The Quick and the Dead (1995)

REVIEW
From the director of the Evil Dead trilogy comes this underrated homage to the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns of yore. A deglamorized Stone (who coproduced) stars as a vengeful gunslinger who rides into the dustball town of Redemption (no symbolism there) looking for the man responsible for her father's murder. She winds up smack-dab in the middle of the annual "Fastest Gun in the West" contest. Hackman gives an over-the-top performance as the sadistic town overlord who, until now, has won the contest hands down. Needless to say, he's the man she's looking for. Though it's mostly predictable fun, what distinguishes the film is director Raimi's patented inventive technical prowess; he deftly meshes gruesome violence with side-splitting humor. It's a visual and darkly comic feast.