The Quick and the Dead

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Year:	1995
Country of origin:	USA / Japan
Director:	Sam Raimi
Genre:	Genre-bending Western
Starring:	Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobin Bell, Lance Henriksen
Rating:	4/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114214/
Tagline:	You can't ignore her. You can't beat her. You can't resist her. You can't win...
Favourite line:	"No no no no, you see it's a gun fight. We both have guns. We aim, we fire, you die."

Sam 'Evil Dead' Raimi goes all Wild West on us, with pretty satisfying results.

The plot:
Redemption is your typical frontier town, ruled over by tyrannical land owner Herod, played with some zeal by the ever-menacing Gene Hackman.
A tournament is arranged, where all of the local shootists and assassins can compete, one against one, for a huge cash prize.
Only trouble is, you either win outright, or you die trying.
Lady, the sole female entrant - Sharon's Stones - struggles to be taken seriousy to begin with, but soon proves her worth. And besides, she has more reason than most to win the competition for, as a small girl, she witnessed Herod execute her father.
So how do you think this one's gonna end, pardners?

Yeah, not exactly hot on the originality front but then, that wasn't really the idea. Seems Raimi just wanted to try his hand at a new genre, happy to throw in as many Western cliches as you could toss down a gold mine.
Saloon doors, fire water, The Old Joanna, chewin' tobaccie and busty harlots, all are present and correct, and that's fine.
'Cos it's a Western.
With a stellar cast, including DiCaprio, Crowe, Lance Henriksen and Tobin Bell, as well as the two already mentioned - though no sign of Raimi stalwart Bruce Campbell, unfortunately. His scenes were left on the cutting room floor, apparently - this is a cut above your average homage flick, certainly in the acting stakes.
If gritty, realistic Western is your bag, or if the more Spaghettified option floats your boat, you may be a touch disappointed, but for those of us who just like a good old fashioned shoot 'em up, there's plenty to entertain here.
Decent enough.