Russell Crowe’s Underrated Western Is Being Removed From Netflix, Watch Before It’s Gone
The Quick and the Dead will leave Netflix soon.
This year may have so far seen Russell Crowe exorcizing all the demons that hell can throw his way in The Pope’s Exorcist but it’s another of The Nice Guys star’s titles that you’ll want to catch before it de-saddles Netflix on June 1. When you think of Westerns, names like Clint Eastwood and John Wayne are bound to pop into your head but it was with 1995’s The Quick and the Dead that Crowe and a star-studded cast brought a new look to the Wild West. Sam Raimi’s gun-slingin’ Western epic was not only one of the biggest films of the year but has also gone down in history as a classic title from the beloved genre.
Along with Russell Crowe, The Quick and the Dead also starred the likes of Sharon Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Gene Hackman with an ensemble including Bruce Campbel, Pat Hingle, Tobin Bell, Raynor Scheine, Kevin Conway, Keith David, Mark Boone Junior, Lance Henriksen, and Fay Masterson. Along with a stacked cast and one of the most celebrated directors in the industry backing the production, the screenplay was penned by Traffik scribe Simon Moore with Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The Avengers’ Joss Whedon also contributing to the writing.
In the film, audiences are introduced to the butt-kicking gunfighter, “The Lady” (Stone) who gallops for Redemption, a town off in the frontier where she’ll draw her guns in a dueling competition against the men who killed her father. It’s there that she’ll meet the town’s leader, John Herod (Hackman) as well as Russell Crowe’s Cort and Leonardo DiCaprio’s Fee “The Kid” Herod – two men also looking to participate in the gun duel.
The film came out when Adam Sandler’s Billy Madison was also spotted on theater marquees and raked in $47 million against its $35 million budget. Not a major hit among critics who reported that while it was an enjoyable watch in the way that it wasn’t your run-of-the-mill Western, the story still dragged in places. However, many cited the performances by Russell Crowe, Sharon Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Gene Hackman as being reason enough to tune in for the film.
Russell Crowe owes his casting in the movie, in part, to Sharon Stone who pushed for him to be the title’s lead. This was a full five years before the actor would wow audiences in Gladiator, but the studio saw his promise and gave him the chance to star alongside the A-list celebs. Leonardo DiCaprio almost didn’t nab his part as, at first — Matt Damon was the studio’s first choice — but when the Good Will Hunting star turned it down, they reached out to DiCaprio.
A fan of DiCaprio’s work, Stone even paid the actor’s salary when Sony wasn’t so sure that he was the right fit.
As for Russell Crowe’s career, The Quick and the Dead was just the beginning of what would turn out to be an illustrious and long-spanning career. As mentioned, just a few years later he became the face of Gladiator, with his Oscar-nominated performance in A Beautiful Mind to follow shortly after. Since then, he’s sung in Les Miserables, taken on the DC universe in Man of Steel, and even crossed over into the MCU in Thor: Love and Thunder.
When news broke that Ridley Scott would be moving forward with a sequel to his skull-bashing 2000 film Gladiator, audiences were more than pumped to think of Russell Crowe reprising his fan-favorite role from the first film. However, Scott has different plans and will be moving forward with an all-new storyline and cast that doesn’t feature Crowe’s warrior, Maximus. Expected out in theaters in 2024, the new lineup features the likes of Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, and possibly Barry Keoghan.
Up next, audiences can expect to catch Russell Crowe in Marvel’s Kraven the Hunter, Anthony Miller’s horror The Georgetown Project, and Adam Cooper’s Sleeping Dogs where he’ll star opposite Guardians of the Galaxy franchise star Karen Gillan. Be sure to catch Crowe and the rest of the star-studded cast of The Quick and the Dead on Netflix before it bows out at the beginning of June.
