Wild Wild West: Difference between revisions
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West, it is revealed, had escaped death when a concealed layer of bulletproof chain mail in his jacket, another one of of Gordon's inventions, stopped the bullet fired at him. Using the belly-dancer disguise which he had found in the remains of the ''Wanderer'', West had planned to infiltrate Loveless' lair and rescue the hostages. However, when West's [[brassiere]] is revealed to be a [[flamethrower]] (yet another of Gordon's inventions), Loveless' complex is set ablaze, creating enough of a distraction for Loveless to escape to his mechanical spider with an unconscious Grant while Gordon himself rescues the other hostages, including Rita. |
West, it is revealed, had escaped death when a concealed layer of bulletproof chain mail in his jacket, another one of of Gordon's inventions, stopped the bullet fired at him. Using the belly-dancer disguise which he had found in the remains of the ''Wanderer'', West had planned to infiltrate Loveless' lair and rescue the hostages. However, when West's [[brassiere]] is revealed to be a [[flamethrower]] (yet another of Gordon's inventions), Loveless' complex is set ablaze, creating enough of a distraction for Loveless to escape to his mechanical spider with an unconscious Grant while Gordon himself rescues the other hostages, including Rita. |
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Gordon and West, using a flying machine developed by Gordon, catch up with the spider and bomb it with nitroglycerin before crashing into it, sending Munitia, one of Loveless' crew, falling to her death. Unfortunately, another of Loveless's bodyguards |
Gordon and West, using a flying machine developed by Gordon, catch up with the spider and bomb it with nitroglycerin before crashing into it, sending Munitia, one of Loveless' crew, falling to her death. Unfortunately, another of Loveless's bodyguards shoots at the flying machine, making West and Gordon fall to the spider's control bridge. Loveless offers the two their lives in exchange for working for him; West refuses and is dropped into the engine room to defend himself against the spider's crew, all of whom are fitted with bizarre [[prosthetic]]s. After West defeats the crew, Loveless himself descends into the engine room to defeat West; and in his absence, Gordon and Grant defeat Loveless' bodyguards and take over the spider's control bridge, which is difficult to manage. |
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Loveless, making use of four [[hydraulic]] mechanical legs concealed within his wheelchair, pins West to the floor and stomps on him until Gordon damages and incapacitates the walking apparatus. Pleading for his life, Loveless drags himself back to his wheelchair frame as the spider approaches a canyon. Loveless attempts to shoot West with the gun concealed in his wheelchair, but he hits the control lines of the spider instead, bringing it to a sudden halt just before it plunges into the canyon. The sudden stop sends West and Loveless spinning towards the edge of the deck, where they become wedged by the wheelchair. West delibrately releases the wheelchair, sending both Loveless and himself plummeting into the canyon; however, as they fall, West is able to grab a chain that is connected to the deck and saves himself, while Loveless falls to his death. |
Loveless, making use of four [[hydraulic]] mechanical legs concealed within his wheelchair, pins West to the floor and stomps on him until Gordon damages and incapacitates the walking apparatus. Pleading for his life, Loveless drags himself back to his wheelchair frame as the spider approaches a canyon. Loveless attempts to shoot West with the gun concealed in his wheelchair, but he hits the control lines of the spider instead, bringing it to a sudden halt just before it plunges into the canyon. The sudden stop sends West and Loveless spinning towards the edge of the deck, where they become wedged by the wheelchair. West delibrately releases the wheelchair, sending both Loveless and himself plummeting into the canyon; however, as they fall, West is able to grab a chain that is connected to the deck and saves himself, while Loveless falls to his death. |
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Revision as of 16:28, 18 June 2007
| Wild Wild West | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Written by | Jim Thomas John Thomas S.S. Wilson Brent Maddock Jeffrey Price Peter S. Seaman |
| Produced by | Jon Peters Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Starring | Will Smith Kevin Kline Kenneth Branagh Salma Hayek M. Emmet Walsh Ted Levine Musetta Vander Bai Ling |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date | June 30 1999 (USA) |
Running time | 107 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $170,000,000 US (est.) |
Wild Wild West (1999) is a razzie award winning film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline (in two roles, Artemus Gordon and President Ulysses S. Grant), Kenneth Branagh and Salma Hayek. It was inspired by the 1960s television program of the same name, and may be described as a science fiction Western (steampunk).
In the spirit of the original TV series, the film features highly advanced steampunk technology and many bizarre mechanical inventions, including innumerable inventions of the mechanological geniuses Artemus Gordon and Arliss Loveless, including nitroglycerine-powered penny-farthing bicycles, spring-loaded notebooks, bulletproof chainmail, flying machines, steam tanks, and Loveless's giant mechanical spider.
