MovieChat Forums > Wild Bill (1995) Discussion > Hill's Worst Film

Hill's Worst Film

posted 14 years ago by del70
10 replies | jump to latest

This has got to be the usually very reliable Walter Hill's worst film! It's all over the place. Just seems to be a number of random scene's cobbled together and out of the blue flashbacks. Not a patch on his other western: The Long Rider's. The only thing I enjoyed about it was spotting the actors in it Hill had worked with before in earlier and much better films: Keith Carradine(The Long Rider's, Southern Comfort), Bruce Dern (The Driver), James Remar (The Warrior's, 48 Hrs) and Ellen Barkin (Johnny Handsome).

"This sure is a bizarre sight in the middle of this *beep*

[–] capt_rhodes 14 years ago

Feh, 'Trespass' is far much worse than this movie, as far as I'm concerned, but then again I'm a HUGE fan of westerns. Hill is my absolute favorite director, and this is just one of his forgotten films where people get shot the *beep* up, and I love watching Jeff Bridges in anything. Trespass just had a really weak last 20 minutes.

If your enemy refuses to be humbled....DESTROY HIM!

[–] Fmartiterron 13 years ago

This one looses a bit of its steam towards the end -too much dialogue- but I think it's actually one of Walter Hill's best movies, if not the best. It takes a lot of balls to present such an unpleasant portrait of an American legend, and style-wise it's just terrific. My favourite bits are the string of duels that build Wild Bill's reputation, even if most of the times Bill doesn't even want to fight.

[–] Dream_Demon 13 years ago

I didn't mind watching this film. I didn't find it horrible.

Welcome to my Nightmare- Freddy Krueger

[–] wbalert 13 years ago

Worse than Brewster's Millions or Another 48 Hrs. or Red Heat? Forget it.

[–] franzkabuki 11 years ago

Long Riders is indeed clearly better, but Wild Bill´s quite witty enough, and also quite well filmed, itself. Jeff Bridges is cool. The dialogue is generally pretty inspired. It ain´t obvious or stale. Thusly, Hill´s worst film remains 48 Hours from 1982. Dis gets a decent 6,5/10.

"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

[–] SeanJoyce 11 years ago

It ain´t obvious or stale. Thusly, Hill´s worst film remains 48 Hours from 1982.

Uh...

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[–] bear022013-909-645034 10 years ago

I disagree to a degree sir.Without Bruce Dern,Christina Applegate and Cliff Arquette's grandson...the three of them sub-par actors at best,it would have been
a better piece.
Very sad.Moviegoers of the last twenty five years are expecting the usual.
The sheeple have been fed a steady diet of morally bankrupt films,made by design to dumb everyone down.
The Western movies and television with good guy winning,the moral lessons, Pa and Ma married
the family all together,the church,religion and God?Well you see.

[–] lisajohn-4 9 years ago

I disagree with Bear's comments. First, Bruce Dern has been a staple in western films and TV since the early 60's and was nominated for an Academy Award for "Nebraska". So I would not call him sub-par by any stretch. Second, I wouldn't call this film "the usual"....it's a pretty unusual take on the western genre, even compared to other westerns from the 90's. Lastly, I'd say it's Bear that is looking for "the usual" .....clear-cut good guys, bad guys, moral lessons, Pa and Ma married, family and a good dose of church, religion and God ....pretty much staple western formula from the inception of western films through the 1950's. Well that idealized fantasy is all still available on a multitude of "retro" TV channels...enjoy!

[–] sojourner22 7 years ago

I agree this is a very disappointing film. A botched attempt to be anachronistically "modern", it is filled with awkward, obscene presentism. For a bona fide cowgirl who has studied the actual history behind this story (M.A.ethnohistory of the American West, U. of Wyoming), it is an insult to my subculture. Even the dialect coaching is messy, inconsistent, and substandard. Sad abuse of some very talented actors.

[–] johnmiller (3327) 3 years ago

The attempted melding of two separate sources, a play and a book, resulted in a mess. That's probably the main culprit here.

Too bad! Odd choices like the strange black and white stuff that looked like badly-shot video, was bizarre.

A great cast was left out of luck in the process.