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The Quick and the Dead
A brutal, brilliant saga of the Old West--now a major motion picture starring Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone. The bullet-ridden sign says "Redemption," the lawless town where frontier justice is quick-draw sport--where one man holds a terrified community in his ruthless grip.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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January 10, 2025
My toxic trait is that I’m obsessed with Russell Crowe, and after I see his movies, I have to read the books that go with them so I can harvest extra scraps of information about his characters. The Quick and the Dead is no different: I absolutely love that movie (even the parts that don’t have Russell), and I was excited beyond reason to get my hands on Jack Curtis’ novelization. While it unfortunately lacks the charm and excellent pacing of Sam Raimi’s film, the novelization provides some interesting insights and is a must-read for anyone who wants details about the cult classic film.
In 1880s Arizona, the town of Redemption lives in terror of its sadistic ruler, the aging outlaw John Herod, who institutes a quick-draw tournament that draws every colorful gunslinger in the territory in search of glory and wealth. Stone-faced gunfighter Ellen McKenzie, who enters the contest only as “the Lady,” rides into town with one goal in mind: to kill Herod and avenge her father, the former marshal of Redemption whose death initiated Herod’s rule. Once in Redemption, however, Ellen finds herself struggling with her childhood fears and weaknesses, and she quickly becomes embroiled in a saga that now includes several others with a vendetta against Herod: Cort, an outlaw-turned-preacher who is brought by Herod in chains to participate in the contest against his will, and the Kid, Herod’s illegitimate son who dreams of being the fastest gun in the West. Ellen’s past collides with the present as she searches for a way to stay alive and free Redemption from the corruption that haunts its streets.
Jack Curtis is a pretty well-known author of the western paperback genre, and he approaches The Quick and the Dead with the same solemn, forthright style of a typical western novel. Curtis sometimes struggles with making his dialogue realistic and compelling (and even necessary, on occasion), but he does better than the average writer trying to novelize a film by digging into some insights the movie leaves more up to interpretation. Minor characters get a little more of a chance to shine, and main characters benefit from added exposition and dialogue to flesh out their motivations. Curtis also shows an excellent ability to build tension, particularly in the first two-thirds of the novel, and to turn a nice poetic western phrase. Curtis does sometimes struggle to accurately explain what emotions and motivations his characters have, especially in scenes that he invents purely for the book, and several key plot elements (like Ellen faking her death) were very confusing for anyone who doesn’t already know the story.
It’s certainly not perfect, though. Curtis’ pacing is outstanding for awhile, but when he hits that two-thirds mark , suddenly The Quick and the Dead has about twenty major events that need to happen in under 100 pages. While Sam Raimi’s film is effortlessly paced and features one of the best western endings of all time, Curtis’ book feels unforgivably rushed as the final four duels are heavily condensed and under-paced.
Still, Curtis very much makes the story his own, adding and removing and changing details to suit the story the way he wants it told. I really enjoyed some of the additional exposition about certain elements — the contrast of Redemption before and after Herod’s corruption, the cowardice of the townspeople in standing up to him, the depiction of Herod as a truly formidable villain, etc. Curtis also includes the deleted scenes from the film in their proper order, which I appreciated — “Dog” Kelly’s backstory, Ellen denying water to Cort, Ellen finding the blind boy getting drunk, Ellen and Cort talking on the porch, Ellen shooting up Herod’s house, the blind boy warning Ellen to save Cort, the sometimes-cut love scene between Ellen and Cort, and the Kid and Mattie Silk’s wedding. Curtis’ writing is a little substandard at times, but there’s no denying his flair for storytelling in scenes like the graveyard reunion or Cort’s first duel.
