Tom Conti and Kate Capshaw play the two in this 1987 western based on the novel by Louis L’Amour.
If you fancy watching Sam Elliott help even more brave pioneers after watching episodes of 1883and you want to celebrate his birthday and see the C&I reader favorite in top form, then we recommend you The Fast and the Deada 1987 western produced by HBO based on the novel of the same name by Louis L’Amour. (No, this film has nothing to do with the other The Fast and the Deadthe 1995 Western starring Sharon Stone.) It is available on streaming platforms and shows the frequent C&I Cover guy in a performance that almost seems like a warm-up for Wagonmaster Shea Brennan.
Elliott, who looks as if he was born to wear buckskin, is perfectly cast as Con Vallian—what a name!—a taciturn stranger with a steely gaze who comes to the aid of would-be settlers in the wild Wyoming Territory of 1876. Tom Conti, who neither hides nor explains his Scottish accent, plays Duncan McKaskel, a mild-mannered Civil War veteran who can no longer stand violence, and Kate Capshaw is Susanna McKaskel, Duncan’s wife, a loving and lovable woman who can’t quite suppress her growing attraction to Con.
The McKaskels, who travel in a covered wagon stuffed with fancy furniture, are real greenhorns. When they stop for lunch, they decorate their table with a lace tablecloth. Of course, they need Con’s help to survive in the wilderness.
The story begins in a run-down town, where the McKaskels and their son Tom (Kenny Morrison) meet a slimy vermin named Doc Shabitt (Matt Clark). Doc takes one look at the McKaskels’ horses and is filled with greed. Red (Jerry Potter), a member of Shabit’s gang, takes one look at Mrs. McKaskel and is also agitated. “It’s been a long time,” Red remarks, “since I had a woman I could smell anything from besides garlic and sweat.”
Things are looking bad – both for the horses and for Mrs. McKaskel – until Con steps in. “If you must shoot,” he warns Duncan, “shoot to kill. Wounds won’t impress them – they’ve all been shot before.”
Duncan feels he’s seen enough death to last a lifetime, but he still picks up a gun one more time, if only to defend his wife, son, and of course, his horses. But he must rely on Con for help in a confrontation with Doc Shabitt. And he must continue to rely on Con as Doc and various other morons pursue the McKaskel clan through some very scenic countryside.
The Fast and the Dead doesn’t have many surprises in store, but it does present characters that we grow to love. Elliott dominates most of his scenes with a quiet, brooding reserve that often erupts into decisive action. But Conti more than holds his own, engagingly playing Duncan as a complex character with unexpected reserves of strength. Capshaw shows her own fair share of spunk, proving that not all Western heroines have to be helpless damsels in distress. And Matt Clark is one of the sleaziest owl heroes to ever grace the screen.
The dialogue is effectively terse and often quite colorful. Con mocks Duncan’s apparent belief that the meek will inherit the earth, saying, “The meek will inherit nothing west of Chicago!” Later, the tables turn when Duncan has to pull a bullet out of Con’s side. To ease the pain, he offers Con a shot of whiskey. But he warns the gunslinger, “It’s 190 proof. I use it to get the rust off my tools.”
But that’s OK: Con drinks it anyway. Because a man’s gotta drink what a man’s gotta drink.
