Bruce Campbell Movies
A self-described B-movie actor, Bruce Campbell can claim to have scaled the casualty-littered mountain of cult movie stardom. First attaining more notoriety than fame for his performance in Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead (1983), which he also executive produced, Campbell went on to star in that movie's two sequels and a number of other schlock-tastic films. He has also occasionally ventured into more reputable territory, thanks to such films as the Coen brothers' The Hudsucker Proxy (1994).Hailing from Royal Oak, MI, where he was born June 22, 1958, Campbell attended Western Michigan University. When he was only 21, he and two of his Detroit friends, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert, scraped together 350,000 dollars to make a low-budget horror film. The result, completed piecemeal over four years, was The Evil Dead, an exuberantly awful piece of filmmaking that featured Campbell as its demon-battling hero. The film first earned notoriety in England, and after being personally endorsed by author Stephen King when it was screened at Cannes, it was eventually released in the U.S. in 1983.
The Evil Dead II: Dead By Dawn followed in 1987, and the third installment in the series, Army of Darkness, was released in 1992. Both were enthusiastically embraced by fans of the series and less so by critics, but one thing that impressed both groups was Campbell's work in both films, thanks in part to his uncanny ability to make it through an entire performance without blinking once.
In addition to the Evil Dead films, Campbell has acted in a number of other low-budget films, and, in the case of the Coens' The Hudsucker Proxy and a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo in Fargo (1996), a handful of fairly respectable projects as well. He has also acted frequently on television, most notably in the weekly Western The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. and Jack of all Trades. In 2001 Campbell made his literary debut with If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B-Movie Actor. A humorously detailed account of his rise to B-movie stardom, If Chins Could Kill detailed, among other things, Campbell's uniquely diverse fanbase as well as his relationship with longtime friend and frequent collaborator Sam Raimi. When fans embraced the freewheeling semi-autobiography with more zeal than even Campbell himself may have anticipated, a succesful speaking tour was soon followed by a sophomore novel, the satirical Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way. A highly fictionalized look at what it may be like for Campbell to land a substantial role in a high-profile Hollywood production, Make Love the Bruce Campbell way found the sarcastic B-movie idol hobnobbing with co-star Richard Gere and offering directorial advice to veteran director Mike Nichols. Yet Campbell was hardly one to forget where his bread was truly buttered, and following his brief literary detour, it was time to head back to the big screen for a pair of memorable cameos in pal Raimi's Spider-Man and Spider-Man 2, the longtime actor and emerging producer was finally ready to make his feature directorial debut with the outlandish sci-fi comedy The Man with the Screaming Brain. Despite helming the occasional Xena and Hewrcules episode, Campbell had yet to tackle feature films and when the opportunity arose to direct a script that he himself had written, everything just seemed to fall into place. Though the critics weren't so kind, fans were more than willing to indulge as their favorite film and television star finally got a chance to shine on his own. After voicing his most famous character in a pair of Evil Dead videogames, it was finally time for Campbell to return to the role of Ash on the big screen - albiet in a decidedly meta-manner - when he stepped into the role of an actor named Bruce Campbell who is mistaken for the demon-slayer that he played in the movies and forced to to battle with the legions of hell in the 2006 horror comedy They Call Me Bruce; a film that also afforded Campbell his sophomore feature directorial credit. That same year, Campbell would also team with May director Lucky McKee for the chilling horror film The Woods.
