Legends of the American West

DIRECT TO VIDEO

Director Walter Hill follows his portrait of one western icon in Geronimo with another in Wild Bill (15), both of which have been denied a cinema release here. The new film opens, in black and white at the funeral of James Butler Hickok and goes into flashback and into colour to examine the life and times of the man whose exploits earned him the nickname of Wild Bill.

Jeff Bridges brings him to life in a vivid warts and all portrayal which does not flinch from depicting Hickok's capacity for killing at the slightest excuse - he gets very touchy about people touching his hat - and the essential coldness of his relationships with friends and lovers, an unapologetic coldness rooted in his own self obsession. Bridges subtly catches the man's acute awareness of his growing legendary status, and his rough, weather beaten appearance belies Wild Bill's age - we learn at the end that he was just 39 when he died.

Despite the strength of Bridges's performance, Hill's film is ambitious but flawed and somewhat less than it might have been, given the director's affinity with the American West and its legends and his preoccupation with the role of the anti hero in society.

Part of the problem stems from Hill's screenplay being based on both a novel and a play, and when the play effectively takes over in the final act, the film grinds almost to a standstill. It also suffers from an excess of flowery narration by Bill's English friend, a thankless role for John Hurt.

That said, Hill evokes a strong flavour of the movie's mid 19th century setting, a lawless time populated by mostly dirty and dishevelled characters on the mud caked streets of Deadwood Gulch. A dark haired Ellen Barkin makes a sprightly appearance as Bill's friend and lover, Calamity Jane, and the cast also features Diane Lane, David Arquette, Bruce Dern, Christina Applegate, and as Buffalo Bill Cody, who encouraged Wild Bill to appear in his stage show, Keith Carradine.