The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Director: Robert Day

Writers: Louis L'Amour, James Lee Barrett

Composer: Steve Dorff

Starring: Sam Elliott, Tom Conti, Kate Capshaw, Kenny Morrison, Matt Clark, Patrick Kilpatrick, Jerry Potter, Billy Streater, Del Shores, R.L. Tolbert, Jeffrey Meyer, Kurt D. Lott, Hardy Rawls, Larry Sellers, Bill Steadman

More info: IMDb

Plot: Duncan and Susanna McKaskel are a young married couple travelling to the West with their son, hoping to start a new life. Along the way, they stop in a small town where they meet a gang of bandits led by Doc Shabitt. After Duncan unintentionally angers the gang, he and Susanna flee the town, but Shabitt leads his men in pursuit of revenge. A mysterious stranger by the name of Con Vallian soon begins helping the family as they try to find a new home and protects them from Shabitt's gang.

My rating: 7/10

Will I watch it again? No.

There's one thing you can always count on when it comes to Sam Elliott and the Western genre, he's about as solid a performer as you can get.  He's one of a short handful of actors perfectly suited to the genre.  No exception here in this TV movie.  The cast does a fine job in this par for the course Western story.  Besides the actors, one of the biggest stars of the picture is the gorgeous location shooting throughout Arizona.  I've been to some of these places and it's always a treat to see them.  Someday I'm going to permanently move out West and start my own adventures.  Cattle thieves beware!  It was a TV movie but I would love to see this on the big screen.  Again, the scenery is amazing.  There's plenty of action as the gang of eight are slowly whittled down to.... You're going to totally dig how Vallian (Elliott) dispatches a certain someone where some furniture was left behind in a field.  Classic!  This picture is good enough to watch again BUT there are thousands of Westerns I've yet to see and I want to see them all.  Maybe in a few decades once that's happened (HA!) I'll swing back around and pick this one up.  The Warner Brothers DVD gives us a great (matted as this was originally filmed in 1:33 for TV but it doesn't detract from the visual of the film) widescreen print along with two extras, the TV promo and a commentary by director Robert Day.  Recommended.