The Quick and the Dead (film and book) could have been a cliché tale of revenge and violence if not for the unusual characterization each player receives. Sam Raimi introduced us to a conflicted female avenger, a wicked crime boss, a tormented preacher, and a boasting young gunslinger, along with a plethora of colorful side characters. Here, Curtis leans into some of the film’s best dynamics: the tension between Ellen and Herod, the attraction between Ellen and Cort, the sad friendship between Ellen and the Kid, and so forth. Ellen receives her due amount of introspective character development, constantly struggling with her own fears and weaknesses as she seeks vengeance not only for her father, but for the life Herod stole from her. Curtis demonstrates that Ellen is the one person willing to stand up and do something about the way Herod has wronged her, which solidifies the reason why she is our protagonist instead of anyone else. A highlight of the novel, Herod is characterized as purely evil, a fearmonger who seems truly indomitable and immortal not only to Ellen but to us. Naturally I’m always partial to Cort, and I couldn’t help thinking that Curtis must have been a fan of him, too: Cort is an enigma and a paradox, and his developing mutual feelings for Ellen complement his dogmatic refusal to give in to Herod’s mind games very nicely. I also loved Curtis’ characterization of persons like the blind shoeshine boy (who remains nameless), Katie Pinnick, and the motley group of grotesque gunfighters in the contest.
Like the movie, The Quick and the Dead is chock-full of religious imagery and themes, from the opening Bible verses to the villain desecrating a church as his hideout to the constant degradation of the man-of-God character. Even the leading villain’s name (Herod) has a suggestion of moral evil. Interestingly (and maybe not for the best), Curtis also goes into very explicit detail with his profanity and sexual dialogue, boldly stating what Raimi’s film only implies. The entire story deals with the ideas of divine justice, judgement, and redemption: the name of the town is no accident, and neither is the way Ellen constantly fears Herod as some kind of immortal god she won’t be able to take down. It’s interesting to see Curtis’ depiction of Cort as a religious man, as he stays true to his faith perhaps even more than he does in the film.
A few extra things I really liked that Curtis included:
• Curtis reveals that the Lady’s name is Ellen McKenzie in the prologue, but he never uses her name again for the rest of the novel. It is, however, always abundantly clear when he’s referring to her.
• Marshal McKenzie curses Herod to die by the gun one day, which foreshadows the events of the film.
• We get a few more scenes featuring silent undertaker Charlie Moonlight.
• Ellen observes that the gunfighters are accomplishing nothing in the contest and that they are mere entertainment for Herod.
• Ellen is explicitly drawn to Cort from the first time she sees him, and she finds that she can’t stop thinking about him.
• Cort spends a bit of time preaching that the townspeople can work together to overthrow Herod and even includes himself in that, despite his no-violence policy.
• Scars torments the blind boy multiple times until Ellen finally can’t take it anymore and stands up for the boy.
• Herod’s Redemption is so violent that the graveyard is running out of room.
• Both Katie and the blind boy are drawn to Ellen and Cort.
• Cort’s killer instincts kick in only once Flat Nose has shot once in the first duel.
• Katie reminds Ellen of herself, which is why Katie’s seduction by Eugene bothers her so much.
• The blind boy always has an extra cartridge ready to throw to Cort if he needs it.
• Ellen starts going by the name “Lady Death” during the duels.
• The trinket Eugene was offering to Katie is actually Ace Hanlon’s ruby-and-jet tie pin.
• Cort prays relentlessly for everyone (especially Ellen) except himself and Herod, because he believes they’re both beyond saving.
• Ellen’s fumble of her gun during dinner with Herod makes her regret refusing to give Cort any water, and she actually demands that Herod treat Cort better.
• Cort slowly starts to look more like an outlaw the longer he’s kept chained in the streets.
• Ellen tries to help Cort when he’s about to be killed by Spotted Horse, but she’s not fast enough.
• The blind boy has helped Cort all along because he believes Cort is the one who will be able to stop Herod.
• Ellen calls Cort “her man” at one point, and they are more unambiguously in love with each other throughout the story, which everyone points out multiple times.
…and a few changes I really, really did not like:
• Curtis makes no mention of the fact that the Day of the Dead is the setting for the contest in the film, changing the date to July 1–4. More American, maybe?
