Wild Bill
Tags: cult, revenge, storytelling, flashback

Plot synopsis:
Bill (Charlie Creed-Miles) is released from prison on parole after serving 8 years for East London drug lord Glen (Andy Serkis). He returns to find his sons, 15-year-old Dean (Will Poulter) and 11-year-old Jimmy (Sammy Williams), have been abandoned by their mother, who moved to Spain with her boyfriend. Dean has dropped out of high school and is working on a construction site to make a living. Bill is followed to the local pub by his former friends Dickie (Neil Maskell) and Terry (Leo Gregory). They offer him another job working for Glen, but he turns it down due to his parole. Bill ends up getting drunk with his former associates and is given a bag by Terry containing an undetermined amount of cocaine. Bill is dropped round Dean and Jimmy's house by Pill and Dickie who explain to them both that Bill is their old man and he's back on the outside. Upon waking up, Dean makes it clear he doesn't want any involvement with Bill and he's to have left the house by the time he returns home from work. Bill goes to visit his parole officer Kelly (Olivia Williams), who, upon hearing that Dean and Jimmy were living by themselves, sends social services to the flat. Bill comes home and Dean forces him to stay, requistioning his drugs and putting Bill's plans to move to Scotland and work with his friend on hold.
Bill walks Jimmy to school and meets the principal, who suspects Jimmy ditched school and broke all the school's windows. Bill lies that Jimmy went to visit his dying grandmother and the principal believes him. Jimmy and his friend Boz (Aaron Ishmael) sneak out of school and hang out with Terry and Pill (Iwan Rheon). They let Jimmy smoke pot and send him home with drugs informing him that they wish to use him as a mule to sell their supply. Jimmy naively agrees. Meanwhile, Dean attempts to start a relationship with Steph (Charlotte Spencer), a single mum and Pill's ex-girlfriend, who lives with her unemployed dad (Marc Warren). Bill meets Terry again and begins a friendship with his girlfriend Roxy (Liz White). Bill begins working as a sign holder and is mocked by Terry and Dickie who continually warn him that he needs to be leaving the estate as his presence is causing problems amongst the local faces and is affecting business. Using the money earned from his new job, Bill is able to buy food for him and his sons. He begins to clean the flat and slowly bonds with his younger son, Jimmy. They fly paper aeroplanes out of their high-rise flat and play with remote control cars and Dean begins to see that his dad is trying to make amends for not being there when they needed him.
On Dean's 16th birthday, Bill goes to make a cake for him. He meets Roxy, who tells him a cake won't be a good present and offers an idea. Dean comes home from work and Bill offers to show him a surprise. He leads Dean to his bedroom, where Roxy is lying on his bed. He demands that Bill kick her out and they argue, until social services arrives to visit. Before they can check Dean's room, they decide to leave. The next day, Terry and Dickie begin cooking crack cocaine, whilst Roxy observes. Jimmy and Boz visit Terry, who gives them several bags of crack to sell. As they walk back to the estate, a police car stops and an officer talks to Boz. Panicking, Jimmy dumps the crack into the sewer and leaves without Boz. Dean asks Steph out and she invites him to her house the next night. They are hilariously interrupted by her drunk father and they both agree to see each other again. Jimmy breaks into the house unbeknowst to Steph and Dean and steals a tin of Steph's money in a feeble attempt to coerce Terry into taking pity on him for losing his drugs. Jimmy is caught by Terry, who attempts to break his hand as Roxy begs them to stop. She threatens to leave and Dickie hits her. They let Jimmy go, but threaten him and demand he will have to work off what he owes.
The next day, Roxy comes to the flat and asks Bill if she can hide with them. As Dean heads to work, he is confronted by Steph, who demands the money. He denies taking it, but she slaps him and leaves. Roxy tells Bill that Jimmy is selling drugs for Terry and his men. Bill confronts Pill and another drug dealer. As he attacks them, he sees Jimmy running away. He chases Jimmy to the top of a building, where Bill used to hide as a child, and begs him not to work for Terry. Jimmy decides to stop and goes home with Bill. Bill offers to sort out Jimmy's problems and warns him about the dangers of drug dealing and the likelihood he will end up in prison just as he did. They return the money to Steph who asks Bill if Dean hates her. He responds jokingly; "With a passion."
