Admirable film.

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

There were two Great Westerns made in the early 1990's. One was Tombstone which I wasn't expecting to be Great. I mean....how many ways can The Gunfight at The OK Correl be told? So I ignored Tombstone until it came out in Video. Big mistake. Great Movie. Val Kilmer is the best Doc Holiday ever. As with Shane, it may never be in a theater near me again. So now Wild Bill comes out? Better see it in a Big Screen Theater. I did one weekend evening. Beautiful. The only problem was it was the first time I had seen a movie in Downtown Detroit. There weren't many of us in The Theater, but many who were there were carrying on with a narrative of their own. 'Look out behind you Wild Bill, he's got a gun....'someone said. 'Hump her Bill' said someone else! So...I went back one weekday afternoon and appreciated Wild Bill much more. Now I own it and watch it often. With Westerns, I don't look for 'factually correct', rather I look for Great Performances and Storytelling from people who clearly love Westerns as I do. Don't miss Wild Bill.

Interesting film but you really have to leave reality behind. Just a couple observations: Apparently Bill had the same hat most of his life and it never got dirty. He never missed his target. Kind of weird that the movie jumps back and forth between grainy bland and white and color. It seems that the city of Deadwood only allowed the most attractive women in the west to live there. People who think these women were typical should check out come actual photos from that period.

Good western.Follows the life of legendary gunslinger and lawman "Wild Bill" Hickok. Gritty and dark, it explores his motivations, relationships, regrets and inner turmoils. Good character development.On the down side, it does try too hard to contemporise the language and customs in some respects, and loses some focus towards the end.Great performance by Jeff Bridges, but that's a given. Good support from Ellen Barkin and John Hurt. Minor cast includes David Arquette, Christina Applegate, Diane Lane, Keith Carradine and Bruce Dern.

I wasn't too impressed with 1995's "Wild Bill" the first time I saw it. I was expecting better from the great Walter Hill. The storytelling is a bit awkward and non-detailed, resulting in a less-than-captivating experience. Not to mention the movie comes to a screeching halt in the third act when Bill is held up in a saloon in Deadwood as his would-be killers consider knocking him off. This final act left a bad taste the first time I saw the film.I recently gave the flick another chance and am glad I dead -- I mean did (sorry, it must be the effect of the movie). The first half hour involves a series of insult-in-the-saloon-leads-to-a-gunfight type episodes; as mentioned above, not enough detail is included in these brief scenes to make them truly compelling, but they're enjoyable nevertheless. The second act settles down a bit, but is essentially more of the same.Jeff Bridges is fine as Bill but, as written, the character comes off rather dismal and even pathetic in light of his growing addictions. 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). Christina Applegate is stunning in a small role as the messed-up kid's girlfriend while Keith Carradine and Bruce Dern have glorified cameos."Wild Bill" offers an unattractive and dreary Wild West because it focuses on the last sad days of a legend. This isn't necessarily bad in-and-of-itself, but the all-over-the-place storytelling prevents it from attaining greatness. 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. While McCall is an actual historical figure, the subplot of Wild Bill romancing his mother in the past was made up. McCall insisted that he shot Hickok because he killed his brother in Kansas, which might be true; another theory is that McCall was hired to shoot Hickok by gamblers who feared he would be made a law officer in the Deadwood region since he used to be a deputy, Sheriff & Marshal back in Kansas. Another deviation from history is that Jane wasn't anywhere near Bill when he was shot; she was held by military authorities at the time.Despite these criticisms, "Wild Bill" is worthwhile for Western fans.The film runs 98 minutes and was shot in Santa Clarita, Semi Valley, Newhall, Burbank, Universal City and Angeles National Forest, California.GRADE: C