The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Sam Elliott plays Con Vallian, a frontiersman who comes to the rescue of an Eastern family heading West after they’ve piqued the interest of the Doc Shabitt gang.

Duncan McKaskel (Tom Conti) is taking his family to a new home in the Black Hills with hopes of starting a horse ranch. He has two Kentucky thoroughbreds to start his herd.

It’s the horses — and the mules pulling the McKaskel’s wagon — that draws the attention of Doc and his men.

Vallian’s concern for the family’s welfare might have something to do with lovely Susanna McKaskel (Kate Capshaw), Duncan’s wife.

And his interest in the demise of the Shabitt gang has a lot to do with revenge.

A Ute Indian that’s part of the gang led a raid on a Blackfoot village; Vallian’s mother was killed in that raid.

Sam Elliott as Con Vallian, doling out survival advice to the McKaskel family in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Kate Capshaw as Suanna McKaskel, listening to Con Vallian’s warnings in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Review:

Well-done TV Western, though Sam Elliott’s bravado is a bit too much to take at times, especially early in the film.

Kate Capshaw makes a captivatingly woman in need of protecting. And Conti turns in a fine performance as her brave, but far less Western-wise husband.

He frets nearly as much about Vallian’s attraction to his wife as he does about the Shabbit gang, but reluctantly follows the frontiersman’s advice.

Kenny Morrison is their son, Tom. As for the Shabitt gang, they’re a little too incompetent to take entirely seriously.

Tom Conti as Duncan McKaskel, losing his temper with Con Vallian in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Kenny Morrison as Tom McKaskel, standing up for his father in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Directed by:
Robert Day

Cast:
Sam Elliott … Con Vallian
Tom Conti … Duncan McKaskel
Kate Capshaw … Susanna McKaskel
Kenny Morrison … Tom McKaskel
Matt Clark … Doc Shabitt
Patrick Kilpatrick … The Ute
Jerry Potter … Red Hayle
Billy Streater … Ike Mantel
Del Shores … Purdy Mantel
R.L. Tolbert … Johnny Dobbs

Runtime: 90 min.

Matt Clark as Doc Shabitt, envisioning the McKaskel family as easy prey for his gang in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Jerry Potter as Red Hayle, a member of Doc Shabitt’s gang in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Memorable lines:

Con Vallian, giving advice to Tom McKaskel: “If you have to shoot, shoot to kill. Wounds won’t impress them. They’ve all been shot before.”

Con Vallian, with Indians approaching: “Mrs. McKaskel, hand me your Bible.”
Duncan McKaskel: “A Bible? What do you want me to do? Throw it at them?”
Vallian: “I’m going to watch you preach.”
McKaskel: “What are you talking about? I’m no preacher.”
Vallian, passing him the Bible: “Just preach. To the earth. To the sky. To the grass. And to the Sioux.”
McKaskel: “I’ll look like a fool.”
Vallian: “The crazier they think you are, the safer you’re gonna be. Indians don’t see any point in killing crazy people. Even white ones. Now go on.”

Con Vallian: “Let me tell you something, McKaskel. You been acting like the meek are going to inherit the earth. The meek aren’t going to inherit nothing west of Chicago.”

Con Vallian: “Another time, another place, Mrs. McKaskel, I’d have chased you down til you dropped.”

The McKaskels — Kate Capshaw as Susanna, Kenny Morrison as Tom and Tom Conti as Duncan — learn of the Little Bighorn and the likely death of Susanna’s brother in-law in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Patrick Kilpatrick as The Ute, an Indian with a history with Con Vallian in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Billy Streater as Ike Mantel, losing faith in Doc Shabitt’s plans to rob the McKaskel family in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Del Shores as Purdy Mantel, the youngest member of the Doc Shabitt gang in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Kate Capshaw as Susanna McKaskel, realizing the danger her family faces on the trek West in The Quick and the Dead (1987)

Sam Elliott as Con Vallian, fancying another man’s wife and trying to keep her alive in The Quick and the Dead (1987)