A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.A drifting gunslinger-for-hire finds himself in the middle of an ongoing war between the Irish and Italian mafia in a Prohibition era ghost town.
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis movie, like A Fistful of Dollars (1964), is a retelling of the story in Yojimbo (1961), which is itself based on Dashiell Hammett's 1927 novel "Red Harvest".
- GoofsSmith carries two Colt 45. s that hold 7+1 rounds or 14+2 rounds. Smith fires way more bullets than that.
- Quotes
Capt. Tom Pickett: Things in this town are out of control. Two gangs is just one too many. I'm not an idealist. I know a lot of things that people do are awful low, but that's between them and God. Do you believe in God? I believe in God, son. But what I'm concerned with is keeping a lid on things, and what we got here in Jericho is just way out of hand, and Sheriff Galt here can't do much about it, right? Matter of fact, it might be fair to say that he's part of the problem, right? Now you been going back and forth playing both sides according to Mr. Galt, here, making yourself a lot of money out of all this. Well, it's over, son. I'm coming back here in ten days, and I'm gonna bring about 20 rangers with me. I will tolerate one gang because that is the nature of things. A certain amount of corruption is inevitable. But if I find two gangs here when I get back, then in a couple of hours there will be no gangs here. So it's simple. One gang quits and goes home. You boys work it out. I don't give a damn which one.
John Smith: Just so long as one side leaves or maybe one side loses.
Capt. Tom Pickett: That's fine, too, son. Kill as many as you want. Just don't kill no innocent people around here. I wouldn't like that.
Walter Hill's variant on Yojimbo, plot basically sees Willis as drifter John Smith, who after arriving in the dusty town of Jericho, promptly sets about making some serious cash by playing the town's two gangs off against each other. Smith is one tough hombre, a deadly pistoleer who has a fear of nothing, which is why the two respective gang leaders want him to work for them. Noses get put out of joint, blood flows, scores settled and a anti-hero is born, complete with permanent scowl and dry narration.
The look and sound is terrific, Cooder's pessimistic twangs are all over the plot, while the visuals dovetail between sun-baked landscapes and the misty lensed ghost town of Jericho. Hill brings his trademark stylish violence into play, with slow-mos and rapid fire shoot-outs impressive, while his skill at creating an antique atmosphere is very much in evidence. Unfortunately the narrative isn't up to much, it lacks scope and characters merely exist, making this very much a style over substance exercise. It also means that much of the cast are given only morsels to feed on. A shame when you got Walken and Kelly on overdrive when on screen.
It's an odd blend of a Western with Prohibition Noir characters, but it's unmistakably a Walter Hill film. For his fans there's enough to like about it whilst accepting it's a bit of a throwaway on the page. For the casual crime/action film fan, however, it's likely to be much ado about nothing. 7/10
- hitchcockthelegend
- Aug 15, 2013
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $67,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $18,115,927
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $7,010,333
- Sep 22, 1996
- Gross worldwide
- $47,267,001
- Runtime1 hour 41 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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