Directed by Jonathan Kaplan, succeeding Tamra Davis which was fired after a few days of filming a more 'artsy' oriented film and it was an obvious replacement choice, because Kaplan have proved to be a good director of women. He directed Kelly McGillis and Academy Award winner for her role, Jodie Foster in "The Accused"; Glenn Close and Mary Stuart Masterson in "Immediate Family" and the Academy Award nominee for her role, Michelle Pfeiffer in "Love Field", but unfortunelly the underdeveloped re-written script wasn't au pair with its famed director and the rushed production, after several changes made to its cast and crew, didn't help either.
The cast features the beautiful brunette, Madeleine Stowe (joining Kaplan again after playing Kurt Russell's wife in "Unlawful Entry" 2 years prior) as Cody Zamora, the leader of the 4 honky tonk harlots turned outlaws after Cody killed a wealthy customer, which was abusing one of her girls, Anita Crown, played by the sweet 'girl next door' blondie, Mary Stuart Masterson ("At Close Range", "Benny & Joon", "Fried Green Tomatoes"). Andie MacDowell, ("Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes", "Sex, Lies and Videotape", "Four Weddings and a Funeral"), who never was a great actress to begin it, plays Eileen Spenser in her natural southern accent, but she's the 'elephant in the room' here and blonde bombshell, Drew Barrymore ("Poison Ivy", "Scream", "The Wedding Singer"), in one of her sexiest roles ever, plays the wild Lily Laronette in which Sharon Stone took notice to create her character in "The Quick and the Dead" ('95)
The male cast is composed by Dermot Mulroney, who can surely ride a horse after his roles in "Young Guns" and "The Last Outlaw", but lacks charisma and screen presence, playing the good farmer turned gunfighter; James LeGros ("Drugstore Cowboy", "Point Break"), who just can't act, playing the naive young rancher and the screen veteran, Robert Loggia ("Somebody Up There Likes Me", "An Officer and a Gentleman", "Jagged Edge") and the forever baddie, James Russo ("Extremities", "Cotton Club", "We're No Angels") as father and son playing nasty pistoleros.
The movie is similar to "Young Guns" ('88), minus the real life characters, like if it was intended to be a female version of that film, but lacks the production quality, the better script and staging of the action scenes present in the Christopher Cain film. Some scenes are routine directed, almost approaching the made-for-TV films; the editing leaves much to be desire and some situations doesn't even make sense at all, just for the sake of a hour and a half of a popcorn flick to entertain the less demanding audiences.
The best of it, it's the 4 leading actresses, if you're a fan of Madeleine, Mary, Andie or Drew, you'll be thrilled to watch them ride together in this action / drama / romance / western film set around 1895, a year before the Klondike Gold Rush.
Kudos to the cover art of the poster, 4 beautiful ladies turned bad girls is always a joy to watch.
I give it a 6.5
Recommended, but not expect "Unforgiven" or "Open Range"....
The cast features the beautiful brunette, Madeleine Stowe (joining Kaplan again after playing Kurt Russell's wife in "Unlawful Entry" 2 years prior) as Cody Zamora, the leader of the 4 honky tonk harlots turned outlaws after Cody killed a wealthy customer, which was abusing one of her girls, Anita Crown, played by the sweet 'girl next door' blondie, Mary Stuart Masterson ("At Close Range", "Benny & Joon", "Fried Green Tomatoes"). Andie MacDowell, ("Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes", "Sex, Lies and Videotape", "Four Weddings and a Funeral"), who never was a great actress to begin it, plays Eileen Spenser in her natural southern accent, but she's the 'elephant in the room' here and blonde bombshell, Drew Barrymore ("Poison Ivy", "Scream", "The Wedding Singer"), in one of her sexiest roles ever, plays the wild Lily Laronette in which Sharon Stone took notice to create her character in "The Quick and the Dead" ('95)
The male cast is composed by Dermot Mulroney, who can surely ride a horse after his roles in "Young Guns" and "The Last Outlaw", but lacks charisma and screen presence, playing the good farmer turned gunfighter; James LeGros ("Drugstore Cowboy", "Point Break"), who just can't act, playing the naive young rancher and the screen veteran, Robert Loggia ("Somebody Up There Likes Me", "An Officer and a Gentleman", "Jagged Edge") and the forever baddie, James Russo ("Extremities", "Cotton Club", "We're No Angels") as father and son playing nasty pistoleros.
The movie is similar to "Young Guns" ('88), minus the real life characters, like if it was intended to be a female version of that film, but lacks the production quality, the better script and staging of the action scenes present in the Christopher Cain film. Some scenes are routine directed, almost approaching the made-for-TV films; the editing leaves much to be desire and some situations doesn't even make sense at all, just for the sake of a hour and a half of a popcorn flick to entertain the less demanding audiences.
The best of it, it's the 4 leading actresses, if you're a fan of Madeleine, Mary, Andie or Drew, you'll be thrilled to watch them ride together in this action / drama / romance / western film set around 1895, a year before the Klondike Gold Rush.
Kudos to the cover art of the poster, 4 beautiful ladies turned bad girls is always a joy to watch.
I give it a 6.5
Recommended, but not expect "Unforgiven" or "Open Range"....