Faster than Death (film)

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Movie
German title Faster than death
Original title The Quick and the Dead
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1995
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Sam Raimi
script Simon Moore
production Joshua Donen
Patrick Markey
Allen Shapiro
music Alan Silvestri
camera Dante Spinotti
cut Pietro Scalia
occupation

Quick and the Dead , in English. Original The Quick and the Dead is a Western of US director Sam Raimi from the year 1995 .

action

Ellen, an unknown gunslinger , rides into the small prairie town of Redemption with a secret she won't reveal to anyone. In the city, which is ruled in a tyrannical manner by Mayor John Herod, there is an annual competition for duelists from all over the country. Ellen, an adventurer, a Swedish champion and Herod's own son Kid also want to take part in this. Shortly after Ellen's arrival, the priest Cort is dragged in chains by Herod's men. He is a former gunslinger who has found his faith and therefore never wants to pick up a gun again. Herod is determined to get his way by all means and to force Cort to compete, even if it means the death of others. After Herod has learned that a bounty hunter hired by the residents is taking part in the tournament that is supposed to liquidate him, he changes the rules so that the one who is still standing does not win, but the one who is still alive.

After the successful opening round, Ellen is invited to dinner by the impressed Herod; However, her plan to kill him by assassination fails on her nerves. She initially wants to flee the city, but is held back by the doctor, who knows her secret. - She is the daughter of a marshal who was once captured by Herod during one of his brutal attacks and, as suggested in a flashback, hanged. In the second round, Ellen prevails against the greasy Eugene Dred, from whose stalking she had protected the far too young daughter of the saloon keeper Horace. Cort, Herod and Kid also win their respective fights.

Herod shoots his unrecognized son in the semi-finals. Then Ellen and Cort face each other in a forced duel. Cort refuses to shoot the woman until the very last moment. He jams both hands in his belt, but then shoots and hits Ellen, who appears to be dying (red ink simulates her wound). After spending a night together, Ellen and Cort had agreed on this deception. Herod's henchmen injure Cort's right hand before the finale, but this to Herod's displeasure, who wanted to kill his ex-partner in a fair fight. Herod forces Cort into a left-handed duel. At the crucial moment of the finale between Herod and Cort, the city is shaken by explosions. Ellen reappears alive and challenges Herod. A final flashback reveals that Herod, when she was a little girl, gave her the alleged chance to shoot her father off the gallows. However, Ellen missed the rope and fatally hit her father instead. When Ellen throws her father's marshal star at his feet, Herod recognizes her and calls out to her that she is not fast enough for him. But she only replies "Oh yes, today." And stretches him down. She then tosses the Marshal Star to Cort, remarking that the law is back in town, and rides away.

criticism

"A reasonably entertaining, but in its restriction to the competition motif, but increasingly predictable action film in a Western setting."

- Lexicon of international film

Awards

In 1996, Sharon Stone was nominated for the Saturn Award for best actress.

Publications

Faster than Death saw its US premiere on February 10, 1995. The film opened in German cinemas on November 9, 1995 and was released on video cassette on May 21, 1996 . The film first ran on German television on December 27, 1998 on RTL Group and was released on DVD on October 12, 1998 .

literature

  • Gebhard Hölzl , Thomas Lassonczyk, Sharon Stone: With "Basic Instinct" to success , Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-453-06551-4 , pp. 156-168, 237-238

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Faster than death. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 7, 2018 .  .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used
  2. ↑ Faster than death. In: Zelluloid.de. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on September 7, 2018 .