Social services visit and make Bill sign a document that will put him in charge of his sons, until Dean turns 18. Upon returning her money, Steph comes over to visit and Bill suggests to Roxy and Jimmy they get Chinese whilst Dean and Steph talk. Roxy and Jimmy go into the shop, while Bill waits outside. One of Terry's men watches in a car and a young boy approaches Bill. He tells Bill that Terry wants to meet with Bill at the pub the next morning, but doesn't tell Bill that they plan to kill him. Bill agrees to visit having promised Jimmy he will sort out his problems. Bill spends the night with Roxy, Steph and his sons.
The next morning, he heads to the pub and finds Terry sitting with Dickie and Pill at a table. He orders a coke and sees more men sitting around the pub. He realises what they have done and begins to exchange insults with Terry. Discretely as Terry tells Bill what he intends to do with Jimmy, the pub's owner gives Bill a wooden club known as 'Bertha' and hides in the next room with the barmaid. Bill begins to attack Terry and his men, but is overpowered and they kick him repeatedly. Before they leave, he begins to knock most of them out leaving Dickie and Terry left. Dickie flees, whilst Terry is battered by Bill. Terry flees the pub and goes to his car, grabs a gun and storms inside. Terry attempts to shoot Bill as he's slapping Pill, but he dodges and the bullet hits the mirror behind Pill and Bill. As Terry approaches Bill and prepares to shoot him, he is struck with a baseball bat by the pub owner which stuns him and enables Bill to punch him repeatedly before leaving the pub.
Bill bumps into Jimmy outside the pub and he suggests they get moving. Jimmy buys a bottle of water, which they use to clean Bill's wounds. As they walk through the laneway, a car approaches them and stops. Jimmy grabs a wooden board and Glen comes out of the car. He confronts Bill about the attack and beating up his men to the point where Glen is worried it will make him seem like a soft touch. Bill admits he attacked Glen's men because they were getting his son and others to sell drugs on their behalf. Bill reminds Glen that he did time for him and other mobsters in jail and says he is owed credit otherwise he'll blow the whistle on them all. Glen threatens to kill Bill who laughs in his face and says he is officially out of credit and will leave his family alone, but he wants no more trouble from him. Bill and Jimmy arrive at the estate, as the police arrive. On the balcony, Roxy sees what is happening and runs downstairs with Dean and Steph. As Dean, Roxy and Steph arrive, Bill is arrested and put in the back of the car for the assault on Terry and his gang. Bill looks out at his family, who wave goodbye to him. Before the officer drives away, Bill points out his sons and asks if the officer has any children. They drive away and Bill breaks down in tears. However, as he realises that his boys will be safe and love him, his tears fade and he begins to laugh with delight.

Review: I wasn't expecting much from this one, but Walter Hill's direction credit during the opening title sequence sucked me in - and I was glad it did.A very capable cast and an interesting cinematic style gave this film a unique flavor, although some of the characters bordered on unbelievable at times.Loved the interaction between Wild Bill and Calamity Jane on the saloon table, although the conversation seemed too modern for the late 1800s.
Ellen Barkin plays "Calamity Jane," and few women of the 1980s and '90s played foul-mouthed, hard-but-sexy women as convincingly as Barkin.In addition to Hurt, Bridges and Barkin, other fun characters included "California Joe," Hickok's gravel-voiced friend who doesn't say much but when he does, you hear some some of the longest sentences ever uttered.
Christina Applegate, Bruce Dern, Margoe Gortner, Keith Carradine and assorted other characters all add to this strange tale, strange in its telling and even stranger in its visual style.Some of the film is in flashback, which is seen in startling black-and-white and mainly features Diane Lane, who is flat-out gorgeous and maybe the most intriguing person in the film.
The most notable was the "dime novel."  The makers of this movie did as good a job as anyone has it trying to tell the true story of this legend.There are scenes not found in Bill's history, but they are historical for the time.
Even with numerous flash backs the story flows well.Jeff Bridges as "James Butler 'Wild Bill' Hickok" and Ellen Barkin " as "Calamity Jane" do great jobs with the main characters.
Watch for Keith Carradine as "Buffalo Bill Cody" and John Hurt as "Charley Prince," Bill's friend and the character narrating the film.James Gammon (I) does a good character role as "California Joe."If you like Western history, this is a great film.
Wellyou get something that's exciting, brutal, nasty and short  and very little of it truthful.Walter Hill is one of Tinsel Town's better producer/directors, no question; and his experience at producing great thrillers (like the Alien series) serves him (and the viewer) well.