Campbell found television success in the role of a good natured ex-Navy Seal on Burn Notice beginning in 2007, and lent his voice to animated features including Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and Cars 2. Campbell reunited with Raimi for Oz the Great and Powerful (2013), and helped produce the 2013 revamp of The Evil Dead. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi
- 1983
After their high-school graduation in 1964, two buddies, Cleveland (Christopher Howe) and Brice (The Evil Dead's Bruce Campbell), leave their suburban homes in Michigan to spend a relaxing summer in the countryside. Over the course of their stay, the men become acquainted with a farmer, Jack Bodell (Perry Mallette); Cleveland looks to Jack as a kind of father, while Brice falls for Cindy, a girl who lives nearby. Four years later, Cleveland and Brice drive to Jack's farm with the hope of capturing the magic of that summer, but are greeted by sad news. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Campbell, Christopher Howe, (more)
This auspicious feature debut from Sam Raimi -- shot on 16mm in the woods of Tennesse for around $350,000 -- secured the young director's cult status as a creative force to be reckoned with. The nominal plot involves five vacationing college kids -- Ash (Bruce Campbell), his girlfriend Linda (Betsy Baker), and their classmates Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), Scott (Hal Delrich) and Shelly (Sarah York) -- making an unplanned stopover in an abandoned mountain cabin surrounded by impenetrable woods. Before settling in for the night, they come across an ancient-looking occult tome filled with dense hieroglyphics and macabre illustrations, a dagger fashioned from human bones, and a reel-to-reel tape recorder. The taped message, dictated by a professor of archaeology, describes the contents of the Sumerian "Book of the Dead," filled with incantations used to bring otherworldly demons to life, giving them license to possess the living. The message goes on to explain that those possessed by these demons can only be stopped by total bodily dismemberment. When played among the group later that evening, the professor's recorded translations of the ritual chants traumatize the strangely prescient Shelly ... and simultaneously release an ominous presence from the depths of the forest. The evil spirits take to their dirty work with gusto, first assuming control of Shelly and transforming her into a cackling, murderous hag with superhuman strength; the others imprison her in the fruit cellar and chain the trapdoor shut. The spirits then begin to possess the other women, including Linda -- who immediately turns on Ash with a barrage of punches and sadistic taunts. Unable to bring himself to chop up his lover's corpse, Ash gives her a more customary burial in the woods -- which proves to be a big mistake. As the others succumb to demonic influence, Ash's horrific predicament becomes increasingly grim until, when all hope seems lost, he stumbles upon a final, desperate solution to the ghoulish onslaught ... well, maybe not. Despite the shoestring production values, Raimi has fashioned a tight, lightning-paced fever dream of a movie, filled with operatic overacting and outrageously gory effects that give the project a comic-book feel. Based on an earlier 8mm short titled Within the Woods, this feature version was fraught with distribution difficulties before finding its first audience overseas. After considerable word of mouth (and a glowing endorsement from horror author Stephen King), the film became a hit on home video, where it achieved further notoriety thanks to its highly-publicized banning in Britain amid the notorious "Video Nasties" censorship campaign. Raimi, along with producer Robert Tapert, writer Scott Spiegel and much of the same crew, cranked up the story's comic aspects several dozen notches for the rollicking semi-remake, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, (more)
- 1985
- PG13
In a slapstick spoof of hitmen and crime stories, the head of a security systems company (Hamid Dana) is bumped off by two gonzo exterminators (Brion James and Paul L. Smith) who have gone from stomping out pesky varmints to stomping out human targets, and one of them does so with gusto. Now the exterminators go after the partner who hired them and his blatantly obnoxious wife (Louise Lasser) and in the meantime frame a poor security guard (Reed Birney) for the murder of the company boss. The tale is told in flashbacks, as the security guard has been tried and convicted and is shown at the beginning, about to be executed. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Reed Birney, Sheree J. Wilson, (more)