…and some general observations of things that were added, removed, or changed:
• Ellen’s backstory is revealed in the prologue, and Curtis explains that she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Chicago after her father’s murder, where she was shunned and where she learned how to handle a gun.
• John Herod’s backstory is that he was a Southern plantation owner who lost everything and turned to crime.
• Seeing Cort strung up in the saloon gives Ellen nightmares about her father’s death.
• Everyone in the book assumes that Ellen is having a fling with the Kid at first.
• Cort’s backstory is that he was a ragged, starving, orphaned 17-year-old cowboy when Herod noticed his skills and picked him up as a protégée, and after years of hard killing, drinking, and womanizing, Cort reformed and escaped Herod by hiding out in Mexico.
• Mattie Silk is one of Eugene Dred’s prostitutes, which is why the Kid hates Eugene so much.
• Ellen befriends old Ira, the town café owner, and reminisces with him about what life was like before Herod took over Redemption.
• Herod hates the Kid not only because he symbolizes his mother’s supposed unfaithfulness, but because he fears that the Kid makes him look older and weaker.
• Sergeant Clay Cantrell’s name is changed to Sergeant Clay Quanson in the book, for no apparent reason.
• The blind boy’s backstory is that he’s the son of one of Eugene’s prostitutes, and his mother’s illness is what caused him to be born blind.
Overall, there were lots of things I really liked about the novelization, but primarily it served to just make me want to watch the movie again. Curtis does a great job pulling some big-picture ideas together and adding his own flair to the story, but I didn’t appreciate some of the changes he made. I think I would have been far less impressed and far more confused by The Quick and the Dead if I hadn’t seen the much-superior film first. As it is, I was able to enjoy Curtis’ insights and use of symbolism, but his creativity just isn’t on par with Sam Raimi’s when it comes to making a breathtaking, bloodthirsty poetic western.
In 1880s Arizona, the town of Redemption lives in terror of its sadistic ruler, the aging outlaw John Herod, who institutes a quick-draw tournament that draws every colorful gunslinger in the territory in search of glory and wealth. Stone-faced gunfighter Ellen McKenzie, who enters the contest only as “the Lady,” rides into town with one goal in mind: to kill Herod and avenge her father, the former marshal of Redemption whose death initiated Herod’s rule. Once in Redemption, however, Ellen finds herself struggling with her childhood fears and weaknesses, and she quickly becomes embroiled in a saga that now includes several others with a vendetta against Herod: Cort, an outlaw-turned-preacher who is brought by Herod in chains to participate in the contest against his will, and the Kid, Herod’s illegitimate son who dreams of being the fastest gun in the West. Ellen’s past collides with the present as she searches for a way to stay alive and free Redemption from the corruption that haunts its streets.
“Something more than a gun had kept him alive. Perhaps it was only that: evil. To use it, to live it, to force it on others, perhaps it was only that force of whole evil that kept everyone else in terror.”
Jack Curtis is a pretty well-known author of the western paperback genre, and he approaches The Quick and the Dead with the same solemn, forthright style of a typical western novel. Curtis sometimes struggles with making his dialogue realistic and compelling (and even necessary, on occasion), but he does better than the average writer trying to novelize a film by digging into some insights the movie leaves more up to interpretation. Minor characters get a little more of a chance to shine, and main characters benefit from added exposition and dialogue to flesh out their motivations. Curtis also shows an excellent ability to build tension, particularly in the first two-thirds of the novel, and to turn a nice poetic western phrase. Curtis does sometimes struggle to accurately explain what emotions and motivations his characters have, especially in scenes that he invents purely for the book, and several key plot elements (like Ellen faking her death) were very confusing for anyone who doesn’t already know the story.
“The doomed must love the most, the ache in their souls must be shared, the hopeless loneliness must be overcome and punished.”
It’s certainly not perfect, though. Curtis’ pacing is outstanding for awhile, but when he hits that two-thirds mark , suddenly The Quick and the Dead has about twenty major events that need to happen in under 100 pages. While Sam Raimi’s film is effortlessly paced and features one of the best western endings of all time, Curtis’ book feels unforgivably rushed as the final four duels are heavily condensed and under-paced.
