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Wild
Bill Hickok, famed lawman and gunman of the Old West, is haunted by his past
and his reputation. He is loved by, but cannot love, Calamity Jane. Dogging his
trail is young Jack McCall, who blames Bill for abandoning the boy's mother and
destroying her life. McCall has sworn to kill Bill, and Bill's ghosts, his
failing eyesight, and his fondness for opium may make McCall's task
easier.
Audiences overlooked this film, one of the better westerns
in several years, featuring yet another terrific performance by Jeff Bridges,
America's most underrated movie actor. As James Butler Hickock, he captures the
sense of a man at the end of his career, one of the first media superstars who
discovers that his legend is more burden than blessing.
As he heads
toward his final hand of poker in Deadwood, South Dakota, he flashes back to
his younger days and the events that built his reputation, even as he copes
with encroaching blindness caused by syphilis. |
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Walter Hill blends
action and elegy, utilizing a screenplay based both on Pete Dexter's novel
Deadwood and on Thomas Babe's play Fathers and Sons. Wild Bill features strong
supporting performances by John Hurt (as a Hickock sidekick) but the
centerpiece is the sad, manly performance by Bridges, who more than measures up
to the part.
Unfortunately, 'Wild Bill' abandons both the history and
legend of James Butler Hickok for the greater part of the movie in favor of its
own inovations on the tale that simply fall flat. Most of the story is told in
Deadwood, the boom town where Hickok was killed, and it attempts to give
explanation and motivation to young Jack McCall's murder of Wild Bill. This is
not only unnecessary, as the tale already had a fitting ending (an unbalanced
young coward murders a legend hoping to make a name), but destoys the
credibility of the film, by adding silly scenes such as McCall and a gang of
hired toughs holding Bill and friends hostage in a bar previous to the murder.
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Had 'Wild Bill'
stuck to the legend rather than inovating, or had it attempted to get behind
the legend to the history, this could have been an outstanding movie. The
scenes that did stay close to the legend were outstandingly well done, and give
a hint of what this film could have been. As is, I would still recommend that
you check out 'Wild Bill'
Impressive cast, like the movie itself,
delivers unevenly - 6/10 |
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| Director |
Walter
Hill |
Jeff
Bridges |
James
Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok |
| Writing |
Peter
Dexter (book)
Thomas Babe (play) |
John
Hurt |
Charley
Prince |
| Cinematography |
Lloyd
Ahern II |
Keith
Carradine |
Buffalo
Bill Cody |
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Diane
Lane |
Susannah
Moore |
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Ellen
Barkin |
Calamity
Jane |
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