If Sam Raimi had played his cards right, 1995's The Quick and the Dead could have wound up being the Kill Bill of Westerns. It was certainly halfway there: It had its own sex symbol working through assassins and gangsters on her way to her true target of vengeance. Quick was novel at the time, taking a few golden Hollywood tropes and spinning them till they splattered. But timing is everything. Too bad the director didn't wait until after his trio of Spiderman movies. Then that infectious comic-book energy would have boosted this project over the edge and made Uma Thurman look like just another blushing bride.

The Quick and the Dead plays on AMC Saturday, January 26 at 11:15 a.m. | 10:15C