Wild Bill (1995)

Finding out about him after seeing the Pop-Art comic-book stylisation of The Warriors,I was surprised to find Walter Hill be very involved in the making of HBO's magnificent Western series Deadwood. Directing the pilot,Hill gave the ep a rawness which was expanded over the next 3 seasons. Taking a look at what movies were about to go from Netflix UK,I spotted a Hill title I've not heard anything about before,which led to me getting set to meet Wild Bill.The plot:Attending his funeral, Charley Prince starts to think about the "difficult" friendship he had with "Wild" Bill Hickok.The past:Getting on everyone's hit-list,"Wild" Bill Hickok leaves undercover to the outlaw town of Deadwood.Viewed as a mythical cowboy,Hickok plays up to the image as he joins friends such as Charley Prince passing the time drinking.Becoming recently reunited with Calamity Jane, Hickok learns that he has an illegitimate son,who is just as much an outlaw as his old man.View on the film:Spinning the guns to black and white flashbacks that Hickok has half-drunk memories of,writer/director Walter Hill and cinematographer Lloyd Ahern II give the flashbacks a poetic calm in in unveiling the events which led to the "code" Hickok lives by. Sharply contrasting the smoothness of the flashbacks,Hill and Ahern give the present an earthy,gritty atmosphere. Setting the sun down on the Wild West with Hickok's face covering the screen,Hill pours mud and dry dirt into the tensions of the West,which ignites in a fury of red and white dust being scatted across the screen as Hickok hands a short.sharp shock of a shootout out.Visibly appearing to "tense" on screen, (with Hill saying that there was always some "tension" between them) Jeff Bridges channels this unease into a very good performance as Hickok,who displays flashes of his myth making bombast,but is wonderfully pinned by Bridges with a suspicion that his "code" is fading with the sun. Opening this adaptation of Peter Dexter's book & Thomas Babe's play with Hickok's funeral,Hill aims for the murky back-shooting of the Wild West with the elegance of the bio-pic. Inter-cutting between the past and the present,Hill struggles to keep the distinctive atmospheres at an even level,with the tough bite of Hickok's last days of living by his "code" being cooled down by the calmer,more withheld flashbacks,which leads to this being a far from "Wild" kill(ed) Bill.

First, I loved the performances and everyone looked and acted fairly believable although Calamity Jane was way to pretty and shapely. What the movie lacked was any semblance of the truth. I know that the creators wanted to find some kind of artistic or psychological truth but the fact is that when you set out to make a movie about a famous person whose life is shrouded in exaggeration and legend, you really owe it to them to flush out the real life with some accuracy although it is always fine to take some license to make it entertaining. The famous death scene is really done in such a ridiculous way that it mars the whole movie. Calamity Jane isn't there and Jack just walks in and shoots him in the back. Wild Bill is shown with his back to the wall whereas he really had his back to the door. Jack killed him in cold blood with an ambush from behind and was later found guilty and hanged for it.

