History Film / WildWildWest

* ImposterForgotOneDetail: Artemis Gordon has a nearly foolproof disguise as President Grant (the fact that Kevin Kline plays both helps) but West quickly knows it's not Grant because he was wearing the wrong school ring. It doesn't help that "Grant" keeps going on and on about how great an agent Gordon is.

* VillainOpeningScene: It starts with General [=McGrath=] and the death of a scientist.
* VillainousBreakdown: Loveless loses it when [[spoiler:Gordon disables his spider legs to rescue West]].

* AdaptationalJerkass: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Dr. Loveless on the show was still a villain, but also genuinely was the sort of WellIntentionedExtremist that movie Loveless is only pretending to be. Movie Loveless is also [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist]] and [[spoiler:[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness willing to turn on his own men]]]]; exactly the kind of person that Show Loveless would have hated. The two are further separated by being given different names - Arliss Loveless in the movie, Miguelito Loveless on the show - and having different disabilities - Miguelito had dwarfism, Arliss lost his legs.

* AdaptationalVillainy: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Dr. Loveless on the show was still a villain, but also genuinely was the sort of WellIntentionedExtremist that movie Loveless is only pretending to be. Movie Loveless is also [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist]] and [[spoiler:[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness willing to turn on his own men]]]]; exactly the kind of person that Show Loveless would have hated. The two are further separated by being given different names - Arliss Loveless in the movie, Miguelito Loveless on the show - and having different disabilities - Miguelito had dwarfism, Arliss lost his legs.

* DeadpanSnarker: Will Smith as Jim West and Kevin Kline as Artemus Gordon.

* LovesTheSoundOfScreaming: For practical purposes, of course. Loveless makes a note to drill his gunners harder after the screams of their victims prove unsatisfactory.

'''Capt. James West''': Actually, I was thinking I'd stuff your little half-an-ass into one of these cannons and fertilize the landscape with ya.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: While Loveless has never been harmless as he's a DiabolicalMastermind and the responsible behind the New Liberty massacre he at least seems at first to be no physical match being confined in a wheelchair. Then it turns out he can turn his wheelchair into some sort of four-legged mechanical spider and use it to brutally beats anyone who cross his path as Jim West finds out at his own expense.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: While Loveless has never been harmless as he's a DiabolicialMastermind and the responsible behind the New Liberty massacre he at least seems at first to be no physical match being confined in a wheelchair. Then it turns out he can turn his wheelchair into some sort of four-legged mechanical spider and use it to brutally beats anyone who cross his path as Jim West finds out at his own expense.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: While Loveless has never been harmless as he's a DiablocialMastermind and the sole responsible behind the New Liberty massacre he at least seems at first to be no physical match being confined in a wheelchair. Then it turns out he can turn his wheelchair into some sort of four-legged mechanical spider and use it to brutally beats anyone who cross his path as Jim West finds out at his own expense.

* AnArmAndALeg: During the war Loveless lost both his legs, a lung, spleen, bladder, thirty-feet of small intestine and [[GroinAttack the ability to reproduce]] - but [[SuddenlyShouting heaven knows he hasn't lost his sense of humour]].

* MasterOfDisguise: Artemus Gordon is known for having many disguises at his disposal, such as the saloon girl in the opening and President Grant, something which West himself finds to be quite dubious. Eventually, West forces himself to poses as a BellyDancer to stop Loveless from executing Gordon.

** Artemus, disguised as President Grant, tries to get Loveless to kidnap him instead of the real Grant in the finale. [[spoiler:It doesn't work.]]
** Done again when Loveless threatens Grant by shooting his men, starting with Gordon. Gordon, knowing he's wearing a bulletproof vest, ask that he be shot in the heart to symbolize the country he loved. Loveless, true to his name, orders him to be shot in the head.

* MasterOfDisguise: Artemus Gordon is known for having many disguises at his disposal, such as the saloon girl in the opening and President Grant.

* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: Loveless kills off a large number of his men, including General [=McGrath=], because he was at Appomattox when General Lee surrendered to the Union army.

%%* SaltAndPepper

* AdaptationalVillainy: {{Downplayed|Trope}}. Dr. Loveless on the show was still a villain, but also genuinely was the sort of WellIntentionedExtremist that movie Loveless is only pretending to be. Movie Loveless is also [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain racist]] and [[spoiler:[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness willing to turn on his own men]]]]; exactly the kind of person that Show Loveless would have hated. The two are further separated by being given different names - Arliss Loveless in the movie, Miguelito Loveless on the show.

* SceneryGorn: The scenographic town of Silverado (built for the eponymous film) was destroyed for the scene the spider tank attacks it. Doubles as ActorAllusion, as Kevin Kline had appeared in ''Silverado''. (''Film/{{Silverado}}'''s director even receives a ShoutOut.)

* SexSlave: both invoked and subverted. Loveless has a quartet of gorgeous henchwomen who are utterly devoted to him and eventually recruits Rita to join them (oddly for a white supremacist he has no problem with his harem being mixed race?). Yet with the lower half of his body missing he can't actually do anything with any of them, Kenneth Branagh commenting they are actually a bizarre form of self torture for him.

* SpiderTank: An ''eighty foot tall'' GiantSpider tank.

''Wild Wild West'' is a 1999 CattlePunk film directed by Creator/BarrySonnenfeld from a story by Jim and John Thomas (yes, the brothers who created ''Franchise/{{Predator}}''), starring Creator/WillSmith, Creator/KevinKline, Creator/KennethBranagh and Creator/SalmaHayek. It's the [[TheFilmOfTheSeries film adaptation]] of the TV show ''Series/TheWildWildWest'' ([[InNameOnly technically]], anyway).

The plot, taking place during the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant, concerns government agents Jim West (Smith) and Artemus Gordon (Kline) attempting to prevent a renewal of the Civil War by amputee Southern scientist Dr. Arliss Loveless (Branagh) and his giant mechanical spider.

** African Americans were in the Union Army, but never could become commissioned officers at that time. The first one to get an officer’s commission was Henry Ossian Flipper, about two decades later.

* BodyHorror: Alongside Dr. Loveless, who is [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe missing the lower half of his body]], the four {{Mooks}} that West fights in the SpiderTank’s engine room have some deformity or another. One has had his hands removed and replaced with knives, another has a large metal spike in his skull, a third has had the upper part of his skull exposed and covered with metal, and the fourth has [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking a lazy eye]].

* RuleOfThree: "That is a man's head".

* RaceLift:
** Will Smith. There's also the issue of his dialect. No matter what race, West would not speak like he was, let's say, [[Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir 1980s West Philadelphia, born and raised]]. As noted under PoliticallyCorrectHistory above, the Army did have black officers at the time, though it's uncertain if any ascended to Captain.
** Dr. Loveless was a Spanish dwarf in the series. In the film, he's a white American EvilCripple.

''Wild Wild West'' is a 1999 CattlePunk film directed by Creator/BarrySonnenfeld from a story by Jim and John Thomas (yes, the brothers who created ''Franchise/{{Predator}}''), starring Creator/WillSmith, Creator/KevinKline, Creator/KennethBranagh and Creator/SalmaHayek. It's the [[TheFilmOfTheSeries film adaptation]] of ''Series/TheWildWildWest'' ([[InNameOnly technically]], anyway).

''Wild Wild West'' is a 1999 CattlePunk film directed by Creator/BarrySonnenfeld from a story by Jim and John Thomas (yes, the brothers who created ''Franchise/{{Predator}}''), starring Creator/WillSmith, Creator/KevinKline, Creator/KennethBranagh and Creator/SalmaHayek. It's TheFilmOfTheSeries of ''Series/TheWildWildWest''--[[InNameOnly technically]], anyway.