Still, Curtis very much makes the story his own, adding and removing and changing details to suit the story the way he wants it told. I really enjoyed some of the additional exposition about certain elements — the contrast of Redemption before and after Herod’s corruption, the cowardice of the townspeople in standing up to him, the depiction of Herod as a truly formidable villain, etc. Curtis also includes the deleted scenes from the film in their proper order, which I appreciated — “Dog” Kelly’s backstory, Ellen denying water to Cort, Ellen finding the blind boy getting drunk, Ellen and Cort talking on the porch, Ellen shooting up Herod’s house, the blind boy warning Ellen to save Cort, the sometimes-cut love scene between Ellen and Cort, and the Kid and Mattie Silk’s wedding. Curtis’ writing is a little substandard at times, but there’s no denying his flair for storytelling in scenes like the graveyard reunion or Cort’s first duel.
“The rain falls equally upon the rich and the poor, the young and the old, and the quick and the dead… Waiting for the shower to pass on, she wondered if there was a larger pattern set maybe in the stars where this going and coming, living and dying, heating and cooling, growing and rotting, drying and raining, loving and hating… for sure it was the foundation of the pattern, even if nobody knew what it meant and most everyone used it for the wrong reasons. Still, loving was there in the plan, a tremendous invisible force that drove mankind crazy and yet could make living sublime. And revenge? She wondered how revenge fitted into the pattern of love and rain and growth. The quick and the dead, that's where revenge fitted.”
The Quick and the Dead (film and book) could have been a cliché tale of revenge and violence if not for the unusual characterization each player receives. Sam Raimi introduced us to a conflicted female avenger, a wicked crime boss, a tormented preacher, and a boasting young gunslinger, along with a plethora of colorful side characters. Here, Curtis leans into some of the film’s best dynamics: the tension between Ellen and Herod, the attraction between Ellen and Cort, the sad friendship between Ellen and the Kid, and so forth. Ellen receives her due amount of introspective character development, constantly struggling with her own fears and weaknesses as she seeks vengeance not only for her father, but for the life Herod stole from her. Curtis demonstrates that Ellen is the one person willing to stand up and do something about the way Herod has wronged her, which solidifies the reason why she is our protagonist instead of anyone else. A highlight of the novel, Herod is characterized as purely evil, a fearmonger who seems truly indomitable and immortal not only to Ellen but to us. Naturally I’m always partial to Cort, and I couldn’t help thinking that Curtis must have been a fan of him, too: Cort is an enigma and a paradox, and his developing mutual feelings for Ellen complement his dogmatic refusal to give in to Herod’s mind games very nicely. I also loved Curtis’ characterization of persons like the blind shoeshine boy (who remains nameless), Katie Pinnick, and the motley group of grotesque gunfighters in the contest.
“Every time you kill someone, you kill a piece of yourself. Don't go down that road. Don't become like me.”
Like the movie, The Quick and the Dead is chock-full of religious imagery and themes, from the opening Bible verses to the villain desecrating a church as his hideout to the constant degradation of the man-of-God character. Even the leading villain’s name (Herod) has a suggestion of moral evil. Interestingly (and maybe not for the best), Curtis also goes into very explicit detail with his profanity and sexual dialogue, boldly stating what Raimi’s film only implies. The entire story deals with the ideas of divine justice, judgement, and redemption: the name of the town is no accident, and neither is the way Ellen constantly fears Herod as some kind of immortal god she won’t be able to take down. It’s interesting to see Curtis’ depiction of Cort as a religious man, as he stays true to his faith perhaps even more than he does in the film.
“If only evil would die, if only it could be killed and buried and be forgotten…”
A few extra things I really liked that Curtis included:
• Curtis reveals that the Lady’s name is Ellen McKenzie in the prologue, but he never uses her name again for the rest of the novel. It is, however, always abundantly clear when he’s referring to her.
