Wild Wild West (film)
| Wild Wild West | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Barry Sonnenfeld |
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| Screenplay by | |
| Story by | |
| Based on |
The Wild Wild West by Michael Garrison |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Michael Ballhaus |
| Edited by | Jim Miller |
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Production
companies |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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106 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $170 million |
| Box office | $222.1 million |
Wild Wild West is a 1999 American steampunk western action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld. It was written by S. S. Wilson and Brent Maddock (whose previous collaborations include the Short Circuit and Tremors franchises), along with Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman. A big-screen adaptation of the 1960s TV series The Wild Wild West, it stars Will Smith, Kevin Kline (who appears in dual roles as one of the two protagonists Artemus Gordon and as President Ulysses S. Grant), Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek.
Similar to the series, the film features a large amount of gadgetry. It serves as a parody; however, as the gadgetry is more highly advanced, implausible steampunk technology and bizarre mechanical inventions, including innumerable inventions of the mechanological geniuses Artemus Gordon and Dr. Loveless, such as nitroglycerine-powered penny-farthing bicycles, spring-loaded notebooks, bulletproof chain mail, flying machines, steam tanks, and Loveless's giant mechanical spider.
Wild Wild West was a commercial disappointment, earning only $222.1 million worldwide against a $170 million budget, and received predominantly negative reviews.
In 1869 U.S. Army Captain James West (Will Smith) and U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) hunt for Confederate General "Bloodbath" McGrath (Ted Levine), who is wanted for mass murder, throughout the Southern United States. This is due to McGrath ordering a massacre in a settlement called New Liberty, where many of the freed slaves were murdered, including West's biological parents. The search leads to a brothel where the two try (unsuccessfully) to arrest him. It leads to a huge brawl and a cart of nitroglycerin crashing into the building, starting a fire. Both West and Gordon—Gordon dressed as a woman—escape. Later, in Washington, D.C., West and Gordon meet at the White House with President Ulysses S. Grant (Kevin Kline), who tells them about the disappearance of America's key scientists and a treasonous plot by General "Bloodbath" McGrath. Grant charges the two with finding the scientists before he inaugurates the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah.
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