Very disappointing...

It is a performances centric movie

The acting in this movie is really good.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There were two Great Westerns made in the early 1990's. One was Tombstone which I wasn't expecting to be Great. I mean....how many ways can The Gunfight at The OK Correl be told? So I ignored Tombstone until it came out in Video. Big mistake. Great Movie. Val Kilmer is the best Doc Holiday ever. As with Shane, it may never be in a theater near me again. So now Wild Bill comes out? Better see it in a Big Screen Theater. I did one weekend evening. Beautiful. The only problem was it was the first time I had seen a movie in Downtown Detroit. There weren't many of us in The Theater, but many who were there were carrying on with a narrative of their own. 'Look out behind you Wild Bill, he's got a gun....'someone said. 'Hump her Bill' said someone else! So...I went back one weekday afternoon and appreciated Wild Bill much more. Now I own it and watch it often. With Westerns, I don't look for 'factually correct', rather I look for Great Performances and Storytelling from people who clearly love Westerns as I do. Don't miss Wild Bill.

Interesting film but you really have to leave reality behind. Just a couple observations: Apparently Bill had the same hat most of his life and it never got dirty. He never missed his target. Kind of weird that the movie jumps back and forth between grainy bland and white and color. It seems that the city of Deadwood only allowed the most attractive women in the west to live there. People who think these women were typical should check out come actual photos from that period.

Charley Prince (John Hurt) and Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin) are at Wild Bill Hickok (Jeff Bridges)'s funeral. The movie flashes back as Wild Bill ride with California Joe. Then it jumps around from Nebraska 1867 to as a Marshall in 1871 Abilene, Kansas where he accidentally shoots his own deputy in a chaotic shootout. He joins Buffalo Bill Cody (Keith Carradine)'s show in NYC where he's generally a bad actor. He's losing his eyesight. He gets called out by wheelchair bound Will Plummer (Bruce Dern) in Cheyenne and promptly kills Will. He meets up with Jane and is dogged by young Jack McCall (David Arquette). Jack is helped by Lurline Newcomb (Christina Applegate). Will Bill had an affair with his mother Susannah Moore (Diane Lane) which ends in tragedy.The movie jumps around so much in time period that it feels very aimless. The plot meanders and pacing drags. The back and white flashbacks make it lifeless. Sometimes it turns surreal. I was relieved that Calamity Jane finally rejoins the movie but then it goes off once again to another place and time. Other than being a drunk card-playing gunslinger, the movie doesn't get too deep into Wild Bill. The movie fades in and out so much that it's hard to cling onto. Jack McCall is not necessarily a compelling character. In the end, the movie slips through my fingers.

Wild Bill Hickok, famed lawman and gunman of the Old West, is haunted by his past and his reputation.He is loved by, but cannot love, Calamity Jane.Dogging his trail is young Jack McCall, who blames Bill for abandoning the boy's mother and destroying her life.McCall has sworn to kill Bill, and Bill's ghosts, his failing eyesight, and his fondness for opium may make McCall's task easier....One of the main reasons to watch this film is of course Bridges, who puts in a wonderful performance as the titular character. He is ably supported by Barkin and Hurt, and thats most of the positive things said.The film is shot beautifully, and does have an authentic feel to it, but Hill feels out of place directing this, and has made some evry odd choices with the uses of flashbacks, and using Arquette, who is not convincing, but you know the demise of Bill when you meet arquettes character.Reason being that the man is too slimy and typically evil in a Mike Myers way (not a compliment) and is the sole reason of making the film just that laughable. Sure, the history is a load of garbage, but that doesn't matter, all we want to know is how many people he shot, how drunk he got, and how well Bridges does to adapt the two aforementioned traits.it's watchable enough, with some silly scenes and misjudged narrative, but thanks to some good performances, the film isn't the turkey most say it is.