Wild Wild West
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| Wild Wild West | |
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| Directed by | Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Produced by | Jon Peters Barry Sonnenfeld |
| Written by | Jim Thomas John Thomas S.S. Wilson Brent Maddock Jeffrey Price Peter S. Seaman |
| Starring | Will Smith Kevin Kline Kenneth Branagh Salma Hayek M. Emmet Walsh Ted Levine Musetta Vander Bai Ling |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Editing by | Jim Miller |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | June 30, 1999 (USA) |
| Running time | 107 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $170 million US (est.) |
| Gross revenue | $222,105,681 (worldwide) |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Wild Wild West (1999) is a science fiction action-comedy 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.
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.
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[edit] Plot
The film opens at a railroad water station in Louisiana in 1869, introducing one of the main protagonists, trigger-happy Cpt. Jim West (Will Smith), spying on the actions of a group of ex-Confederate soldiers working under General "Bloodbath" McGrath, a personal nemesis of West. 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 swivelling trumpet to replace a missing ear, himself is seduced by an unlikely prostitute who, having seen McGrath's men carrying a kidnapped man out of the building, attempts to hypnotize the General. West breaks in and attempts to kill McGrath, but is stopped by the prostitute, allowing McGrath to escape. West fights of 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 US Marshal Artemis Gordon (Kevin Kline). The two escape from the saloon as the wagonload of nitroglycerine tumbles down a nearby slope, destroying the building.
In Washington D.C, West and Gordon meet 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 transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit. 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. The two arrive in New Orleans at the mansion of Dr Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh), a brilliant ex-Confederate scientist confined to a steam-powered wheelchair after losing much of his lower body during the Civil War , who is hosting a party for the elite of southern society. West mistakes a guest for Gordon in disguise, making a comic error that leads to 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, rescuing her from the house. West, trying to talk his way out of being lynched, escapes with Gordon and Rita during the hiatus.
On board his armoured steamboat, Loveless, hosting a reception for foreign dignitaries, demonstrates his newest weapon - a steam-powered tank. The tank uses General McGrath's soldiers as target practice, infuriating the General. Loveless, having shot McGrath, 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, arriving at the scene of the massacre, find the dying McGrath who reveals Loveless's past crimes. West explains he has witnessed a similar massacre at a town called New Liberty in Illinois, and realises if Loveless is responsible, then he is planning something. Loveless boards his armoured train 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. West and Gordon wake up as Loveless pulls away in The Wanderer with Rita, informing them of his intentions to capture President Grant at Promontory Point. Gordon and West 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, releasing two lethal flying disks attracted by the collars' magnetic fields. Following a panicked dash through a cornfield, 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 metal spider, bristling with cannons, steam-assisted Gatling guns, and a powerful explosive flamethrower. Loveless, driving the spider, captures Gordon and President Grant from the 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 defeat the US army with his mechanised forces and divide the United States between Great Britain, France, Spain, Mexico, Native American tribes, and himself. His associate ambassadors demand that President Grant first legally sign a 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, protected from the bullet fired at him by a concealed layer of bulletproof chainmail in his jacket, disguises himself as the belly dancer as a scheme to rescue the hostages. However, when West's brassiere is revealed to be a flamethrower, the plot is uncovered and Loveless escapes with an unconscious Grant to his metal spider. Gordon and West, using a flying machine developed by Gordon, catch up with the spider, bombing it with nitroglycerine and rescuing Grant before crashing into the spider. Loveless offers the two their lives in exchange for working for him - West's reply leads to him being dropped into the engine room to defend himself against the spider's crew, all of whom are fitted with bizarre prosthetics. After West beats the crew, Loveless himself descends into the engine room, allowing Gordon and Grant to take over the spider's control bridge. Loveless, making use of four hydraulic mechanical legs, pins West to the floor before his machine is damaged by Gordon. Pleading for his life, Loveless drags himself back to his wheelchair as the spider approaches a canyon. Gordon stops the spider at the last moment, sending West and Loveless spinning towards the edge of the deck, where they become wedged by the wheelchair. West releases the wheelchair, sending both him and West plummeting into the canyon, but West is able to grab a chain and so saves himself.
At the second inauguration ceremony at Promontory Point, Grant promotes Gordon and West as the first two agents of his newly-formed Secret Service. The film ends with a typically clichéd scene of Western films, with Gordon and West seemingly riding through a typical Western landscape on horseback. The camera pans out to reveal that they are actually piloting the immense steam-spider into the sunset.
[edit] Reaction
Will Smith himself often jokes about the film, acknowledging his dislike for it in several interviews with the media.
The film was almost universally panned by critics. Robert Conrad, who starred in the original 60s series, repeatedly panned the movie and attended the 20th annual Razzies in 2000 to accept three of the five worst-movie awards for the picture.
After making a very respectable $50 million on its opening weekend, the box office numbers dropped off precipitously after that. At the end of its US theatrical run, Wild Wild West made $113 million, well below its grossly inflated $170 million production budget. It made just over $222 million worldwide.
In 1997, writer Gilbert Ralston sued Warner Brothers over the upcoming motion picture based on the series. Ralston helped create The Wild Wild West the television series, and scripted the pilot episode, "The Night of the Inferno." In a deposition, Ralston explained that in 1964 he was approached by producer Michael Garrison who '"said he had an idea for a series, good commercial idea, and wanted to know if I could glue the idea of a western hero and a James Bond type together in the same show."[1] Ralston said he then created the Civil War characters, the format, the story outline and nine drafts of the script that was the basis for the television series. It was his idea, for example, to have a secret agent named Jim West who would perform secret missions for a bumbling Ulysses S. Grant.
Ralston's experience brought to light a common Hollywood practice of the 1950s and 60's when television writers who helped create popular series allowed producers or studios to take credit for a show, thus cheating the writers out of millions of dollars in royalties. Ralston died in 1999, before his suit was settled. Warner Brothers ended up paying his family between $600,000 and $1.5 million.[2]
[edit] 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. This marked Eminem's first appearance with Dr. Dre.
The majority of the soundtrack, however, was composed by Elmer Bernstein.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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" (this was around the same time this film and the South Park movie were released). The mechanical spider has been parodied in other media, including The Simpsons episode The Sweetest Apu. 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.
[edit] See also
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
- Wild Wild West at the Internet Movie Database
- Wild Wild West at Rotten Tomatoes
- Wild Wild West at Box Office Mojo
- Wild Wild West on Metacritic.com
- Budgets (Record-setting)- The Numbers.com
- Wild Wild West on The Numbers.com
- Adudathuda DVD podBLAST alternative DVD commentary for Wild Wild West
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