Wild Bill is a terrific and underrated Western that combines wonderful direction,an amazing cast,fantastic Action and a memorable score. All of those elements make Wild Bill an entertaining Western film that is Walter Hill and Jeff Bridges at their best.Based on the novel Deadwood by Peter Dexter and the play Father's And Sons by Thomas Babe,Wild Bill tells the story of the last days of James Butler Hickok AKA Wild Bill(Jeff Bridges),the legendary lawman and gunfighter thinking about his life past and present.During the Western movie revival of the 1980s 90s there were classic Westerns such as Unforgiven(1992),Tombstone(1993)and Dances With Wolves(1990)that were critical and Box Office hits but there were also other Western films during this time that went under the radar and weren't as successful but still wonderful in their own rights such as Walter Hill's 1995 Western Wild Bill a terrific and memorable Western that was Hill's third and film about an iconic true life Western figure following Jesse James/Younger Gang film The Long Riders(1980)and the Geronimo film Geronimo:An American Legend(1993). And while Wild Bill isn't as good as those two films Wild Bill is an interesting look at a charismatic figure of his time. At a lean and tight 98 minutes Wild Bill is a memorable and entertaining film that is not really a biopic but a great mixture of Western shoot em up and character study told in a gritty way. This is the kind of movie that won't be appealing to general audiences and is the kind of film that will be liked or disliked but if you're a Western buff you will enjoy this film even though it might not be historically inaccurate. Wild Bill is a movie that is a revisionist Western in the truest sense told in very surreal and stylish giving viewers a look into one of the most iconic characters in the West in Wild Bill Hickok,a Cowboy who probably isn't known on a national level like other Western icons such as Wyatt Earp,Doc Holliday,Jesse James or Billy The Kid but if you know Western History you will know Wild Bill. The tone of the movie stylish and gritty capturing the beauty and ugliness of the Wild West in all it's glory and also gives viewers a look at the town of Deadwood in South Dakota which is violent and bizarre and serves as a precursor to the classic HBO TV series Deadwood,a show that gave viewers another look into Deadwood. When we look at the title character Wild Bill we get a brief but fascinating look into his life as a person of many things in his life such as being a lawman,gunfighter,buffalo hunter,folk hero and gambler. It's easy to see why Walter Hill wanted to make a movie about Wild Bill because like the characters in Hill's other films Wild Bill in the movie is depicted as a man who is larger than life but at the same time a flawed human being. Hickok is a man who also haunted by his demons(told in black and white drug induced dreams)and his ways of living have caught up with him(Hickok was losing his eye sight)and is over the hill but still has his bravado. Wild Bill as a character is so interesting that I would have loved to see more of his history and life story in the past and present which I think is a flaw. Another flaw is Wild Bill is that it feels less cinematic compared to Walter Hill's other movies and at times has the feel of a TV movie. The Action and gunfights in the film are thrilling and intense going along with the Western tone of the movie as Walter Hill can do. The ending in Wild Bill is amazing,dramatic and tragic and while not true to how what really happen in real life it's close enough. An outstanding ending.The cast is great. Jeff Bridges is excellent and at his best as Wild Bill Hickok,with Bridges bring gritty,tough and charismatic. Ellen Barkin is terrific as Calamity Jane,a lady friend of Hickok's. John Hurt is wonderful as Charles Prince,an English friend of Bill's. Diane Lane is sensational and beautiful as Susannah Moore,a past love of Bill's. Keith Carradine does a fine job in a small role as Buffalo Bill Cody. David Arquette is superb as Jack McCall,a man who's after Wild Bill. Christina Applegate is great as Lurline,a prostitute that befriends Jack. Bruce Dern does a good job as Will Plummer,an enemy of Wild Bill's. James Gammon is fantastic as California Joe,another friend of Wild Bill's. James Remar is amazing as Donnie Lonnigan,a gunman. Marjoe Gortner(Preacher),Stoney Jackson(Jubal Pickett),Karen Hule(Song Lue),Robert Knott(Dave Tutt),Steve Reevis(Sioux Chief),Pato Hoffman(Cheyenne Leader)and Dennis Hayden(Phil Coe)give good performances as well.The direction by Walter Hill is exceptional and stylish with Hill bringing a haunting and beautiful look to the film. Fantastic direction,Hill.The score by Van Dyke Parks is effective,beautiful and gripping,with Parks scoring matching the tone of the movie. Great score,Parks.In final word,if you love Westerns,Walter Hill or Jeff Bridges,I highly suggest you see Wild Bill,a terrific,underrated Western that is worth your time. Highly Recommended 9.5/10.

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....One of the main reasons to watch this film is of course Bridges, who puts in a wonderful performance as the titular character. He is ably supported by Barkin and Hurt, and thats most of the positive things said.The film is shot beautifully, and does have an authentic feel to it, but Hill feels out of place directing this, and has made some evry odd choices with the uses of flashbacks, and using Arquette, who is not convincing, but you know the demise of Bill when you meet arquettes character.Reason being that the man is too slimy and typically evil in a Mike Myers way (not a compliment) and is the sole reason of making the film just that laughable. Sure, the history is a load of garbage, but that doesn't matter, all we want to know is how many people he shot, how drunk he got, and how well Bridges does to adapt the two aforementioned traits.it's watchable enough, with some silly scenes and misjudged narrative, but thanks to some good performances, the film isn't the turkey most say it is.