Plot
The film is set in 1869 during the Reconstruction Era and presidency of Ulysses S. Grant. The film opens in a Louisiana forest, where a man, later revealed to be Thaddeus J. Morton, is running away from a lethal flying disk. Morton keeps running until it catches him and decapitates him. Soon after, a man stands over his head with the disk, says, "And they say you scientists are supposed to be smart" and takes the disk out of the ground.
After the opening credits, we go to a railroad water station in Morgan, West Virginia. Trigger-happy Captain Jim West (Will Smith), one of the main protagonists, is hiding in the water tower, spying on the actions of a group of ex-Confederate soldiers working under General "Bloodbath" McGrath, a personal nemesis of West's. Following a runaway ride on a wagon filled with bottles of nitroglycerine, West arrives at a saloon where General McGrath and his rag-tag band of rebel soldiers are enjoying a raucous party. McGrath, whose head is fitted with a small swiveling trumpet to replace a missing ear, is seduced by an unlikely prostitute who, having seen McGrath's men carrying a man out of the building, attempts to hypnotize the general and learn his plans for the kidnapped man.
West breaks in and attempts to kill McGrath, but is stopped by the prostitute, allowing McGrath to escape. West fights off a number of McGrath's men, and finds himself in a Mexican standoff with the prostitute, who unmasks his disguise to reveal himself as the second protagonist, gadget-obsessed master of disguise U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline). The two escape from the saloon as the wagon-load of nitroglycerin tumbles down a nearby slope, destroying the building.
In Washington, D.C., West and Gordon meet at the White House with President Ulysses S. Grant, who informs them of the disappearance of America's key scientists. Grant charges the two with finding the scientists within one week, before he inaugurates the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah.
En route to New Orleans on board The Wanderer, a luxury train fitted with an array of bizarre gadgets, West and Gordon come to blows before putting aside their differences. Pursuing a lead, the two arrive in New Orleans at the mansion of Dr. Arliss Loveless — a brilliant ex-Confederate scientist confined to a steam-powered wheelchair — who is hosting a party for the elite of Southern society. While investigating Loveless' study, West is almost seduced by one of Loveless' female bodyguards, Miss East. However, West escapes and Miss East is killed in the process. West mistakes a female guest for Gordon in disguise, making a comic error that results in the guests leading West out for a lynching. Using this as a distraction, Gordon (in disguise) roams the mansion and comes across the film's main female character, Rita Escobar (Hayek), rescuing her from the house. West, trying to talk his way out of being lynched, is saved by an elastic lynching rope, one of Gordon's inventions, and escapes with Gordon and Rita on the Wanderer.
On board his armored steam-powered gunboat, Loveless, hosting a reception for foreign dignitaries, demonstrates his newest weapon — a steam-powered tank. The tank crew uses General McGrath's soldiers as target practice, infuriating McGrath. McGrath tries to shoot Loveless, but Loveless shoots him first, with a gun concealed within his wheelchair killing him. Loveless explains to the assembled ambassadors the immense power of his new mechanised forces and invites the dignitaries to a reception at his laboratory to explain his future plans. Gordon, West, and Rita arrive at the scene of the massacre just as Loveless and his tank leave. The trio finds the dying McGrath, who reveals one of Loveless's past crimes: Loveless had used the tank to massacre a settlement of displaced slaves, including West's family (an attack for which West had held McGrath responsible). Loveless boards his armored train (based on his tank) and heads towards Utah, pursued by Gordon, West, and Rita on board The Wanderer. Using his advanced mechanical devices, Loveless relocates his own train behind The Wanderer. West, making use of one of Gordon's inventions, disables Loveless's train, but not before Loveless uses a locomotive-mounted cannon to stop The Wanderer. Rita, afraid of being recaptured by Loveless, accidentally releases sleeping gas, knocking out West, Gordon and herself.
West and Gordon wake up as Loveless, with a recaptured Rita, pulls away in The Wanderer, informing them (by a steam-powered megaphone) of his intentions to capture President Grant at the "golden spike" ceremony. They find themselves incarcerated in a strange prison, fitted with metal collars and enclosed only by a wire strung at ground level. West, ignoring Gordon's advice, crosses the wire and triggers a nearby steam-powered machine which releases two lethal flying disks, the same disk that killed the man earlier in the movie.