• Marshal McKenzie curses Herod to die by the gun one day, which foreshadows the events of the film.
• We get a few more scenes featuring silent undertaker Charlie Moonlight.
• Ellen observes that the gunfighters are accomplishing nothing in the contest and that they are mere entertainment for Herod.
• Ellen is explicitly drawn to Cort from the first time she sees him, and she finds that she can’t stop thinking about him.
• Cort spends a bit of time preaching that the townspeople can work together to overthrow Herod and even includes himself in that, despite his no-violence policy.
• Scars torments the blind boy multiple times until Ellen finally can’t take it anymore and stands up for the boy.
• Herod’s Redemption is so violent that the graveyard is running out of room.
• Both Katie and the blind boy are drawn to Ellen and Cort.
• Cort’s killer instincts kick in only once Flat Nose has shot once in the first duel.
• Katie reminds Ellen of herself, which is why Katie’s seduction by Eugene bothers her so much.
• The blind boy always has an extra cartridge ready to throw to Cort if he needs it.
• Ellen starts going by the name “Lady Death” during the duels.
• The trinket Eugene was offering to Katie is actually Ace Hanlon’s ruby-and-jet tie pin.
• Cort prays relentlessly for everyone (especially Ellen) except himself and Herod, because he believes they’re both beyond saving.
• Ellen’s fumble of her gun during dinner with Herod makes her regret refusing to give Cort any water, and she actually demands that Herod treat Cort better.
• Cort slowly starts to look more like an outlaw the longer he’s kept chained in the streets.
• Ellen tries to help Cort when he’s about to be killed by Spotted Horse, but she’s not fast enough.
• The blind boy has helped Cort all along because he believes Cort is the one who will be able to stop Herod.
• Ellen calls Cort “her man” at one point, and they are more unambiguously in love with each other throughout the story, which everyone points out multiple times.
…and a few changes I really, really did not like:
• Curtis makes no mention of the fact that the Day of the Dead is the setting for the contest in the film, changing the date to July 1–4. More American, maybe?
…and some general observations of things that were added, removed, or changed:
• Ellen’s backstory is revealed in the prologue, and Curtis explains that she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Chicago after her father’s murder, where she was shunned and where she learned how to handle a gun.
• John Herod’s backstory is that he was a Southern plantation owner who lost everything and turned to crime.
• Seeing Cort strung up in the saloon gives Ellen nightmares about her father’s death.
• Everyone in the book assumes that Ellen is having a fling with the Kid at first.
• Cort’s backstory is that he was a ragged, starving, orphaned 17-year-old cowboy when Herod noticed his skills and picked him up as a protégée, and after years of hard killing, drinking, and womanizing, Cort reformed and escaped Herod by hiding out in Mexico.
• Mattie Silk is one of Eugene Dred’s prostitutes, which is why the Kid hates Eugene so much.
• Ellen befriends old Ira, the town café owner, and reminisces with him about what life was like before Herod took over Redemption.
• Herod hates the Kid not only because he symbolizes his mother’s supposed unfaithfulness, but because he fears that the Kid makes him look older and weaker.
• Sergeant Clay Cantrell’s name is changed to Sergeant Clay Quanson in the book, for no apparent reason.
• The blind boy’s backstory is that he’s the son of one of Eugene’s prostitutes, and his mother’s illness is what caused him to be born blind.
Overall, there were lots of things I really liked about the novelization, but primarily it served to just make me want to watch the movie again. Curtis does a great job pulling some big-picture ideas together and adding his own flair to the story, but I didn’t appreciate some of the changes he made. I think I would have been far less impressed and far more confused by The Quick and the Dead if I hadn’t seen the much-superior film first. As it is, I was able to enjoy Curtis’ insights and use of symbolism, but his creativity just isn’t on par with Sam Raimi’s when it comes to making a breathtaking, bloodthirsty poetic western.
September 1, 2012
Worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews