The Quick and the Dead is a 1987 television film, based on the 1973 novel by Louis L'Amour, directed by Robert Day and starring Sam Elliott, Tom Conti, Kate Capshaw, Kenny Morrison and Matt Clark.
Video The Quick and the Dead (1987 film)
Plot
Duncan McKaskel (Tom Conti), his wife Susanna (Kate Capshaw), and their 12-year-old son Tom (Kenny Morrison) are travelling West, hoping to start a new life. They have left a cholera-stricken wagon train and arrive in a small, dilapidated town, where they meet no-good Doc Shabbitt (Matt Clark) and ask for directions. He suggests they stay in a deserted local building, but McKaskel senses danger and they leave. Shabbit decides to steal two of their horses.
Con Vallian (Sam Elliott) is chasing a mixed-race Indian, the latest recruit to Shabbit's gang whom, it transpires, he has tracked for hundreds of miles for personal reasons. Vallian witnesses the homesteader's encounter with Shabbit and turns up at the McKaskel's wagon during supper. He tells them their horses have been stolen. Against Susanna's advice, Duncan rides into town and tries to reclaim the horses. An intense gunfight ensues when Vallian, who has secretly followed him, shoots some of the Shabbit gang. When Doc Shabbitt finds that his son, who was about to shoot McKaskel in the back, has been killed, he vows to pursue the family and seek revenge.
Susanna, Duncan, and Tom flee in their covered wagon, trying to keep ahead of their pursuers. Vallian keeps arriving to help protect them from Shabbitt and his gang. As time passes, Vallian manages to kill the bandits one by one, but the remaining four keep up their pursuit. Vallian is obviously attracted to Susanna, and she to him. Following a moment of high drama, she succumbs to his advances and they share a passionate kiss. McKaskel never learns of the kiss, but several times he tells Vallian, who is critical of his apparent pacifism, to back off. In an encounter with Indians, Susanna learns that her brother, an army officer, has likely been killed at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Out hunting, Vallian is ambushed and shot by the Indian. McKaskel removes the bullet, but Vallian runs a high fever and falls on the trail. He is rescued and nursed back to health by Susanna.
Eventually, they arrive at the small cabin Susanna's brother had built for them, on the spread where they intended to raise cattle. The family begins settling in the house, but Shabbitt and his gang show up for their revenge. A showdown ensues in which Vallian and the McKaskels manage to kill them. Vallian then bids farewell to the family and leaves to resume his solitary life.
Maps The Quick and the Dead (1987 film)
Cast
- Sam Elliott as Con Vallian
- Tom Conti as Duncan McKaskel
- Kate Capshaw as Susanna McKaskel
- Kenny Morrison as Tom McKaskel
- Matt Clark as Doc Shabbitt
- Jerry Potter as Red Hayle (Doc Shabbitt's Gang)
- Patrick Kilpatrick as The Ute (Doc Shabbitt's Gang)
- Billy Streater as Ike Mantle (Doc Shabbitt's Gang)
- Del Shores as Purdy Mantle (Doc Shabbitt's Gang)
- Jeffrey Meyer as Butcher McCloud (Doc Shabbitt's Gang)
- R.L. Tolbert as Johnny Dobbs (Doc Shabbitt's Gang)
- Kurt D. Lott as Lenny Shabitt (Doc Shabbitt's son and is in his Gang)
- Larry Sellers as Running Wolf
- Bill Stedman as Bartender
- Hardy Rawls as Joy the Blacksmith
Production
Filming locations include Coconino National Forest, Kaibab National Forest, Wupatki National Monument and Sedona, Arizona.
References
External links
- The Quick and the Dead on IMDb
- The Quick and the Dead at AllMovie
- The Quick and the Dead at the TCM Movie Database
Source of the article : Wikipedia