The Quick and the Dead is a 1995 American revisionist Western film directed by Sam Raimi, and starring Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

[5] The story focuses on "The Lady" (Stone), a gunfighter who rides into the frontier town of Redemption, controlled by John Herod (Hackman).

Simon Moore's script was purchased by Sony Pictures Entertainment in May 1993, and actress Sharon Stone signed on as both star and co-producer.

Development was fast tracked after director Sam Raimi's hiring, and principal photography began in Old Tucson Studios in Arizona on November 21, 1993.

The film was distributed by TriStar Pictures and was released in the United States on February 10, 1995, to a dismal box-office performance, receiving mixed reviews from critics.

The Lady meets "The Kid", a brash young man who believes Herod is his father and hopes to earn his respect by winning the tournament.

Writer Simon Moore finished his speculative script for The Quick and the Dead in late 1992, writing it as a homage to the spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone, particularly the Dollars Trilogy starring Clint Eastwood.

[17] Moore considered directing his own script as an independent film and shooting The Quick and the Dead on a $3–4 million budget in either Spain or Italy.

[17] Sony Pictures Entertainment purchased Moore's script in May 1993 and approached Sharon Stone, fresh off the success of Basic Instinct, to star in the lead role in July 1993.

[17] When Sony began fast tracking development of The Quick and the Dead, the studio commissioned a series of rewrites from Moore.

The writer was eventually dismissed and replaced with John Sayles, who, according to Moore, was chosen because the studio didn't like the semi-serious tone and instructed him towards "making more of an American Old West film.

[17] To cast Gene Hackman in the role of Herod, TriStar Pictures changed the shooting location from Durango, Mexico to Tucson, Arizona.

[17] Filming was originally set to begin in October 1993,[23] but was delayed because Crowe needed to finish a prior commitment in Australia.

[26] Stone had a love scene with Crowe removed from the final cut of The Quick and the Dead before the film's release in the United States.

[29] The Quick and the Dead was released in the U.S. and Canada on February 10, 1995, in 2,158 theaters, earning $6,515,861 in its opening weekend, placing second at the US box office behind Billy Madison by $124,000.

The site's consensus states, "The Quick and the Dead isn't quite the draw that its intriguing premise and pedigree suggest, but fans of nontraditional Westerns should have some rootin', tootin' fun.

"Stone's presence nicely underscores the genre-bending tactics of Raimi, the cult filmmaker now doing his best to reinvent the B movie in a spirit of self-referential glee.

"[38] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times criticized the film for being overtly clichéd, but praised Raimi's direction and Dante Spinotti's cinematography.

[39] Critic and Raimi biographer Bill Warren wrote that the film "is a very conscious (though not self-conscious) attempt to recreate some of the themes, style, and appeal of Sergio Leone's majestically operatic spaghetti Westerns of the 1960s, especially the Man with No Name trilogy that starred Clint Eastwood.

The lowering skies around the isolated town make it look ripe for vengeance of biblical proportions, and there are quiet satirical touches, as when a man stands in a saloon door and his shadow seems about 6 miles long.

Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader observed, "Raimi tries to do a Sergio Leone, and though The Quick and the Dead is highly enjoyable in spots, it doesn't come across as very convincing, perhaps because nothing can turn Sharon Stone into Charles Bronson.

"[40] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone felt that "The Quick and the Dead plays like a crazed compilation of highlights from famous Westerns.

"[42] Scott Hallam of Dread Central praised Raimi's directing and versatility in multiple genres of film and the cast.

In addition, it starred a yet to be hot Leonardo DiCaprio, a question mark named Russell Crowe, and the sexually inert Sharon Stone.

[46] Ben Travis of Empire ranked it as the third best movie of Raimi: "It’s a real sharp-shooter, an ultra-stylish shootout spectacular with a top cast, and some of his most creative camerawork.

"[48] Patrick Philips from Looper also praised the movie and considered it a "cult classic": "Of all the films on Sam Raimi's delightfully left-of-center resume, this is the one that deserves to be rediscovered by the cinematic world — if only via midnight screenings.

"[50] Film critic Adrian Martin remarked, "Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead is a feminist Western starring a gun-toting Sharon Stone.

Raimi takes us straight from Stone’s split-second outburst of recognition to the sight of her racing forward in the pelting rain, both guns firing in righteous fury, screaming from the depths of her soul.