History Film / TheQuickAndTheDead

** Dog Kelly is so named because of an incident in his {{backstory}} where he was forced to [[EatTheDog eat his beloved dog or face starvation]]. Any mention of his nickname or the incident in question is a good way to ''seriously'' piss him off, as evidenced in the deleted scene when The Lady teases him about it.

* EatTheDog: Dog Kelly was forced to eat his beloved dog or die of starvation. As mentioned in BerserkButton above, it is ''not'' advisable to bring this up around him.

* VillainousValor: Subverted; Herod really does want a fair fight with Cort and [[spoiler:gets upset with Ratsy mangling Cort's hand and shoots Ratsy over it]], but just before it goes down [[spoiler:he orders his men to sshoot Cort if he is the one still standing afterward.]]

* LovedByAll: The Kid is beloved by the townspeople, who view him as the hero who will defeat Herod. [[spoiler:When he dies, the entire town is devastated and actually leave his body unmolested]].

''The Quick and the Dead'' is a 1995 {{Western}} revolving around a QuickDraw shooting contest that attracts a variety of competitors, some of whom have personal reasons for taking a shot at the reigning champion.

* ChekhovsGun: The barrels of gunpowder that the Kid sleeps on. Not to mention the blind kid's supply of ink. The former is used to [[spoiler:blow up a large portion of the town]], while the latter is used to help the Lady [[spoiler:[[FakingTheDead fake her own death.]]]]

* EveryScarHasAStory: Scars, who cuts his arm every time he kills someone, and Spotted Horse, who gives a BadassBoast showing every bullet wound that failed to kill him.

* APupilOfMineUntilHeTurnedToEvil: Flipped. [[spoiler:Cort was actually a pupil of Herod until he turned ''good''.]]

* SceneryGorn: The town Lady's father had been sheriff of is shown to be desolated after Herod took it over.

* StagedShooting: Cort shoots Lady in a duel arranged by Herod. Later, she turns out to be alive-- they faked her death.

* TisOnlyABulletInTheBrain: Narrowly averted when Spotted Horse, who boasts that he "cannot be killed by a bullet," is shot in the forehead by Cort; he briefly raises his gun arm in the air before he finally expires.

** Eugene Dred. After losing a gunfight to the lady culminating in her sparing his life, he staggers back into the Saloon to ambush her. He fires, narrowly misses, and is gunned down in self defence.

* UnorthodoxReload: Herod's guards have a habit of spin-cocking their Winchesters.

* WallBangHer: Lady and Cort's sex scene is done this way to show its frantic nature. The position has an additional advantage of showing off her hot leather pants when he grabs her ass.

* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Justified; Lady has never killed anyone before, and has been afraid of Herod since childhood. This makes her balk at shooting him on several occasions. [[spoiler:It turns out she has killed someone-- her own father, further explaining her reluctance.]]
** The only way to legally kill Herod is to challenge him to a duel (assuming he hasn't already got a challenger) and kill him in the duel. Most of the time when Herod is out and about, he's guarded by his posse of shotgun-wielding thugs - just shooting him is a quick way to get filled full of buckshot.

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Herod and Cort after Cort wins his first gunfight.

* WellDoneSonGuy: The Kid to Herod, because Herod suspects him of being the bastard son of his unfaithful wife. Cort also reveals that [[spoiler:Herod recruited him as a kid and he wanted to be just like him, until Herod forced him to cross a MoralEventHorizon by killing a priest who nursed them back to health.]]

** The Lady keeps noticing the elderly undertaker staring at her. It's not a PortentOfDoom; turns out he's the only person who's worked out who The Lady is and why she's there.

* BaitTheDog: Eugene Dred is shown easing Katie behind him during the hanging scene. At the time it looks like he's trying to shield her if someone starts shooting, but in retrospect he's just taking the opportunity to grope her.

* FeetFirstIntroduction: A SlowMotion shot of Herod's boots walking across the floorboards, spurs jingling. This is used again in the flashback scenes. [[spoiler:Then when Lady comes back from the dead, the jingly-spurs introduction is used for her.]]

--> '''Herod:''' My father was a judge. ''*chuckle*'' That surprises you. He used to make my mother and me watch people being hanged. One day, he said there was too much bad in this world. He took a bullet, put it in his gun, and spun the chamber. Then he took it in turns, clicking it at each of us, until he blew the back of his head off with the final click. Understand this: There is nothing on this earth that frightens me now. Nothing.

* MomentOfSilence: Though it's not immediately after the death of [[spoiler:the Kid]], a full minute goes by without background music, dialogue, or cheering, before the duel between Cort and the Lady.

* MsFanservice: It wouldn't be a true Sharon Stone vehicle without being able to see her breasts.

* BattleInTheRain: The Lady's showdown with Eugene Dred takes place during a downpour, with the Lady and Eugene charging at each other, guns blazing.

* DramaticGunCock: Plenty of examples, but subverted when [[spoiler:the Lady is working herself up to shoot Herod under the dinner table with a derringer, only to freeze when she hears a click. It turns out to be Herod clicking a silver matchbox lid to freak her out.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Herod changes the rules after the second round to make each contest a DuelToTheDeath, but he abides by the rule himself once it's declared.[[spoiler: It doesn't stop him from telling his men to kill Cort if he's the winner of their duel.]]
** He also deals out harsh punishment to liars and cheaters, his own men included.

* KillTally: "Scars", one of the criminals in the competition, is called such because he makes a cut in his arm for every man he kills. His EstablishingCharacterMoment has him enter the bar, kick out some random guy for no apparent reason, shoot him dead as he tries to run away, and make one more cut before entering the bar again, all while chugging down a large glass of beer.
* KinkyCuffs: Cort's hands are still chained together during his deleted sex scene.

* BlingBlingBang: Everybody in the tournament carries a customised gun of some kind with nickle finishes and/or fancy engravings. Except for Cort, who is given an old, worn-out pistol, described as the cheapest gun in the shop.

* BoringButPractical: After seeing several {{Cool Gun}}s, Cort admits he doesn't have any money, so Herod buys him the cheapest gun in the shop, a worn-down Colt 1851 Navy cartridge conversion. As Cort is leaving, the Kid says, "That gun shoots straight. I wouldn't sell it if it didn't." And true to his word, the gun never fails Cort.

* CoolGuns: Fully invoked, as Raimi had the different characters use a vastly different array of guns instead of giving everyone Colt Peacemakers, as some westerns were wont to do.
** The Lady uses an EMF Hartford Single-Action Army.
** Herod carries a Remington 1875 normally but uses twin Colt "Civilian" Single-Action Armys in the fights.
** The Kid uses a Cimarron Arms Single-Action Army.
** Cort uses a Colt 1851 Navy.
** Ace Hanlon uses a Colt Single-Action Army.
** Gutzon uses a cap-and-ball [=LeMat=] 1861 model.
** Dog Kelly uses a Colt 1860 Army.
** Sergeant Clay Cantrell uses a Roger & Spencer .44, mounted on his belt with a swiveling "Bridgeport Rig" so he can fire without drawing.

* GunTwirling: In a rather nice touch, the main actors were all taught to do it themselves-- which was probably easier to film, considering the ''massive'' amount of gunfighting shown. Herod's minions do this with ''rifles'' quite a lot, in a way that should really eject an unused bullet every time.

-->'''Herod:''' "That's a neat trick. I heard you blew a kid's thumb off in Reno doing that."

-->'''Lady:''' Where is she now?
-->'''Herod:''' I told you. She was ''unfaithful''.

* EmpathyDollShot: Several shots in the flashbacks to when Lady's father was murdered when she was a little girl. She was carrying the doll, of course, but it goes flying from her hands and trampled on by the horses of the outlaws.

* ChekhovsSkill: Of a sort. The Kid has an extended KirkSummation at one point that beings with, "A gunfight is in the head. Not the hands. The only reason that [[BigBad he's]] invincible is because you all ''think'' he is." [[spoiler:Lady takes this advice to heart, deciding not to face Herod on his terms, but only after destroying his town, appearing to [[FakeTheDead come back from the dead]], and revealing that Herod [[CreateYourOwnHero created his own hero]]. As they face off, [[VillainousBreakdown a clearly shaken Herod]] claims that they both know she isn't fast enough to beat him, and she answers, "''Today'', I am.")]]

-->'''Dog:''' "I challenge you."