Il vivo e il morto

Thrilling Western in traditional style in which a mysterious stranger joins a colonist family arriving in the West . An attractive and agreeable Western with good performance by the protagonist trio : Sam Elliott , Kate Capshaw , Tom Conti . It deals with a good-natured marriage formed by Duncan McKaskel (Tom Conti) , an ex-Union soldier , and his wife , Susanna (Kate Capshaw ), they're a young married couple who, along with their child , Tom (Kenny Morrison), are travelling to the West hoping to begin a new life , arriving in a small village . They meet Doc Shabitt (Matt Clark) and ask for directions . Doc politely suggests a place for them to stay , but then the latter managing to snatch away two of their horses . Later on , the family meets a rare cowboy , Con Vallian (Sam Elliott) , who help them . Along the way , they manage to escape from the ruthless gang , while Vallian outriding and escorting them . As the outlaw band sets after them , as Doc leads his men in pursuit of a restless vendetta , while Vallian protects them from Shabitt's gang .

This fine Western contains thrills , romance , adequate action set-pieces, chases , go riding , and taking place impressive quick-draws . This special Western picture with breathtaking duels concerns a good family pits nasty bandits resulting in a deadly gun-battle and it turns out to be an enjoyable as well as hyperbolic homage to the traditional style Western. This ¨The Quick and the Dead¨ (1987) contains strong performances augmented by blazing guns , hobbled by an uneven writing . Nevertheless, it doesn't have much interest at times , neither intensity enough , though Sam Elliott captures his role pretty well as a stranger riding into a homesteading family's life when they are attacked by a violent band . Robert Day's slick direction , awesome interpretation and interesting story from Louis L'Amour's novel as well as James Lee Barrett's script enhance interest in this television Western . Standing out the great Sam Elliott as the merciless Mestizo who tries to help them by finding a new home , while he seeks justice and vengeance and along the way enjoying a little love relationship with Kate Capshaw - Spielberg's wife - who has never been so charming and glamorous . Star Sam Elliott is a detached figure in Western genre , being one of its main representatives , performing a lot of them in the Seventies , Eighties and Nineties , as cinema as TV , such as : ¨Cactus¨ , ¨Houston The Legend of Texas¨ , ¨Yellow Rose¨ , ¨The Quick and the Dead¨ , ¨Gettysburg¨ , ¨Hi-Lo County¨ , ¨You Know My Name¨ , ¨Buffalo Girls¨ , ¨Indians¨, ¨Wild Times¨ , ¨The Shadow Riders¨, ¨The Desperate Trail¨ and several others . While Tom Conti is cool as the brave husband , a war veteran , who decides to no longer take any humiliation or battery . Adding other notorious secondaries as Matt Clark and Patrick Kilpatrick.

There's a magnificently atmospheric cinematography , heightened by professional cameraman Dick Bush providing vivid photography from Flagstaff, Arizona, Happy Jack, Kibab National Forest , Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona,Strawberry , Pine, Arizona, Bell Rock, Sedona, Red Rock Crossing, Sedona, Courthouse Butte, Sedona, Schnebly Hill, Boynton Canyon, Sedona, Arizona, among others . Including an evocative and moving musical score by Steve Dorff . This literate Western was competently directed by Robert Day . This British director was a good artisan who made all kinds of genres as adventures , thriller , terror , such as : "The Big Game" , " Corridors of Blood" , " Click and the dead" , "Initiation of Sarah" , "Man with Bogart's Face" , " Grass is always Greener over the Septic Tank", "She" , "The Way Stretch" . Furthermore , he made a number of TV series episodes from Dallas , Disleyland , The Sixth Sense , Ghost story , Sam Cade , Matt Lincoln , The Bold ones , Ironside , FBI , The Invaders , The avengers , among others . Rating : 6.5/10 . Well worth watching . The flick will appeal to Sam Elliott fans .

RELEASED IN 1987 and directed by Robert Day, "The Quick and the Dead" is a made-for-HBO Western starring Sam Elliott as Con Vallian, a mysterious stranger who helps a family heading West in their conflict with a group of ne'er-do-wells. Vallian's desire is piqued by the wife (Kate Capshaw), is that interest mutual? Will the family make it to the Bighorn Mountains alive-and-well or will violence and adultery destroy them?

If you don't remember Kate Capshaw, she was the blonde in 1984's "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" and later married director Steven Spielberg.

