Wild Bill
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Movie Reviews of Wild Bill
Movie Review: Very Close but just falls short
Summary: 3 Stars
I love good western movies. I'm particularly biased toward westerns that feel real and at least 'mostly' historically correct. I do appreciate a little poetic license in the way a director, writer, or actor presents but not so much the realism is lost. Wild Bill is actually a pretty good movie. The first half is very well done but the movie lapses into a fictionalized, possibly, theoretically, maybe is could have been run that forced loss of one star. Jeff Bridges does an excellant job portraying Wild Bill Hickock. Ellen Barkin is adequate as Calamity Jane, but a little too 'sweet' to really carry the part off to be beleivable. The movie unfortunately used black and white for flashbacks throughout the movie. I'm really no fan of flashbacks when they're over used as is this case. I guess the director wanted to make sure we the audience would 'get it? it's a flashback'. Loss of one more star. For me, some good western movies are: Tombstone, Deadwood(series) as well as Wyatt Earp(Kevin Kostner), several Louis L'amour written stories that are now available on DVD. I also enjoy watching westerns that are just fun to watch without trying to be a history lesson like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or Hang Em High, Tom Horn, Nevada Smith (Steve McQueen) to name a few. If you approach Wild Bill just to enjoy a good movie and you don't know or care about the real history of Wild Bill Hickock, you'll certainly not be wasting your time watching.Movie Review: Bridges shines, but plot fizzles
Summary: 3 Stars
The opening scene of 'Wild Bill' is standard. A flashback movie based with an emotional back story; which makes up the majority of the movie. This western truly stands out as different which becomes its major advantage and flaw.
Jeff Bridges plays the main role of James Butler Hickock (a.k.a. Wild Bill) and HE is what makes this movie entertaining. Bridges uses all his tools to show the hindrances of a lost, but determined man. His body language is brilliant, as is his line delivery, but that can't save a flimsy plot which is also horrible inaccurate.
Ellen Barkin does a great job playing Calamity Jane and the rest of the support cast also show their mettle; excluding a horrible performance by David Arquette; who can't work with a skilled actor like Bridges.
All in all, 'Wild Bill' is a different western, but relies too heavily on the lead role with a story that seemed to be written backstage at a 'Doors' concert.
Movie Review: Good Movie with Two Exceptions
Summary: 3 Stars
I thought this was a pretty good movie and western with two glaring exceptions. They are David Arquette and the girl who played Kelly Bundy on Married with Children. Both are very poor actors and are completely out of their element (whatever that is) with these other pro's. Jeff Bridges is great as usual. The story follows pretty closely to the real life legend of James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickock. I enjoyed it. Lots of good action and also some very funny moments. Also the costumes and set designs were very good.Movie Review: Wild Bill
Summary: 3 Stars
It was somewhat of a letdown. I expected a more true to history potryal.Movie Review: Movie characters behaving like ... characters in a bad movie
Summary: 2 Stars
I popped this disc out with 20 minutes left to go, unable to bear the ludicrous turns of plot. This film started out well enough, with a gritty Western atmosphere and plenty of loud, smoky gunplay as Jeff Bridges' Wild Bill Hickok shoots down men by the roomful. Bridges is a scruffy, perpetually hungover and somehow likable Wild Bill Hickok. He chews the scenery like an out-of-control rock star. It's fun at first, but ultimately his character is hard to care for. That's important, because from the get-go, you know what's coming for Wild Bill at the end. For that reason, the filmmakers' biggest challenge was to make you care for ol' Bill. But Bridges and the scriptwriters fall wide of the mark. (In contrast, Keith Carradine sets the world-weary gunfighter bar high with his portrayal of W.B. in "Deadwood.") Sure, Bridges's Wild Bill is humorous and quirky, but his character does so many outrageous, over-the-top things -- punching, insulting, and generally running roughshod over folks -- that you can't help but think "Oh, he's askin' for it" or "No real gunfighter would do that!" The real Hickock was shot in the back of the head by Jack McCall, an no-account drifter who had lost to Hickok in cards. The Jack McCall of this film, however, is out to avenge his mother, a former lover of Hickok's who, her son thinks, was cruelly abandoned by the gunslinger turned professional gambler. But it gets even better: McCall -- SPOILERS AHEAD -- pays a motley crew of lowlifes a sum of one thousand dollars (today worth about, what, a million?) to kill Hickok. They catch him by surprise while he's -- get this -- coupling with Calamity Jane on top of a poker table. (For me, that's when the movie jumped the shark.) But then the bad guys, instead of killing Hickok right there on the spot (which is usually what hired killers do) force him and other residences of his hotel to play poker. Why they did this I never did find out, because that's when the screening of "Wild Bill" was cut short by the eject button. --MellowMonk.com