It's a 4K Western Revival, as SILVERADO and THE QUICK AND THE DEAD Ride Onto UHD

We used to be a real country with Westerns lighting up the big screen on a regular basis, but those days are long gone for one reason or another.

Happily, classics old and new are still available for enjoying at home on your own big screen, and two modern classics are hitting 4K UHD this month: Lawrence Kasdan's Silverado is brand new to 4K, while Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead is getting a welcome reissue.

The 80s weren't exactly heavy with movies about cowboys, horses, and six-shooters, but there were a few that hit the big screen and scratched that Western itch. Clint Eastwood went old-school with Pale Rider, John Landis went no-school with Three Amigos, and Kasdan? Well, he called in every favor he had and delivered a big Hollywood Western called Silverado, and it remains a thing of beauty.

We open with a shootout and a stellar nod to the most famous shot in The Searchers that sends Emmett (Scott Glenn) from a remote shack into a nearby town. He meets Paden (Kevin Kline) along the way after finding him stripped and tied to the ground, and the pair soon intervene when they see a stranger named Mal (Danny Glover) being harassed in a bar. Finally, Emmett makes it to the local jail where his brother Jake (Kevin Costner) is being held on trumped up charges.

One jail break later, and the quartet disperse only to reunite at the town of Silverado where dirty lawmen, violent thugs, double-crossing bastards, and old friends await. It's one hell of an adventure.

Silverado is a revisionist Western in some ways, but Kasdan's edict throughout seems focused on two things over all others -- tap into the feeling of a big, old-fashioned Westerns, and never forget that we're here to have fun. Even the film's darker moments come with an eye on entertainment, but they're never less effective because of it. Kasden crafts his story and his characters with an integrity that keeps them front and center, and the result is just a pure, exhilarating ride.

And that cast! The four leads are all fantastic, each unique in character and personality, and the supporting players are equally epic. Brian Dennehy, Rosanna Arquette, John Cleese, Linda Hunt, Jeff Goldblum, Lynn Whitfield, Jeff Fahey, and more familiar faces fill the screen, and each of them brings a new smile to your face.

Characters live, characters die, moments of playfulness bump up against angst and despair, and it all feels wonderfully epic. Breathtaking cinematography captures the frontier's beauty and scope, and action sequences come alive with sharp editing and direction. It's a film overflowing with personality, camaraderie, and dramatic thrills.

Sony's new 4K UHD steelbook release is a prime example of a 4K restoration done right. The new scan of an original 35mm print and subsequent restoration work have resulted in a gorgeous picture breathing new life into an already attractive film. The landscapes are frequently stunning as color and light pop with depth and detail, and the whole feels like a brand-new experience.

There are no new special features, but in addition to a trailer on the 4K UHD, we get three older supplements on the Blu-ray.

- Along the Silverado Trail: A Western Historian's Commentary
- Return to Silverado with Kevin Costner [21:01]
- The Making of Silverado [37:01]

Another director new to the genre would take his own stab at the big-screen Western a full decade later, and Sam Raimi is probably even more surprising than Kasdan was at the time. The Quick and the Dead shares plenty of traditional traits with older Westerns, but slight comedic tweaks and Raimi's strong sense of visuals and energy carry it into a class of its own.

A small, dusty town is home to a cruel tyrant named Herod (Gene Hackman), a terrified populace, and an annual quick draw competition promising a high prize amount and a low survival rate. Ellen (Sharon Stone) walks in one day with an eye on both the prize and something more -- revenge.

It's a simple enough setup, and The Quick and the Dead wrings it for all the suspense and thrills it can muster. Hackman and Stone are joined by Russell Crowe as an earnest preacher with a violent past, Leonardo DiCaprio as an overly eager young gun, and a bevy of welcome faces and talents in supporting roles including Keith David, Tobin Bell, Lance Henriksen, Gary Sinise, Pat Hingle, Woody Strode, and plenty more.

The film takes place almost entirely in this rundown town, but Raimi keeps things lively and visually interesting throughout, as both the scenery and the camerawork remains eye-catching and engaging. Character is king here with actors playing their roles to the hilt, and the story is equally lively along the way. The action, though, shines as Raimi teases his Looney Tunes sensibilities without ever tilting completely into lunacy -- a real feat given the way some of these bodies react to being shot with a revolver.

Sony previously released The Quick and the Dead to 4K UHD back in 2018, and this is the same transfer (as far as I can tell). That's not an issue, though, as it remains a stellar remaster with incredible detail, a vibrant and immensely varied color scheme, and a retention of grain that feels well-suited to the film's tone and style. It still looks incredible.

The discs include a trailer and the following supplements, the first of which is a newly made extra that isn't even mentioned on the packaging.

- *NEW* The Reckoning: Writing The Quick and the Dead [19:22] - An audio interview with writer Simon Moore who talks about being a British person penning an American Western, the traditional themes and structure of the film, and more.
- Deleted scenes [5:15