West and Gordon attempt to run away, but soon realize the disks are attracted to the collars' magnetic fields. Following a panicked dash through a field of maize, the two leap into a mud-filled pit, escaping the discs. A comic scene follows in which Gordon loses his temper with West and accidentally reverses the polarity of their magnets, causing the two collars to stick to each other. Eventually, Gordon removes their collars and the two stumble across Loveless's private railroad track, which leads them to The Wanderer and Loveless' industrial complex. Here, they witness Loveless's ultimate weapon — a gargantuan steam-powered mechanical spider, bristling with cannon, steam-assisted Gatling guns, and a powerful explosive flamethrower. Loveless, driving the spider, captures Gordon and President Grant from the railroad inauguration ceremony at Promontory Point, whilst West is apparently killed by one of Loveless's bodyguards.
At his industrial complex, a euphoric Loveless reveals his plan to destroy the United States with his mechanised forces unless President Grant agrees to divide the United States among Great Britain, France, Spain, Mexico and himself. Loveless demands that President Grant sign a surrender treaty, but when Grant refuses, Loveless threatens to execute Gordon. Before he can do so, he is interrupted by a belly-dancer, who turns out to be West in disguise.
West, it is revealed, had escaped death when a concealed layer of bulletproof chain mail in his jacket, another one of of Gordon's inventions, stopped the bullet fired at him. Using the belly-dancer disguise which he had found in the remains of the Wanderer, West had planned to infiltrate Loveless' lair and rescue the hostages. However, when West's brassiere is revealed to be a flamethrower (yet another of Gordon's inventions), Loveless' complex is set ablaze, creating enough of a distraction for Loveless to escape to his mechanical spider with an unconscious Grant while Gordon himself rescues the other hostages, including Rita.
Gordon and West, using a flying machine developed by Gordon, catch up with the spider and bomb it with nitroglycerin before crashing into it, sending Munitia, one of Loveless' crew, falling to her death. Unfortunately, another of Loveless's bodyguards shoots at the flying machine, making West and Gordon fall to the spider's control bridge. Loveless offers the two their lives in exchange for working for him; West refuses and is dropped into the engine room to defend himself against the spider's crew, all of whom are fitted with bizarre prosthetics. After West defeats the crew, Loveless himself descends into the engine room to defeat West; and in his absence, Gordon and Grant defeat Loveless' bodyguards and take over the spider's control bridge, which is difficult to manage.
Loveless, making use of four hydraulic mechanical legs concealed within his wheelchair, pins West to the floor and stomps on him until Gordon damages and incapacitates the walking apparatus. Pleading for his life, Loveless drags himself back to his wheelchair frame as the spider approaches a canyon. Loveless attempts to shoot West with the gun concealed in his wheelchair, but he hits the control lines of the spider instead, bringing it to a sudden halt just before it plunges into the canyon. The sudden stop sends West and Loveless spinning towards the edge of the deck, where they become wedged by the wheelchair. West delibrately releases the wheelchair, sending both Loveless and himself plummeting into the canyon; however, as they fall, West is able to grab a chain that is connected to the deck and saves himself, while Loveless falls to his death.
After the second ceremony at Promontory, Grant promotes Gordon and West to the first two agents of his newly-formed U.S. Secret Service, then leaves at the Wanderer. Gordon and West meet Rita again, both of them planning to proposition her, but she crushes both their hopes by announcing that Professor Escobar was, in fact, her husband and not her father. The film ends with a typically clichéd scene of Western films, with Gordon and West seemingly riding through a typical Western landscape on horseback, but the camera pans out to reveal that they are actually piloting the immense steam-spider into the sunset (towards Washington, D.C., a minor inconsistency since that city lies far east of Utah).
Reaction
Wild Wild West was one of the most critically lambasted films of 1999. It has a metascore of 38 on Metacritic.com and a 4.0 by users of IMDB (as of April 23, 2007). Roger Ebert gave it one star, calling the film "a comedy dead zone. You stare in disbelief as scenes flop and die. The movie is all concept and no content; the elaborate special effects are like watching money burn on the screen." One review given to the film was by Peter Brunette of Film.com, saying "Lots of laughs, lots of fisticuffs, lots of cool toys, lots of stuff getting blown up: Who could ask for anything more from a summer movie?" Will Smith stated years later that he regretted the movie, saying "it was a crap film and I knew that at the time, but went along with it." [citation needed]
The film made $113,805,681 in the US and $217,700,000 worldwide, but that barely made up for the high budget of $175,000,000, the eighth highest budget of all time (unadjusted for inflation) according to The Numbers.com.
