Odd hybrid from violence-expert director Walter Hill who here tackles Wild Bill Hickok (played with force and conviction by a suitably gruff Jeff Bridges) in a strange and very 'arty' Western biopic. The initial 20 minutes are the best part of the film, if you want prior warning for the rest that sadly leads off into bizarre and quite frankly tedious dialogue seemingly lifted from the play that this is based on, where Wild Bill, in a beautifully crafted montage covering nine years, guns down endless victims. This then stops as he meets up with part-time lover Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), after a brief stage stop over in New York City with Keith Carradine in a cameo role as Buffalo Bill Cody. Surreal opium induced regrets of his violent past follow, in black-and-white, before the inevitable showdown as a finale. Could have, and should have, been better.

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