The Quick and the Dead

I am still undecided whether Sam Raimi's film is an homage or spoof of Sergei Leone type Westerns. Much of it is quite grim and so I'm inclined to go for homage, but the shameless plundering of just about every cliche from the genre does mean it comes across more as pastiche than just homage. Still, Sharon Stone and Gene Hackman give excellent performances as the Woman with No Name and the hugely evil lord and master of the town of Redemption. The plot is a long shooting competition, with Hackman being the fastest and everyone else out to hopefully prove him wrong. Raimi is a director whose work is always well worth seeing and his imaginative use of camera as well as superimposition only heightens the suspense and tension at crucial moments.

So it is with the film, the problem of identification is partially true of the score. Silvestri has merely written his own, less harsh and original versions of Ennio Morricone's often bizarre efforts. The main theme is a solemn, Mexican influenced trumpet melody backed by strumming guitar that is both effective and memorable and crops up a couple of times throughout the score. Unlike Morricone, Silvestri's writing is somewhat mundane with little especially interesting in the orchestration. The one strange facet about some of the score is that it often sounds like it's escaped from a sci-fi film. The Gunfight Montage features a rhythm not totally unlike Holst's oft imitated Mars from the Planets. The harmonies as well lend themselves to much less a Western feel. Kid vs. Herod starts off with something that could be from Silvestri's Judge Dredd before the main theme appears to correct the atmosphere.

While a bit of a mixture of ideas and mild pastiche, the music itself is always interesting and perfectly listenable, with several more tender interludes in between the terse music of the gun fights themselves. Dinner Tonight and I Don't Wanna Die both feature some delightful acoustic guitar writing that nicely alleviates the tension that generally prevails. It is pleasing to note that Silvestri's score does not suffer from bouts of uninteresting action music which can often blight his efforts. Clearly Raimi wanted every note to count; and so it does. As a pastiche it's not a bad one and while not being nearly as imaginative as Morricone, it is well written and enjoyable.