Sam Raimi’s wild-ass Western has his signature style all over it, but from a certain perspective, it’s really Sharon Stone’s vehicle: As star and producer, she reportedly got both Raimi and Leonardo DiCaprio attached to the project, and she even contributed to creative elements like costuming and plot. What a lady!
THE QUICK AND THE DEAD was critically divisive when it came out (despite an all-star cast including Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Keith David), and we weren’t much more unified in 2025: We’ve got a variety of opinions on if the ridiculous plot gets too much in the way of a real story, what the value of a good gag is in otherwise well-charted cinematic waters, and whether or not the whole thing even holds together.
References:
“The Masterpiece that Almost Was: The Quick and the Dead”
by Ryan Sanderson for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“The Family Stone: How Sharon Stone’s Vision Shaped The Quick and the Dead”
by Courtney Kowalke for Perisphere, the Trylon blog
“Lance Henriksen Interview on The Quick and The Dead (1995)”
by John Kenneth Muir
TheQuickAndTheDead.net
, created and maintained by Bob Bish, a featured extra and production assistant on THE QUICK AND THE DEAD
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Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Main Theme” composed by Alan Silvestri from the THE QUICK AND THE DEAD soundtrack.
Timestamps
0:00 - Episode 361: THE QUICK AND THE DEAD (1995)
2:54 - The Patented Aaron Grossman Summary
6:01 - Sam Raimi, the man that you are
23:23 - Is it too patently absurd to connect emotionally?
39:56 - Does it work better as a parody?
49:36 - A deconstruction of the stoic Western persona
58:10 - The performances that stand out (and don’t)
1:06:20 - The Junk Drawer
1:14:25 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1995
1:22:45 - Cody’s Noteys: The Quick and the Said (15 one-minute discussion topics)
