Plot summary

The Quick and the Dead follows the course of a single elimination gunfighting contest held by John Herod (Hackman). Herod is a former outlaw and murderer who rules the small town of Redemption, Arizona, with an iron fist. Herod sponsors the contest with one goal in mind – to eliminate anyone who might pose a threat to him. The contest attracts a variety of contestants, including several outlaws, an adventurer (David), a Swedish gunfighting champion (Sven-Ole Thorsen), a trick shooter and braggart (Henriksen), Herod’s alleged son (DiCaprio), and a mysterious woman (Stone) bent on killing Herod. It is revealed through a series of flashbacks that Stone’s character is no crusader or savior; her mission is one of personal vengeance. As a young girl, Herod manipulated her into killing her father (Gary Sinise), the town’s marshal. Herod also sends his henchmen to retrieve a man named Cort (Crowe), a fellow outlaw retired to life as a missionary. Cort is publicly tortured and humiliated when he refuses to recant his mission of non-violence, and is ultimately forced into the contest. He and “the Lady” (Stone) find they have a common enemy in Herod and devise a plan to kill him and free the town from his oppression.

Characters

Ellen aka “The Lady” (Sharon Stone)- The tournament’s only female gunfighter. Has a personal vendetta against Herod for tricking her into killing her father, and finds an ally in Cort. When they have to eliminate one another, neither draw their guns, but when Cort shoots her, everyone believes she has died, but comes back to shoot Herod.

John Herod (Gene Hackman)- The primary antagonist of the film. For many years Herod and his marauding band of outlaws roamed the countryside. They then settled on the frontier town of Redemption, extorting the town’s citizens in return for their own survival. Herod rules over the town from his mansion in its center. His gang members enforce his will posing as the town’s “Councilors”. He also develops an attraction to Ellen, and invites her to dinner one night, where he reveals that he also has a tragic backstory from his father, a judge, forcing him to watch people he had sentenced being hanged, and his wife abandoning him for another man (although it is implied he killed her in his rage). Shot in the chest and later in right eye by Ellen, in revenge for tricking her into killing her father.

Cort (Russell Crowe)- Cort used to run with Herod and his gang, but he had a change of heart and has tried to make up for his past sins (Herod made him kill a minister who had nursed Herod’s gang) as a preacher in a mission. Herod insists that Cort participates in the town’s gunfighting tournament and has Foy and Ratsy burn the mission to the ground and abduct Cort back to town to do so. He is arguably the fastest and most skilled shooter in the entire film (Herod knows better than to face him one-on-one, and keeps him chained up), though this is tempered by his reluctance to kill. His preacher clothing gains him the hostility of most of the townspeople, although he later wins their support after they learn of his skills and his determination to rid the town of Herod. Cort has an affair with The Lady (a scene deleted only from the American version of the film) and in the end of the film is heavily suggested to become the new sheriff.

Fee Herod aka “The Kid” (Leonardo DiCaprio)- Fee claims to be the son of John Herod. Herod denies he is the boy’s father, claiming his wife (Fee’s mother) had an affair with a farmer, although he does seem to show a bit of affection for Fee, displayed by his many attempts to get Fee to drop out of the contest. Fee makes a living as the town’s gunsmith and enters the tournament hoping to earn his father’s acknowledgment and respect. He develops a crush on Ellen, and although she claims the opposite, she deeply cares for him and is greatly saddened when he is shot and killed by Herod after wounding him in the neck in their gunfight.

Dog Kelly (Tobin Bell)- Kelly is an outlaw bent on finding some buried loot, but he seems to have forgotten its location. He tries to kill Ellen, mistakenly believing she was a rival for said treasure. In retaliation she punches him out, chains him to his cart and takes his hat to replace the one he destroyed. He joins the tournament to get a chance to shoot her. A deleted scene shows Ellen teasing Kelly about his nickname telling everyone else about how he was forced to eat his own dog or face starvation. Wounded by Ellen and eliminated.

Doc Wallace (Roberts Blossom)- Doc was the town’s local doctor for as long as anyone can remember. He even remembers Ellen from long ago.

Eugene Dred (Kevin Conway)- Dred is a local pedophile and apparently a friend of Scars. Fee goads him into joining the tournament. Killed by Ellen in an unofficial duel after he rapes Horace’s young daughter Katie. Shot in the groin and then the chest, after which he begs for his life and Ellen spares him despite Herod calls her to kill him. He then tries to shoot Ellen in the saloon from behind but misses, and Ellen kills him with three more shots to the chest.

Sgt. Clay Cantrell (Keith David)- Cantrell is a former Union soldier of the American Civil War. Even now he still wears his old uniform. He has been hired by the town to participate in the tournament in the hopes he will eliminate Herod in the process. First disarmed and later shot in the head by Herod.