In fact, this film is worth seeing for that alone.In contrast, there's a major error that is just unforgivable, considering the overall standard of the production: in the final battle scene between Wild Bill and five tough bounty hunters, Bill shoots them all dead with his two revolvers, both of which looked like 1858 or 1861 Remingtons.
What a shame that goof wasn't caught before the film was released...However, the cast is great, particularly Jeff Bridges and John Hurt (as the fictional character, Charley Prince, invented for narrative purposes), both of whom are ably supported by Ellen Barkin as Calamity Jane and David Arquette as Jack McCall.
Jeff Bridges must be highlighted for special mention: his costumes and general manner look stunningly true to life when compared with real photos of that long dead gunfighter.As a piece of history, forget it.
Jeff Bridges does a fine job as scruffy, mangy, weathered James Butler Hickok in the 1870s Midwest, getting into brutal fights while doing nothing more than standing at a bar (John Hurt's narration tells us, "Being 'Wild' Bill was in itself a profession.").
Ellen Barkin plays Calamity Jane like a lovestruck toughie who clucks behind Hickok, waiting for a commitment; David Arquette is Jack McCall, a young man defending the honor of his mother, whom Hickok loved and left.
Occasionally, director Hill hits a stumbling block (there's an inconsequential bit with Keith Carradine as Buffalo Bill Cody which disconnects the mood, and also a black-and-white flashback filmed in high-contrast where Hickok attempts to talk sensibly with a no-nonsense Indian tribe).
And he feels compelled to play the part of the living legend to the end, come what may.I suspect that Walter Hill chose this subject because he identified strongly with Wild Bill himself.
Jeff Bridges perfectly embodies his spirit, while his friends, "Calamity Jane" (Ellen Barkin), Charley Prince (John Hurt) and "California Joe" (James Gammon) provide letter perfect foils, thematic analyzers and comic relief.
If I can fault writer-director Walter Hill (and I believe it is still too soon to render a final judgment on this movie), I would fault his decision to shoot the flashbacks as erratic dreams, with unstable camera and black-and-white.
Now I'm not going to go into a tirade how inaccurate the movie was historically, but you'd think with the cast they had paid damned good money to take part in the movie that they would have found a way to tell Wild Bill's story in a more factual yet exciting way that keeps the nuance of the Romantic Western Period in tact.The gun fights were incredible, the props and backgrounds were amazing and the portrayal of the old Deadwood mining camp were simply Breath taking.I personally enjoyed how the movie would weave in and out of Wild Bill's past through his opium induced dreams...
the characters were very believable but the story just didn't add up to the facts that surrounded Wild Bill's death.I would also take exception to the HBO series Deadwood concerning Wild Bill's death also, it's a shame that somebody in the movie business, ANYBODY, would come up with a more accurate portrayal of the man, his life and his untimely death.With all that being said, it was a beautiful movie visually..
Trying to be more realistic and showing us the town of Deadwood always full of mud, and Wild Bill as a crazy looking guy with a long hair an a beard that does not allow any expression to his face, all this film does is to show the ugliness of all that and at that point we can ask ourselves that if it really was that ugly why do we still talk about it today?
Great gunfight scenes and exquisite costuming highlight this fast-paced story of Wild Bill Hickok, man and myth.
Out of every movie i have ever seen based on a legendary old west figure this movie was the largest pile of horse s**T i have ever seen.There is not 1/100 of fact base in this film i have spent 25 years of my life researching legendary western figures from Wyatt Earp to the back shooter Pat Garret and believe me they have made some stinkers but this is no doubt the worst pile of lies and misleads i ever saw.
I WISH THERE WAS A RATING LESS THEN 1 BECAUSE THIS MOVIE WOULD RATE A - 10.Not to mention very bad acting from second rate actors.Walter Hill directed my favorite movie of all times the 1979 cult classic THE WARRIORS {in which he also used James Remar }so i expected better from him.This movie is a disgrace to a otherwise great director..
This is a criminally bad film, easily the worst of director Walter Hill's spotty career, although it does seem to have pointed him towards the cable series Deadwood.
Coming from Walter Hill, the man behind the Warriors and The Long Riders, there is no way that Wild Bill should have been this sloppy.
Unlike other directors, Hill chooses to uses tilted shots for most of these flashbacks, suggesting a "colored" viewpoint of what is shown.The film can be dismissed easily as a crass action western--but this film looks at bravura narcissism (opening shots of shooting a glass on top of a dog's head), a man who refuses to be tied down to relationships with women but is friendly with men, stupid reactions to knocking his hat, etc.
