-01-30-ca-16945-story.html)
8. [Move Over, Clint: Tough-Gal Films Start a Stampede, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-04-26-fi-50531-story.html)
9. ['The Quick and the Dead' Named One of the 'Best Western Movies', Men's Journal](https://www.mensjournal.com/news/1995-classic-originally-a-box-office-flop-named-one-of-the-best-western-movies-of-all-time)
10. ['The Quick and the Dead' Takes Westerns Into Postmodern Era, The Christian Science Monitor](https://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/amphtml/1995/0213/13131.html)
11. [The Observer (University of Notre Dame), February 13, 1995, p. 12](https://archives.nd.edu/observer/v26/1995-02-13_v26_085.pdf)
12. [Patricia Di Risio, Gender and Genre in 1990s Hollywood, Bloomsbury Academic](https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/gender-and-genre-in-1990s-hollywood-9781350292857/)
13. [The Image of the Cowgirl in the Classic Western Plot, International Journal of Cultural and Social Studies](https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/intjcss/article/1008046)
14. [Along with the advance of women (survey of women in the Western genre)](https://www.asau.ru/files/pdf/3198979.pdf)
15. [Schneller als der Tod, JustWatch (Germany)](https://www.justwatch.com/de/Film/Schneller-als-der-Tod)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Action and adventure films (individual works) › Westerns, 1980 onward*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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