I was impressed with this little-known Western. Although made for cable, it's based on a Louis L'Armour book and is actually better than some theatrically released Westerns. There are flaws, like the kid's questionable acting skills and the fact that the film was noticeably shot in Northern Arizona rather than Eastern Wyoming, but -- all things considered -- this is a solid realistic Western in the tradition of "Shane" and "Will Penny." Don't expect the mythic tone of 1995's big-budget Western of the same name.

Highlights include the breathtaking cinematography, a believable and mature approach, Kate's beauty, a hackneyed plot redeemed by quality characters (like Tom Conti as the settler husband/father), insightful drama & plot surprises and, of course, Sam Elliott as the quintessential Westerner. Really, Elliott is as good or - more likely - better than any Western icon you care to name (Wayne, Eastwood, Cooper, Scott, Stewart, Costner, etc.).

There are mature and insightful themes, like the undeniable connection of Vallian and Susanna. Most of us can relate: You stumble across someone of the opposite sex and instinctively sense a palpable connection, some kind of profound mutual fascination, yet - for whatever reason - pursuing an intimate relationship is not an option. In an entire lifetime you will only experience a handful such 'connections,' or less. These exchanges are permanent because they are so potent they are forever burned into one's psyche.

"The Quick and the Dead" may not be a top-notch Western like "Dances With Wolves" or "The Outlaw Josey Wales," but it's certainly a quality Western and well worth your time.

THE MOVIE RUNS 91 minutes.

GRADE: B.

Sam Elliott who is doing his level best to keep the western alive as an American art form stars in The Quick And The Dead which has nothing to do with the film Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, and Leonardo DiCaprio did. But it has one great western pedigree as the story is from the pen of Louis L'Amour.

In fact there are some elements in this story that are most similar to L'Amour's most famous western Hondo. Although Sam Elliott isn't quite the G-rated cowboy John Wayne was.

Tom Conti, Kate Capshaw and their son Kenny Morrison are traveling west to settle and work the homestead that Conti's late brother had in Wyoming territory. But they run afoul of some outlaws led by Matt Clark and the outlaws mean to them harm.

If you remember in Hondo the mutual attraction of the frontier scout and the settler's wife who is waiting for her husband to get home. That's going on big time here only Conti is very much on the scene. Elliott thinks him a worthless tenderfoot at first, but Conti's character develops over the course of the film and the more you see, the more you realize there's a lot to him. A lot more than there was to Leo Gordon in Hondo.

Nice location cinematography in Arizona standing in for Wyoming territory. The roles are well cast and cowboy heroes don't come any better than Sam Elliott.

The story of The Quick and the Dead is very simple: a young married couple and their son accidentally anger a gang of bandits and they begin pursuit, then a mysterious drifter begins helping them out and protecting them from said gang. However it is still a well-written story that manages to keep you interested in what's happening.

The acting is decent enough. Sam Elliot is no Clint Eastwood but he does a good job as the stranger who befriends the young settlers who are heading West. Kate Capshaw, who you may remember as Willie Scott in Indiand Jones and the Temple of Doom, and Tom Conti also deliver some great performances as the young married couple who are travelling to the West with their son in the hopes of starting a new life.

The villains are also well-portrayed. Matt Clark manages to be intimidating as the leader of the bandits, but he manages to be a fairly complex character rather than just a cardboard-cutout villain. The rest of the gang does have their own inner-conflicts which they deal with over the course of the story.

I also thought the historical references were interesting. It is mentioned that the film takes place shortly after Custer's Last Stand, although the actual events have little bearing on the main plot beyond a very brief sub-plot which I'm not going to go into detail about.

Overall, this is a very entertaining and interesting film and I'd recommend it to any fan of Westerns.

...with Tom Conti and Kate Capshaw as settlers in post-Civil War Wyoming. They, along with their young son (Kenny Morrison), run into a band of outlaws and cutthroats led by the deceptively-avuncular Doc Shabbit (Matt Clark). The family seem doomed until the intervention of the mysterious Con Vallain (Sam Elliott), who escorts the family across hostile territory.

Director Robert Day tells the story competently and in a straightforward fashion, with no stylistic excess. Elliott is well-cast, as is Conti as the kindly war veteran suspicious of Elliott's motives, as well his attention toward his wife. Capshaw looks nice, but her performance is spotty. She seems to adopt a period-specific speech pattern in many scenes that is admirable in its intent, but questionable as the others in the cast don't attempt the same. Still, I enjoyed this minor film well enough, and would recommend it to western fans.