I’ve loved nearly every movie associated with
writer/director Walter Hill. I still consider STREETS OF FIRE to be an
undiscovered gem that needs revisited. It seems at some point Hollywood lost
faith in Hill and began to provide him less opportunity to make a big budgeted
film. The last to receive much ballyhoo was Sylvester Stallone’s BULLET TO THE
HEAD which didn’t do as well as other films the star released but was still
plenty entertaining. At least we have the opportunity to watch classic Hill
films on disc. Last year saw the releases of the classic SOUTHERN COMFORT. Now
we have the chance to see WILD BILL, one of his last forays into Hollywood film
making.
Based on the life of Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Bridges) the
story focuses on the last few weeks of his life while at the same time
interjecting moments from his past. Rather than use the straight forward
timeline to tell his story, Hill uses this to great effect here, showing us the
end result of Hickok’s life rather than simply glorifying him start to finish.
Narrated by Hickok’s friend Charley Prince (John Hurt) we
start off with Hickok during his buffalo hunting days but quickly find him
entering Deadwood, a gold mining town whose rough ways suit the famed lawman
and gunslinger. Setting up shop at the Number 10 saloon he finds long time love
Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin) there among the rabble. Theirs is an unusual
relationship, physical at times and more a matter of location than having the
chance at long time matrimonial goals. Jane will always love Hickok but his
lifestyle leaves him unwilling to settle down.
At this point in time Hickok’s legend precedes him wherever
he goes. But his past is catching up to him. Dealing with pain and sight
problems brought on by glaucoma, he can still shoot, play cards and carouse
with the best of them though the end result is not what it once was. Hickok
tends to drink away the pain he carries with him, both physical and mental from
the long list of men he’s killed and those he has wronged. Many of these are on
view in several of the flashback sequences filmed in black and white to good
effect.
Into his life walks another memento of his past, a young man
named Jack McCall (David Arquette), who intends to kill Hickok. Rather than
shoot him dead, Hickok knocks the young man about and tells him he will allow
him to continue living and to abandon his goal. It seems that McCall is set on
doing the deed, a revenge for the abandonment of his mother Sarah Moore (Diane
Lane) by Hickok years ago as well as the shooting of a man who would have been
his stepfather.
What Hill does here is deconstruct the hero we’ve grown to
know throughout the years without painting a terrible picture of the man at the
same time. Rather he is a product of the times he was alive in, a raw and
untamed west that produced more killers turned lawmen than we can count. Hickok
was good with a gun and suffered no fools. And yet his life was filled with
minor slights that ended in gunplay. It is also a depiction of a man with
health damage caused from frequent visitations to ladies of the night. This is
not the squeaky clean image of the 50s and 60s but a realistic look at the man.
Bridges turns in a well styled performance here, providing
the swaggering bravado of the character when needed and showing those moments
of inner turmoil with his acting skills rather than the spoken word. You can
tell, for instance, that Hickok loves Jane but that his heart remains held by
the now gone Sarah Moore. You can see in his face that while he is skilled at
killing a man he takes no pleasure in it.
The rest of the cast does an amazing job as well and a
number of faces familiar to Hill fans pop up in various roles, among them
Stoney Jackson and James Remar. Christina Applegate makes an appearance as do
both Bruce Dern and Keith Carradine. But it is Bridges center stage that most
will remember from this film.
The late 90s had a number of old west movies made that
should have revived the genre yet for some reason failed to do so. WYATT EARP and
DANCES WITH WOLVES with Kevin Costner, TOMBSTONE with Kurt Russell, UNFORGIVEN
with Clint Eastwood and THE QUICK AND THE DEAD with Russell Crowe, Gene Hackman
and Sharon Stone were all made during this time period. One can only hope that
while it never kicked off at the time that perhaps one day the western will
rise from the ashes and become popular again. Until then fans like myself will
have to be content watching movies like these on disc.
Twilight Time is releasing this one with their usual high quality
crisp and clean picture. Extras are limited to an isolated music track and the
original theatrical trailer. As is always the case the release is limited to
just 3,000 copies so fans should pick one up before they’re gone.
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