The heroics may belong to the mustachioed men rather than the clean-shaven but the film has more to offer than hairy faces.The casting of John Hurt, Bruce Dern and Ellen Barkin is commendable--they provide fascinating screen time that adds to the credibility.
Hurt and Barkin who open the film carries the film even though Jeff Bridges proves to be a credible lead player but he is no great thespian.The film ultimately belongs to Hill and art director Dan Olexiewicz, with the atmosphere changes from bright sun to slushy streets--that strangely keeps pace with the characters.
The only good thing about it is that Jeff Bridges looked almost exactly like the real Wild Bill....
The real Wild Bill was someone who was as tough as he had to be to enforce law and order in a wild and woolly town like Abilene, Kansas circa 1870-1871 when Hickok kept the peace there.Among those other actors who played Hickok also includes Jeff's father Lloyd Bridges who did it in an hour television drama on the Great Adventure series.
Arquette does well in the role.Ellen Barkin is cast as Calamity Jane and while she's as tough as the famous frontierswoman, she's way too good looking.
Wild Bill (1995) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Bridges) comes into Deadwood where he meets up with his old flame Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin) and has a pesky young kid (David Arquette) threatening to kill him.
While staying at Deadwood, Hickok begins to feel that his questionable past is starting to haunt him.Walter Hill's WILD BILL pretty much took a beating when it was originally released.
We've also got a great supporting cast including Bruce Dern, Keith Carradine, Diane Lane, Christina Applegate, James Gammon and John Hurt.As you'd expect from a Hill movie, WILD BILL is well-made and contains some great style and especially when it comes to the violence.
Charley Prince (John Hurt) and Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin) are at Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Bridges)'s funeral.
'A Bridge Too Far' - Eliot Gould and Ryan O'Neal - that fight scene 10 minutes in where 'Wild Bill' takes/shoots down some four desperadoes was pathetic.Truly Hill's worst film - a real 'pc' pile of 'Hillary' and 'Debbie Wassserman Schultz...- castrated men regardless of the violence..
All of those elements make Wild Bill an entertaining Western film that is Walter Hill and Jeff Bridges at their best.Based on the novel Deadwood by Peter Dexter and the play Father's And Sons by Thomas Babe,Wild Bill tells the story of the last days of James Butler Hickok AKA Wild Bill(Jeff Bridges),the legendary lawman and gunfighter thinking about his life past and present.During the Western movie revival of the 1980s 90s there were classic Westerns such as Unforgiven(1992),Tombstone(1993)and Dances With Wolves(1990)that were critical and Box Office hits but there were also other Western films during this time that went under the radar and weren't as successful but still wonderful in their own rights such as Walter Hill's 1995 Western Wild Bill a terrific and memorable Western that was Hill's third and film about an iconic true life Western figure following Jesse James/Younger Gang film The Long Riders(1980)and the Geronimo film Geronimo:An American Legend(1993).
At a lean and tight 98 minutes Wild Bill is a memorable and entertaining film that is not really a biopic but a great mixture of Western shoot em up and character study told in a gritty way.
Wild Bill is a movie that is a revisionist Western in the truest sense told in very surreal and stylish giving viewers a look into one of the most iconic characters in the West in Wild Bill Hickok,a Cowboy who probably isn't known on a national level like other Western icons such as Wyatt Earp,Doc Holliday,Jesse James or Billy The Kid but if you know Western History you will know Wild Bill.
It's easy to see why Walter Hill wanted to make a movie about Wild Bill because like the characters in Hill's other films Wild Bill in the movie is depicted as a man who is larger than life but at the same time a flawed human being.
Wild Bill as a character is so interesting that I would have loved to see more of his history and life story in the past and present which I think is a flaw.
The Action and gunfights in the film are thrilling and intense going along with the Western tone of the movie as Walter Hill can do.
Great score,Parks.In final word,if you love Westerns,Walter Hill or Jeff Bridges,I highly suggest you see Wild Bill,a terrific,underrated Western that is worth your time.
Eventually trouble from his past finds him, in the snivelling form of Jack McCall (David Arquette, in over his head with a Hill film and struggling alongside the rest of the able cast), a disgruntled man who loathes Bill for leaving his mother (Diane Lane, luminous in gorgeous black and white flashbacks) decades before, a chapter of his life he scarcely even remembered until Jack showed up to put a thorn in his side.
