Country: USA, Japan
Year: 1995
Duration: 108'
1878. Ellen (played by Sharon Stone) seeks revenge against the ruthless John Herod (Gene Hackman), who had her father, a former sheriff, killed. To eliminate all his enemies, the undefeated Herod annually holds a tournament to crown the best gunslinger in the state. Among the many competitors are Ellen, the mysterious Cort (Russell Crowe), and the young Kid (Leonardo DiCaprio), the illegitimate son of Herod: who will emerge victorious?
Biography
film director
Sam Raimi
(Royal Oak, USA, 1959) while studying at the University of Michigan, passionate about cinema and an amateur filmmaker, he founded the production company Renaissance Pictures with two friends and self-produced The Evil Dead (1981), a horror film that unexpectedly became a huge success and a cult. From that point on, he became one of the most acclaimed independent filmmakers of his generation, known for a style where the macabre blends with the comedic, mixing horror, noir, and slapstick comedy. This period includes Evil Dead 2 (1987), Darkman (1990), and Army of Darkness, the third film in the Evil Dead series, more aligned with the fantasy genre. In the 1990s, he became more involved with Hollywood, with projects such as the western The Quick and the Dead (1995), starring Sharon Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, and Gene Hackman; the noir A Simple Plan (1998); and the romantic sports comedy For Love of the Game (1999). The second turning point of his career came in 2002 with Spider-Man, which launched the superhero movie era and led Raimi to direct a trilogy with Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007). After the low-budget horror Drag Me to Hell (2009), he made two more films for Hollywood: Oz the Great and Powerful (2013) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022), in which Raimi, while adhering to production demands, still showcases the artisanal and quirky spirit of his filmmaking.
FILMOGRAFIA
Out West (cm, 1972), The Great Bogus Monkey Pignuts Swindle (cm, 1975), The James R. Hoffa Story, Part II (cm, 1976), Attack of the Pillsbury Doughboy (cm, 1976), Uncivil War Birds (cm, 1976), Mystery No Mystery (cm, 1976), It’s Murder! (1977), Picnic (cm, 1977), Six Months to Live (cm, 1977), The Happy Valley Kid (cm, 1977), Civil War Part II (cm, 1977), Within the Woods (c, 1978), Clockwork (cm, 1978), William Shakespeare: The Movie (cm, 1979), Evil Dead (La casa, 1981), Crimewave (I due criminali più pazzi del mondo, 1983), Evil Dead II (La casa 2, 1987), Iggy Pop: Cold Metal (videoclip, 1988), Royal Court of China: Half the Truth (cm, 1989), Darkman (1990), Army of Darkness (L’armata delle tenebre, 1992), The Quick and the Dead (Pronti a morire, 1995), A Simple Plan (Soldi sporchi, 1998), For Love of the Game (Gioco d’amore, 1999), The Gift (The Gift – Il dono, 2000), Spider-Man (2002), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Drag Me to Hell (2009), Oz the Great and Powerful (Il grande e potente Oz, 2013), Rake (2 ep, serie tv, 2014), Ash vs. Evil Dead (1 ep, serie tv, 2015), The Black Ghiandola (cm, 2017), 50 States of Fright (3 ep, serie tv, 2020), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Doctor Strange nel Multiverso della Follia, 2022).
Declaration
film director
“I got a call from Sharon Stone and basically she wanted me to direct this script starring her. So what man can say no to Sharon Stone? So I read the script and thought it was great – which rarely happens because most of the stuff I read isn’t really for me. Not my style. But this one was really well written and Simon Moore, the screen writer, had really taken it in a different direction. People have been making Westerns recently, but he wanted to make a modern Spaghetti Western as opposed to a modern John Ford-style film. And I thought that was an incredibly cool concept. So we started looking for a really good costar for Sharon and we found Gene Hackman – who I have always loved. So I thought it would become a really dynamic movie.”
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi. SCREENPLAY: Simon Moore. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Dante Spinotti. EDITING: Pietro Scalia. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Patrizia von Braundenstein. COSTUME DESIGN: Judianna Makovsky. MUSIC: Alan Silvestri. SOUND: John Fundus. CAST: Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russel Crowe, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobin Bell, Gary Sinise, Keith David, Mark Boone Junior, Lance Henriksen, Scott Spiegel, Robert Blossom, Kevin Conway, Fay Masterson, Bruce Campbell, Mick Garris. PRODUCERS: Joshua Donen, Patrick Markey, Allen Shapiro. PRODUCTION: TriStar Pictures, Japan Satellite Broadcasting (JBS), IndieProd Company Productions.