This high-octane semi-sequel to Sam Raimi's cult hit The Evil Dead has nearly eclipsed its predecessor's reputation thanks to an endless barrage of hyperkinetic camera acrobatics, rapid-fire editing and "splatstick" gore effects ... not to mention a truly goofy performance by Bruce Campbell. Nearly the entire storyline of the previous film has been re-shot and presented in a drastically condensed form within the first few minutes: rock-jawed but clueless "hero" Ash (Campbell) now visits the mountain cabin only with girlfriend Linda (played here by Denise Bixler). Upon arrival at the cabin, Ash discovers the Sumerian Book of the Dead, the ritual dagger and a reel-to-reel tape containing the professor's translations of the book's hieroglyphics. The incantations summon an unseen, growling spirit from within the woods, which bursts into the cabin and takes possession of Linda's soul. Ash is forced to decapitate her with a shovel, after which he buries her in the forest. At first dawn, Ash tries to make his escape, but is promptly set upon by the spirits, given a solid thrashing and nearly possessed himself, saved only by the arrival of sunlight. Cut off from the outside world, Ash is forced to hole up in the cabin and wait for the next demonic onslaught -- which arrives sooner than expected, led by Linda's rotting corpse. After being bitten by Linda's chatty decapitated head, Ash's hand becomes independent of his body and begins pummeling him repeatedly. The story then jumps to a local airport, where the professor's daughter Annie (Sarah Berry) and her partner Ed Getley (Richard Domeier) have just arrived with the missing pages to the Necronomicon. They employ a cranky pair of local rednecks, Jake (Dan Hicks) and Bobbie Joe (Kassie Wesley), as guides to lead them through the dense woods to the cabin ... where, at that very moment, Ash is removing his belligerent hand with a chainsaw, creating yet another ambulatory foe. Driven to the brink of insanity, Ash fires blindly at a noise outside, unaware that the new arrivals are Annie and company. Bobbie Joe is injured by the gunshot, which incurs the wrath of Jake, who knocks Ash senseless and locks him in the fruit cellar. Believing her father was murdered by Ash, Annie plays the rest of the professor's recording to learn the truth, and discovers her possessed mother was buried in the same cellar -- and not exactly resting in peace. This touches off a string of unbelievably gruesome (and hysterically funny) events, including Henrietta's transformation into a stop-motion creature (reminiscent of a Ray Harryhausen creation), Ed's sudden metamorphosis into a toothy, levitating ghoul, and Ash's climactic confrontation with the forest demon itself. The obvious glee with which Raimi and company present this cavalcade of slime-drenched monstrosities and Three Stooges pratfalls makes it impossible to take seriously as a horror film, but Evil Dead 2 is nevertheless essential viewing among connoisseurs of truly demented cinema. The film's sardonic coda opened the way for a slightly less successful sequel, Army of Darkness. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, (more)
Stryker (Brian Schulz) is a wounded Vietnam vet who sets out to avenge the kidnapping of his girlfriend in this low-budget, blood-spurting slasher film. When Sally (Cheryl Hanson) is abducted, Stryker and his Army buddies go after the leader of a cult, who resembles none other than Charles Manson (Sam Raimi). ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Brian Schulz, John Manfredi, (more)
A maniacal murderer is stalking New York City cops in this urban crime thriller. Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) is suspected of being the killer until Lieutenant McCrae (Tom Atkins) is found dead. Jack takes over the case after McCrae's death with help from undercover cop and sweetheart Theresa (Laurene Landon). Commissioner Pike (Richard Roundtree) is under fire to solve the case as more men in blue meet their maker much too soon. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tom Atkins, Bruce Campbell, (more)
The feature debut of ultra-low-budget horror auteur J.R. Bookwalter, this fast-paced zombie mini-epic is very likely the most expensive movie ever shot on Super-8 film. Playing with the long-established mythos of George A. Romero's Living Dead trilogy, The Dead Next Door was produced with the help of many of the Evil Dead crew: financial backer Sam Raimi is credited as "Master Cylinder" and one of the characters is named after him; Evil Dead co-writer Scott Spiegel plays a role; and some character voices are dubbed by Bruce Campbell. The story centers on the members of the "Zombie Squad" -- an assault team trained in the hunting and extermination of the living dead -- and their mission to track down the scientists who developed a zombie-making virus and find the rumored antidote. Of the many lethal obstacles in their path, the deadliest comes in the form of a religious cult whose leader sees the zombie epidemic as a precursor of Armageddon -- and is hell-bent on expediting it. Very stylish for what is essentially an epic-scale home movie (and gushing with plentiful home-style gore effects), this remains Bookwalter's best effort and contains numerous witty homages to the Romero films which inspired it. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- 1989
- R
Advertised as a parody of cheapo-sleazo biker flicks, Easy Wheels looks so much like the real thing that one wonders whether or not we were originally supposed to take the whole megillah seriously. Biker Bruce (Paul Le Mat) and She Wolf (Eileen Davidson) forget their mutual animosity long enough to plan a mass abduction of female babies. The idea is to create a race of super biker chicks, who will enslave mankind and set up a leather-jacketed matriarchy. Bruce isn't completely sold on this idea and bides his time until he gets a chance to undermine She Wolf. Filmed in glamorous Des Moines and Dubuque, Easy Wheels makes all those American-International flicks of the 1960s look like the collected works of Antonioni. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Paul Le Mat, Eileen Davidson, (more)
