Wild Bill

A flop in the States and unreleased in British cinemas, Walter Hill's Wild Bill, like his earlier Geronimo, is a flawed but fascinating look at an American legend. Starring a superbly cast Jeff Bridges as William "Wild Bill" Hickok, the movie opens with the killing of a dozen or so men over the course of a decade, then focuses on the ageing gunslinger's quest for old flame Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin) while setting up a confrontation with a vengeful youngster who may be Hickok's bastard son. Hill paints a far from pretty picture of the West in general and Hickok in particular: he's a drug addict, a killer and a monster haunted by his past. American audiences found the film easy to resist, but it oozes period atmosphere and stands with Kevin Costner's revisionist Wyatt Earp as an epic of disillusionment. Arguably paved the way for the rough and tough revisionism of 2004 HBO series Deadwood, which delivered its own take on the Hickok story.