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Wild Bill

Play trailer Poster for Wild Bill R 1995 1h 37m Western Action Biography Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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46% Tomatometer 28 Reviews 27% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
Gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Bridges) travels the frontier, gaining fame and enemies in roughly equal measure. He sometimes meets up with his friend and occasional lover, Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), and he headlines for awhile in a traveling circus. Along the way, he meets Susannah (Diane Lane), his one true love, but spurns her for the outlaw life. With his health deteriorating, Bill rides into Deadwood, S.D., as his past catches up to him.

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Wild Bill

Wild Bill

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Critics Consensus

Crowded with talent on either side of the camera, Wild Bill shoots itself in the foot with a surprisingly muddled take on the story of the titular folk hero.

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Critics Reviews

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Peter Rainer Los Angeles Magazine 08/09/2022
Wild Bill, starring Jeff Bridges, is Walter Hill’s best film in years. It’s a movie about the self-destructive power of myth. By the end, Hill makes that self-destruction seem like the archetypal American story. Go to Full Review
Mike Clark USA Today 01/01/2000
2/4
The movie itself is a lot of deadwood in the competitive holiday season. Go to Full Review
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times 01/01/2000
2/4
The movie tries for poetry and elegy in its closing scenes, and we can see where it's headed, although it doesn't get there. Go to Full Review
Mitchell Beaupre Paste Magazine 09/29/2023
8/10
Jeff Bridges exquisitely captures this roaming, morose existence, this juxtaposition between the stature of an icon and the elegiac crawl towards death that we follow him on. Go to Full Review
Matt Brunson Film Frenzy 09/19/2021
2.5/4
Jeff Bridges delivers an intense performance, but an animated Ellen Barkin seems to have wandered over from the set of a sitcom. Go to Full Review
Nicholas Bell IONCINEMA.com 09/08/2020
2.5/5
Considering Walter Hill's formidable filmography, Wild Bill hasn't aged as well as some of the auteur's progressively inclined titles, but is still worth a look for the expected technical and narrative proficiencies. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Marshal G. @Marshal 3d I haven't watched it but I wanted to give it one star because nobody else seems to like it. See more Nick F Oct 5 Wild Bill is a 1995 Western relating the life and times of the famous gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok, starring Jeff Bridges in the title role, and with a strong support cast which includes Ellen Barkin, Bruce Dern, Keith Carradine and English actor John Hurt. This movie is beautifully and atmospherically filmed, with fine acting from the entire cast… but director/writer Walter Hill chose to tell Hickok’s story in a series of flashbacks which disrupts the narrative and is often confusing and ultimately disappointing. And I am not alone in this view – the film cost 30 million dollars to make, and took only a fraction of that sum at the box office. Even so, the overall visual quality of the film is superb and if – as I did – you watch each section as an individual incident – a sort of micro-movie - it is very engaging and you can still get a sense of Hickok’s truly wild life and times. REVIEWED by Nick Fletcher See more Jelisije J 05/31/2023 This movie could have done a montage of the legend Wild Bill killings to save a good amount of run time and help the pacing of this film. See more steve d 01/06/2023 Incompetent and untruthful. See more 05/22/2022 Meh...after the success of Tombstone, this should have been huge. Big cast of stars, 30 million dollar budget, names in Production...but it is terrible. Watch the ending credits to learn why...the studios were ripped off with a grossly padded list of people doing each other's work. This was a cash grab, pure and simple. Pitch the money men with "the next Tombstone", hire an acclaimed cast, but to Hell with actually making something timeless and special, just get the money and hope the public ci ers us. What a sad sad mess...some people should be ashamed. See more 03/27/2022 Decent cinematography, production design and makeup, consequently destroyed by soapish dialogue, overacting, mistaken casting and nothing too much to do with actual history, in what basically is a Hollywood mishmash where the legend of Wild Bill Hickok's last living days is made into a parody. Kudos to the respective consultants for getting some true effects, and the languages for Lakota and Cheyenne characters right. See more Read all reviews
Wild Bill

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Wild Bill

Wild Bill: Official Clip - Forgive Him Wild Bill: Official Clip - Forgive Him 2:06 Wild Bill: Official Clip - McCall's Mother Wild Bill: Official Clip - McCall's Mother 2:46 Wild Bill: Official Clip - Friendly Fire Wild Bill: Official Clip - Friendly Fire 2:36 Wild Bill: Official Clip - A Sentimental Gesture Wild Bill: Official Clip - A Sentimental Gesture 2:06 Wild Bill: Official Clip - Goodbye, Jack Wild Bill: Official Clip - Goodbye, Jack 3:05 Wild Bill: Official Clip - Wheelchair Showdown Wild Bill: Official Clip - Wheelchair Showdown 3:24 Wild Bill: Official Clip - This Ain't About No Time Piece Wild Bill: Official Clip - This Ain't About No Time Piece 2:40 Wild Bill: Official Clip - Threatening to Kill Bill Wild Bill: Official Clip - Threatening to Kill Bill 1:21 Wild Bill: Official Clip - Make Your Move, Jack Wild Bill: Official Clip - Make Your Move, Jack 1:05 Wild Bill: Official Clip - Saloon Brawl Wild Bill: Official Clip - Saloon Brawl 2:13 View more videos
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Movie Info

Synopsis Gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Bridges) travels the frontier, gaining fame and enemies in roughly equal measure. He sometimes meets up with his friend and occasional lover, Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin), and he headlines for awhile in a traveling circus. Along the way, he meets Susannah (Diane Lane), his one true love, but spurns her for the outlaw life. With his health deteriorating, Bill rides into Deadwood, S.D., as his past catches up to him.
Director
Walter Hill
Producer
Richard D. Zanuck, Lili Fini Zanuck
Screenwriter
Walter Hill
Production Co
United Artists, Zanuck Company
Rating
R
Genre
Western, Action, Biography, Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 1, 1995, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 30, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$2.1M
Runtime
1h 37m
Sound Mix
Surround
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