Fun facts: Hill would go on to direct the pilot episode for HBO's sensational Deadwood, also partly detailing the curtain call segment of Bill's life, where the role was played by Keith Carradine (who also briefly appears here as Buffalo Bill Cody), and the incomparable Robin Weigert stepping in for Barkin as Jane.
I know that it wasn't intended as a straight up biography of Wild Bill, but the scenes that are recalled that show how Hickock went through life, and the terrible casting job of David Arquette as his killer just did this film in for me..
Wild Bill Hickock is as famous as any old west icon, his tragic end while holding the original dead man's hand as well known as any western lead spitting incident from the era.
The first 15 minutes of Wild Bill crackle with action and gunfire as Hickok (Jeff Bridges) makes his way across the American West solidifying his reputation as one tough hombre.
Brutal and to the point Hill moves his story from Abilene to Deadwood in no time where he reunites with trail buddy Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin).
In addition to padding the film with non-events Hill goes self indulgent with some black and white oblique angle flashback to add to the film's running time that begins to lose it's rhythm by the one-third mark with Hickok and MacCall having wasteful confrontations (one bizarre one in an opium den) that pile on minutes but does not advance the story as it stumbles to its historic conclusion, failing to separate the man from the legend while adding to the apocryphal in this bungled western..
Wild Bill is a dark, moody Western about the last days of legendary lawman James Butler Hickock that sometimes shows off its true colors (by that, I mean its riveting action sequences, not its appearance) but suffers from a disorganized screenplay, some dull characters, an imperfect running time, and while it's not a bad Western, it's not a great one either.Jeff Bridges gives a noteworthy performance as Wild Bill, John Hurt gives most of the movie's seldom-seen charisma as his friend Charley Prince (I'm not sure if this character is real or not) and then there is a truly great performance by Ellen Barkin as frontierswoman Calamity Jane.
There were too many black-and-white flashback scenes, which I've seen many done better many times before in other films, that dragged on and slowed the movie down for me.
Actually, this plays more like Andy Kaufman meets Quentin Tarantino in Deadwood.That combination may sound like fun, and at times, it is, but for the most part, this is one convoluted mess that cannot live up to the name Wild Bill Hickock, though it is slick and stylish in its development and execution.Jeff Bridges was one bright spot in this work, while there are other bright spots, they are matches next to his spotlight.All in all?
The life and death of the legendary Wild Bill Hickok is presented by Walter Hill in a stylistic western.
This one one of Walter Hill's lesser films and a major disappointment right after Geronimo, which was a great western.
Ellen Barkin is well cast as Calamity Jane; Diane Lane is beautiful as Bill's one-and-only (past) love and David Arquette is realistic but contemptible as Lane's vengeful son, Jack McCall (and maybe son of Bill; in the movie, that is, not real life).
I also suppose Walter Hill was limited by the true-life events of Hickok's final days, even while deviating from the facts as far as Jack McCall is concerned.
Now we have the chance to see WILD BILL, one of his last forays into Hollywood film making.Based on the life of Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Bridges) the story focuses on the last few weeks of his life while at the same time interjecting moments from his past.
Rather than use the straight forward timeline to tell his story, Hill uses this to great effect here, showing us the end result of Hickok's life rather than simply glorifying him start to finish.Narrated by Hickok's friend Charley Prince (John Hurt) we start off with Hickok during his buffalo hunting days but quickly find him entering Deadwood, a gold mining town whose rough ways suit the famed lawman and gunslinger.
Many of these are on view in several of the flashback sequences filmed in black and white to good effect.Into his life walks another memento of his past, a young man named Jack McCall (David Arquette), who intends to kill Hickok.
I'd say you pretty much have it right there for historical Deadwood.I would take it as a pretty safe bet that Wild Bill (Jeff Bridges) and Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin) were never interrupted on a card table, but with it, the obligatory tease for story purposes was quickly consummated.
Walter Hill spent his career making westerns and so by the time he directed "Wild Bill" he already knew the genre inside out.
Wild Bill Hickok, famed lawman and gunman of the Old West, is haunted by his past and his reputation.He is loved by, but cannot love, Calamity Jane.Dogging his trail is young Jack McCall, who blames Bill for abandoning the boy's mother and destroying her life.McCall has sworn to kill Bill, and Bill's ghosts, his failing eyesight, and his fondness for opium may make McCall's task easier....One of the main reasons to watch this film is of course Bridges, who puts in a wonderful performance as the titular character.