Gory slasher mayhem from Evil Dead co-writer Scott Spiegel, this claustrophobic thriller is set entirely in a small supermarket, whose owner is preparing to go out of business. This doesn't sit too well with the film's resident maniac, who busily butchers the night crew using the tools of the trade (hooks, axes, knives, power tools and so on). The victims include Spiegel's pal and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi as the butcher-shop buffoon who meets a nasty end on a meathook; even Raimi's favorite lantern-jawed star Bruce Campbell puts in an eyeblink cameo as a brutish cop. Though the film sports some clever, audacious gore effects from KNB FX Group, most of this footage is absent from Paramount's home video print. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- 1989
- R
An Apollo astronaut lands on the moon to look into recently discovered artifacts there. Unfortunately, those strange objects were part of a plan to invade the Earth. The astronaut finds out soon enough. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Walter Koenig, Bruce Campbell, (more)
Neglecting Julie (Frances McDormand), his lawyer lady friend, Dr. Peyton Westlake (Liam Neeson) works feverishly to perfect his latest invention -- artificial skin that could be used to treat burn victims. Peyton himself falls victim to an explosion when one of Julie's crooked clients sends his henchmen to sniff out an incriminating document that's been left in Westlake's lab. Hideously disfigured and left for dead, the good doctor receives an experimental medical treatment that renders him super-strong, impervious to pain and prone to heightened fits of rage. Rebuilding his lab into an underground hideout, Westlake begins using his synthetic skin to impersonate various characters and engineer his revenge against those who destroyed his life. Reconnecting with Julie, however, becomes the unsightly vigilante's biggest challenge. ~ Brian J. Dillard, Rovi
- Starring:
- Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, (more)
Director Anthony Hickox (Waxwork) crafted this entertaining bit of horror-western fusion about the vampiric residents of a remote, dusty desert town who have chosen to derive their sustenance from a plasma-manufacturing plant in an attempt to put aside their monstrous nature and peacefully co-exist with humans. When the plant begins malfunctioning, the town's leaders summon the designer, David Harrison (Jim Metzler), to look into the problem. Soon after Harrison and his wife Sarah (Morgan Brittany) arrive, however, they find themselves in the thick of an escalating rivalry between two vampire factions -- one led by peaceful Count Mardulak (David Carradine), who ordered the blood plant as part of his plan to integrate the dying vampire race into human society; and the old-school bloodsuckers, under the sinister Jefferson (John Ireland), who consider Mardulak and his followers traitors to their predatory heritage. While the Harrisons' fates hang in the balance, the scales are jostled further by the arrival of a man named Van Helsing (Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell, in a surprisingly low-key performance), descendant of the legendary vampire hunter, whose disorganized efforts at wiping out town's undead populace are impeded by his growing attraction to a pretty young vampire (Deborah Foreman). With tongue firmly in cheek, this semi-parody plays off audiences' familiarity with the conventions of the vampire genre, but it seldom sacrifices creepiness and suspense when needed. It marked a creative step forward for Hickox (who would later stumble with Hellraiser III), who clearly tailors his projects to seasoned horror buffs. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi
- Starring:
- David Carradine, Jim Metzler, (more)
- 1990
- R
"You have the right to remain silent . . . Forever!" This sequel to Maniac Cop pits Matt Cordell (Robert Z'dar), the crazed, murderous "Maniac Cop" of the first film (now horribly disfigured after a particularly brutal stay in prison), and Turkel (Leo Rossi), a serial killer who likes to murder strippers, against a frenzied NYPD detective, Sean McKinney (Robert Davi), who is just one step ahead of a nervous breakdown. His nerves don't get much relief when officers Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell) and Teresa Mallory (Laurene Landon) insist that Cordell is still alive -- not only alive, but unkillable. Then Jack is murdered and the silent Maniac Cop breaks Turkel out of jail. With a group of rancid prisoners, they take police department psychologist Susan Riley (Claudia Christian) hostage. When the prisoners attempt a massive prison break, McKinney musters his forces to hunt down Cordell and Turkel and save Susan. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Robert Davi, Claudia Christian, (more)
- 1991
- R
In a post-holocaust world, one woman (Marta Alicia) relies on computer fantasies to entertain herself, but a glitch sends her to a far-off wasteland to deal with monsters called Crawlers. She is saved by a young rebel (Bruce Campbell), but the pair are later captured and brought underground by the Crawlers. There, an overlord called the Seer (Angus Scrimm) presides over the kingdom and tries to make life miserable for his captives. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Campbell, Angus Scrimm, (more)
- 1991
- R
In the sequel to Waxwork, young Mark Loftmore (Zach Galligan) and his girlfriend Sarah (Monika Schnarre) manage to escape the deadly wax museum before it is destroyed. However, one deadly wax hand escapes destruction and follows Sarah home, murdering her stepfather before she manages to destroy it. When Sarah is accused of the murder, she and Mark must travel back in time to stop the still-present evil. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi
- Starring:
- Zach Galligan, Sophie Ward, (more)
The third in director Sam Raimi's stylish, comic book-like horror trilogy that began with The Evil Dead (1982), this tongue-in-cheek sequel offers equal parts sword-and-sorcery-style action, gore, and comedy. Bruce Campbell returns as the one-armed Ash, now a supermarket employee ("Shop Smart...Shop S-Mart") who is transported by the powers of a mysterious book back in time with his Oldsmobile '88 to the 14th century medieval era. Armed only with a shotgun, his high school chemistry textbook, and a chainsaw that mounts where his missing appendage once resided, the square-jawed, brutally competent Ash quickly establishes himself as a besieged kingdom's best hope against an "army of darkness" currently plaguing the land. Since the skeleton warriors have been resurrected with the aid of the Necronomicon (the same tome that can send Ash back to his own time) he agrees to face the enemy in battle. Ash also finds romance of a sort along the way with a beautiful damsel in distress, Sheila (Embeth Davidtz), and contends with his own doppelganger after mangling an important incantation. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, (more)
- 1992
- PG13
Evil Dead director Sam Raimi produced this bizarre romance, starring his brother Theodore as Hank, a paranoid shut-in who lines the walls of his Los Angeles apartment with tin foil for protection. After an accidental phone conversation with a seemingly sweet-natured Iowa farm girl named Nancy (Deborah Foreman) who might be as deranged as he, Hank is forced to conquer his fears in order to win her heart. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
- Starring:
- Deborah Foreman, Theodore Raimi, (more)
- 1992
This independently produced feature shows what happens in one relationship when a rather strait-laced teacher discovers that his fiancee has been posing nude for paintings by one of his roommates. He embarks on an investigation which mixes fantasy with reality after being shown his girlfriend's portrait hanging in a low dive. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi
- 1993
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A "western" in name only, the short-lived Fox Network series The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. was actually a wild and wooly fantasy/sci-fi outing, with more in common with Jules Verne than Zane Grey. Set in the early 1890s, the series starred Bruce Campbell as the titular Brisco County Jr., a Harvard graduate who had journeyed westward to track down the gang that had killed his father, legendary lawman Brisco County Sr. The younger Brisco knew that the culprits were the minions of the scurrilous John Bly (Billy Drago), an outlaw who possessed awesome, almost otherworldy powers, and who was much despised by the "robber barons" of the Westerfield Club, owners of the local mines. Offering his services to these millionaires, Brisco was given an unlimited budget and access to all manner of marvelous new inventions (so new that many of them wouldn't be invented for the next forty or fifty years or so!), many of them the creations of the eccentric Professor Albert Wickwire (John Astin). Unfortunately, the villains were likewise equipped with futuristic paraphernalia, so Brisco and his assistant, nervous Westerfield Club lawyer Socrates Poole (Christian Clemenson), often as not had to rely on their own wits to get out of scrapes. Also in the cast was Julius Carry as black bounty hunter James Lonefeather, aka Lord Bowler, who wanted to get Bly before Brisco did; thus, sometimes he worked with our hero, sometimes against him. Other semi-regulars included dimwitted by affable thief Peter Hutter (John Pyper-Ferguson), gorgeous soldier-of-fortune Dixie Cousins (Kelly Rutherford); and Brisco's faithful horse Comet, who in certain ways was the smartest character in the cast. Predominent throughout the series were the mysterious orbs, which possessed unique powers that could be used for good or evil, depending on who was in control of them. It was eventually revealed that the orbs were artifacts from the distant future (2056 AD, to be exact)--and so, for that matter, was the seemingly indestructible John Bly. Played in a rip-roaring dime novel fashion, even unto dividing its action into "chapters" and ending most episodes with a "continued next week" cliffhanger, the 60-minute The Adventures of Brisco County debuted August 27, 1993, ending its run exactly one year and one day later. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Bruce Campbell, Julius J. Carry III, (more)
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen concocted this stylish screwball comedic amalgam of Frank Capra and Howard Hawks. Tim Robbins stars as Norville Barnes, a dull-wit from Muncie, Indiana who wrangles a job with the big Hudsucker Industries. He has a singular idea for a new children's toy that he wants to present to corporate executive Sidney J. Mussberger (Paul Newman). As he makes his way up to Mussberger's office, the company president Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning) is on his way down -- through the window of the forty-fourth floor boardroom! Hudsucker's death sets off a panic that Mussberger sees as an opportunity for taking over the company -- by installing a total incompetent in Hudsucker's place and devaluing the stock. When Barnes stumbles into Mussberger's office, Mussberger sees his pigeon and appoints Barnes as the new company president. The only problem is that the new product Barnes proposes for the company, the Hula Hoop, turns out to be a tremendous success, and Mussberger has difficulty manipulating his new corporate president. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Jennifer Jason Leigh, (more)
