Where to watch Wild Bill
2 Stars
Maverick Writer and Director Walter Hill’s version of the famous Wild Bill Hickok legend is a dreamscape western that is told entirely in flashback. Hickok’s friend Charley Prince (Sir John Hurt) narrates the events of Wild Bill’s life while sitting at Bill’s graveside. Hickok is played by Jeff Bridges as a mean, high-spirited, but gallant outlaw. He wanders the West, adding to his reputation with some well-chosen gunfights, and he meets up with characters such as Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), who becomes his sidekick for a time. After becoming a legend, Hickok signs up for a stint with Buffalo Bill Cody’s travelling variety show. Eventually, he falls in love with Susannah Moore (Diane Lane), and his love leads him to tragedy in the town of Deadwood, South Dakota.
WAlter Hill is a director who has shown a deep-seated fascination with the Western genre throughout his career. By his admission, he approaches all his films as if they were part of this almost forgotten genre. Working hard to deliver a Tombstone-type experience, Hill is up against a wall with his revisionist take on the legendary gunfighter/lawman ‘Wild’ Bill Hickok. Anchored by an offbeat performance from Jeff Bridges, Hickok never comes off as anything other than a grumpy killer. The movie is slow-paced, and the final shootout is poorly executed. However, this is not a total failure; there are enough interesting scenes that I grew frustrated that the screenplay moved through episodic chunks with undefined linear continuity.
Deadwood, South Dakota, is overrun with sinful behavior and lawlessness. That’s before the arrival of the man who would be sheriff of these ungodly dwellers, Bill Hickok (Bridges). Lurking in the shadows of the township is a mysterious stranger (David Arquette) hellbent on killing Hickok. The years of fighting and slaying men on battlefields and in barrooms have taken their toll on Bill. He finds a bit of solace in the arms of a former lover, Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), but he remains haunted by the identity of the stranger and their connection with a woman from his past.
An Englishman (John Hurt) is Bill’s friend, travel companion, and the chronicler of his tales. The movie uses this character as a narrator, but even he doesn’t understand the man he reveres. When Hickok shoots a challenger in the streets, his friend stays in the empty bar pouring himself a drink. The romance between Jane and Bill is handled like two petulant children with communication problems. He’s hot for her one moment, then pushes her away instantly. The overall sense was that nobody was allowed to know or care for this troubled man. The well-researched screenplay goes to pains in devoting time to Hickok’s glaucoma issues, heroic deeds in the war, and other factual accounts.
Wild Bill feels like a knee-jerk reaction by the producers to capitalize on the renewed interest in the genre after years in a dormant state. It is an unfocused movie that never clearly carves out a point of view on its title character. Hill, who relishes the opportunity to work within the context, still hasn’t made a Western as cherished as his modern-day action flicks.
Directed by: Walter Hill
Written by: Peter Dexter, Thomas Babe, Walter Hill
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Ellen Barkin, John Hurt