Wild Bill (1995 film)
| Wild Bill | |
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Original film poster
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| Directed by | Walter Hill |
| Produced by |
Richard D. Zanuck Lili Fini Zanuck |
| Written by | Walter Hill |
| Based on |
Deadwood by Pete Dexter Fathers and Sons by Thomas Babe |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | John Hurt |
| Music by | Van Dyke Parks |
| Cinematography | Lloyd Ahern II |
| Edited by | Freeman A. Davies |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30 million |
| Box office | $2,193,982 |
Wild Bill is a 1995 Western film about the last days of legendary lawman Wild Bill Hickok. It stars Jeff Bridges, Ellen Barkin, John Hurt and Diane Lane. The film was distributed by United Artists. It was written and directed by Walter Hill, with writing credits also going to Pete Dexter, author of the book Deadwood, and Thomas Babe, author of the play Fathers and Sons.
A well-known lawman and scout of the 19th Century's western frontier, Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Bridges) has drifted to Deadwood, Dakota Territory. Jack McCall (David Arquette) is a young man whose mother and family have been slighted by Bill in the past, and is out for revenge.
Troubled by his on-again, off-again relationship with a woman called Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), haunted by the ghosts of his past, and struggling with failing eyesight, Wild Bill faces with grave concern the arrival of this dangerous newcomer to town.
The script was based on several sources. One of them was the play Fathers and Sons which had been on Broadway in 1978, directed by Joseph Papp. It was written by Thomas Babe, and focused on Hickok's last days in Deadwood, placing the action in the saloon where he was killed. Babe says he entirely made up the character of McCall, who he turned into Hickok's illegitimate son.
Babe's play was seen in Los Angeles in 1980 by Walter Hill, who had been considering a film on Hickok. Hill optioned the play along with a screenplay about Hickok by Ned Wynn. In 1989 he wrote his own screenplay.
Meanwhile the team of Richard and Lili Zanuck had optioned a 1986 novel about Hickock called Deadwood. They had hired the author to write the script for the movie Rush. The Zanucks said they were interested in the project because it explored the nature of celebrity in a Western context. "Figures like Wild Bill were like rock stars," said Lili Zanuck. "They had sex appeal." Dexter wrote a script based on his novel which was sent to Barry Levinson and Sydney Pollack before going to Walter Hill.
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