- 1995
- PG13
- Add Congo to Queue Add Congo to top of Queue
Good gorillas meet bad gorillas while human beings search for treasure in this jungle advnture saga. R.B. Travis (Joe Don Baker) is the ruthless head of Travi-Com, a telecommunications firm on the cusp of a major breakthrough in laser communications technology. However, Travis needs diamonds to finish the project, so he sends a group of men to Zaire, where he's told that a large supply of the gems can be easily found. When the men go missing, Travis sends his trusted assistant Karen Ross (Laura Linney), a one-time CIA associate, into the jungle to find both his staff and the jewels. Hoping to keep her mission a secret, Karen travels to Zaire in the company of Peter (Dylan Walsh), a researcher on primate development who is hoping to return Amy, a gorilla who has been taught sign language and can "speak" English with the help of a glove-controlled computer device. Also travelling with them is Herkermer (Tim Curry), a Romanian with a secret agenda: he's convinced that Amy can guide him to the Lost City of Zinj, where he believes that King Solomon's Mines are located. Upon arrival, the group is met by Monroe Kelly (Ernie Hudson), a self-described "great white hunter who happens to be black," and they discover that the jungle holds a menace that they weren't counting on: a tribe of bloodthirsty gray gorillas. Congo was based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Dylan Walsh, Laura Linney, (more)
Director Sam Raimi brings his trademark comic book-influenced visual panache to this post-modern Western. Sharon Stone stars as Ellen, a mysterious female gunslinger who arrives in the frontier hamlet of Redemption for a contest pitting quick-draw artists against each other. The event is the brainchild of Redemption's evil, corrupt mayor, Herod (Gene Hackman), a criminal who has taken over the town and charges a 50% tax on local businesses. The pot for Herod's deadly game has swollen, attracting numerous colorful gunfighters from around the territory. As each battle thins the ranks of players, the pasts of several participants are revealed. Ellen is seeking revenge on Herod for a heinous past injustice. The fast-talking braggart known as "The Kid" (Leonardo DiCaprio) may in fact be Herod's son. The pacifist Reverend Cort (Russell Crowe), who refuses to participate in the bloodshed, is the fastest draw in the West and a former colleague of Herod's. After several spectacular slayings, Ellen and Herod stage a final showdown, but not before he has made her an unexpected proposal. The Quick and the Dead (1995) is dedicated to veteran Western actor Woody Strode, who appears in a cameo as Redemption's coffin maker, his final performance. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sharon Stone, Gene Hackman, (more)
- 1995
Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) and Iolaus (Michael Hurst) are confronted with a baffling mystery when they try to find out who has been plucking the dead from the battlefield of Tantalus. In the process, Hercules finds himself in the middle of a war between his friend King Daulin (Erik Thomson) and Daulin's own sister Poena (Amber Jane Raub). Complicating matters is the fact that another of Hercules' friend, Jarton (Reb Brown), is now Poena's lieutenant. Behind all this intrigue and mayhem is the war god Ares -- of whom it can be said that, at the very least, he loves his dog. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, (more)
- 1995
In the first episode of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys' second season, Hercules' friend Iolaus (Michael Hurst) rescues Autolycus (Bruce Campbell in his first series appearance) from a band of ruffians. As a "reward" for his courage, poor Iolaus is left holding the bag -- actually the box containing the jewels swiped from King Menelaus (Martyn Sanderson) by Autolycus, a former sideshow escape artist and self-professed "King of Thieves." To save Iolaus from prison -- and to retrieve the king's still-missing Dragon's Eye ruby -- Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) teams with Dirce (Lisa Chapell), Menelaus' daughter (and Iolaus' lawyer), to capture the slippery Autolycus. The episode's final includes a tense tangle with some subterranean serpents. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurst, (more)
- 1995
Hoping to grab some glory for himself -- and, incidentally, to win the love of the beauteous Rena (Simone Kessell) -- Hercules' mortal half-brother Iphicles (Kevin Smith) steals Hercules' name. Upon linking up with the warlord Gorgus (Kenneth McGregor), Iphicles proceeds to defame his half-sibling's reputation. Determined to clear his name and bring Iphicles to his senses, Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) must first rescue his friend, Iolaus (Michael Hurst), from Gorgus' clutches in a booby-trapped labyrinth. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Kevin Sorbo, Michael Hurts, (more)
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