Soundtrack
Like most of Will Smith's films during this period, a hip hop single by the rapper/actor served as the theme song for the film, despite its inconsistency with the Western tone of the film. "Wild Wild West", anchored by a sample from Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit "I Wish", was a #1 hit on the U.S. pop charts. The song features guest vocals from R&B group Dru Hill, and was a star-making vehicle for Dru Hill lead singer Sisqó. Old school rapper Kool Moe Dee had recorded a "Wild Wild West" single of his own in 1987, and re-performs the chorus to his "Wild Wild West" as the chorus of this "Wild Wild West". The song also won a Razzie Award. The song Bailamos, sung by Enrique Iglesias, was also featured on the soundtrack and DVD, as was "Bad Guys Always Die," a collaboration between Dr. Dre and Eminem.
The majority of the soundtrack, however, was composed by Elmer Bernstein.
Shooting locations
The sequences on both Artemus Gordon's and Dr. Loveless' trains interiors were shot on sets at Warner Bros. The train exteriors were shot in Idaho.
Budget
At an official $150 million (unofficial $175-180 million) it stands as the most expensive movie produced by Warner Bros. and the most expensive movie released in 1999.
In other media
Wild Wild West is mentioned on a Season 3 episode of South Park entitled "Cat Orgy" where in Cartman dresses up to resemble Jim West and performs a short rap parodying Will Smith's single "Wild Wild West". The mechanical spider has been parodied in other media, including The Simpsons. At Warner Brothers Movie World in the Gold Coast, Australia. The ride formerly known as the "Wild Wild West" (now known as "Wild West Falls") was released to coincide with this movie (although admittedly it has little to do with the movie aside from its Wild West setting).
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- President Grant did not actually attend the "golden spike" ceremony at Promontory, Utah as is portrayed in the film.
- The film's plot has heavy similarities to that of an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Showdown, which originally aired on September 12th, 1995. It is unconfirmed whether this was intentional or mere coincidence.
- The mechanical spider has been parodied in other media, including The Simpsons.
- An exploding tower bears an advertisement for a product named Kasdan, evidently a reference to Lawrence Kasdan who has worked with star Kevin Kline on several occasions. Furthermore, the name of the town destroyed by the tarantula is Silverado, a 1985 film western on which they had both worked together.
- The only building which was not destroyed in Silverado is the "Lucky Hotel."
- The shot of the puppy looking into General "Bloodbath" McGrath's hearing aid after he gets killed is a visual reference to "Nipper," the dog looking quizzically at a gramophone on the logo of the RCA Victor record company.
- George Clooney was attached to play Artemus Gordon, but turned it down reportedly because it was a supporting part.
- When this film swept the 20th Annual Razzie Awards, "winning" 5 statuettes including Worst Picture, Robert Conrad, who played James West in the original 1960s TV series, accepted three of the awards in person as his way of expressing his low opinion of what had been done with his source material.
- The film underwent costly re-shoots in an attempt to inject some humor after it was found that test audiences weren't sure if it was supposed to be a comedy.
- Robert Conrad was initially approached by Barry Sonnenfeld to make a cameo appearance as President Ulysses Simpson Grant. He turned down the offer after reading the script due to what he felt was its poor quality and lack of respect for the original series it was based on.
- When Kenneth Branagh was in an articulated metal platform as Dr. Loveless, he actually was seated in the device in a kneeling position. He would have to get up every few minutes and walk around to get the circulation back in his legs, as they would continually go numb from being in that position for an extended period.
- The sequences on both Artemus Gordon's and Dr. Loveless' trains interiors were shot on sets at Warner Bros. The train exteriors were shot in Idaho.
- The flying sequence with Will Smith and Kevin Kline was shot with blue screens with the background later added digitally.
- The scene where Dr. Loveless' train is raised on four girders outside of the train tunnel was all done digitally. A real train was used when it was finally back on its tracks and the girders going back inside the train, which was also done digitally.
- Kevin Smith has said that the giant spider was producer Jon Peters's idea for the later-abandoned Superman Lives project with Nicolas Cage and Tim Burton.
- The Reno train featured in the film is on display at the Old Tucson Studios in Tucson, Arizona.
- Although the opening credits are styled after the opening of the 1960s series, the decision was made to use a generic piece of music instead of the original Wild Wild West theme. The original theme, however, is heard on the soundtrack near the climax of the film.
- In the scene where Jim West and Artemus Gordon ride away on their horses in the desert from the train off to face Loveless again, the original musical score from the T.V. series plays.
