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Wild Wild West
Directed by	Barry Sonnenfeld
Produced by	Jon Peters Barry Sonnenfeld
Written by	Story: Jim Thomas John Thomas Screenplay: 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
Cinematography	Michael Ballhaus
Editing by	Jim Miller
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date(s)	June 30, 1999 (USA)
Running time	107 min.
Language	English
Budget	$170 million
Gross revenue	$222,105,681

Wild Wild West (1999) is a science fiction Western action-comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, and starring Will Smith, Kevin Kline (who appears in a dual roles as both the protagonist Artemus Gordon and as 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 Dr. Loveless, such as nitroglycerine-powered penny-farthing bicycles, spring-loaded notebooks, bulletproof chainmail, flying machines, steam tanks, and Loveless's giant mechanical spider.

[edit] Development

In January 1992, Variety reported that Warner Bros. was planning a theatrical version of The Wild Wild West directed by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, and starring Mel Gibson as James West. (Donner directed three episodes of the original series.) Donner and Kline instead made a theatrical version of TV's Maverick in 1994. The Wild Wild West motion picture continued in the development stage, with Tom Cruise rumored for the lead in 1995. Cruise instead revived Mission: Impossible the following year.

Finally, in 1999, a theatrical motion picture loosely based on the series was released. Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, the film Wild Wild West (without the definite article used in the series title) made substantial changes to the characters of the series, reimagining James West as an African-American (played by Will Smith), which included, to a small degree, some of the racial issues that certainly would have made it difficult for a black man to be a United States secret service agent in the late 1800s. (However, at the end of "The Night of the Returning Dead", West and Gordon did invite an African-American character played by guest star Sammy Davis Jr. to join the department.)

Significant changes were made to Dr. Loveless (played by Kenneth Brannagh in the film). He went from a dwarf (TV) to a man without legs (film); his name was also changed to Arliss Loveless and he was given the motive of a Southerner who sought the defeat of the North after the Civil War. Kevin Kline plays Gordon, whose character was similar to the version played by Ross Martin, except that he was bitterly competitive with James West, and much more egotistical. The film script had Kline's Gordon invent more ridiculous, humor-related, and implausible contraptions than those created by Martin's Gordon in the television series.

The film also depicted West and Gordon as competitive rivals (almost to the point of a mutual dislike and distrust of one another), whereas in the television series, West and Gordon had a very close friendship and trusted each other with their lives.

[edit] Plot

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The film opens in a Louisiana forest during the Reconstruction Era where a man, later revealed to be Thaddeus J. Morton, is running away from a lethal flying disk. Morton keeps running until it decapitates him. Soon after, a man with a small swiveling trumpet for an ear stands over his head and removes the disk out of the ground. At a railroad water station in Morgan, West Virginia, Captain James West (Will Smith), is hiding in a water tower, spying on a group of ex-Confederate soldiers working under the man with the trumpet ear, General "Bloodbath" McGrath. West arrives at the saloon where General McGrath (Ted Levine) and his band of soldiers are enjoying a raucous party. McGrath is seduced by an unlikely prostitute who attempts to hypnotize the general to divulge his plans.

West breaks in, but is stopped by the prostitute, allowing McGrath to escape. West fights off a number of McGrath's men and finds himself with the prostitute, who unmasks his disguise to reveal himself as gadget-obsessed master of disguise U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline). The building is destroyed by a wagon full of nitroglycerin and the two escape. In Washington, D.C., West and Gordon meet at the White House with President Grant (also played by Kevin Kline), 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.Beat Nate. Maddy needs to beat Nate.

The two head to New Orleans on board The Wanderer, a luxury train fitted with an array of bizarre gadgets. Pursuing a lead, the two arrive in New Orleans at the mansion of Dr. Arliss Loveless (Kenneth Branagh)—an ex-Confederate scientist confined to a steam-powered wheelchair—who is hosting a party for the elite of Southern society. 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 roams the mansion and comes across Rita Escobar (Salma Hayek), and rescues her from the house. West, tries to talk his way out of being lynched but is saved by an elastic rope, one of Gordon's inventions, and escapes with Gordon and Rita on The Wanderer. Rita asks to accompany the two to rescue her father, Professor Guillermo Escobar.

Later, Loveless hosts a reception for foreign dignitaries to demonstrate his newest weapon: a steam-powered tank. The tank uses General McGrath's soldiers as target practice, infuriating McGrath. Loveless then shoots Mcgrath, mortally wounding him. Gordon, West, and Rita arrive at the scene of the massacre and find 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. Loveless boards his armored train and heads toward Utah with Gordon, West, and Rita in pursuit. Using his advanced locomotive, Loveless relocates his own train behind The Wanderer. West, 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 pulls away in The Wanderer, informing them of his intentions to capture President Grant at the "golden spike" ceremony. They find themselves fitted with the same metal collars as Morton and enclosed only by a wire strung at ground level. West crosses the wire and triggers a nearby machine which releases two lethal flying disks attracted to their magnetic collars forcing West and Gordon to run. The two leap into a mud-filled pit from opposite directions, causing the discs to collide in midair. After removing the collars, the two stumble across Loveless's private railroad track, which leads them to Loveless's industrial complex. Here, they witness Loveless's ultimate weapon: a gigantic mechanical spider armed with 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, Loveless reveals his plan to destroy the United States with his mechanized 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 Grant refuses. Loveless threatens to execute Gordon but before he can, he is interrupted by a belly dancer, who turns out to be West in disguise.

It is revealed that West had escaped death when a concealed layer of chain mail in his jacket (another one of Gordon's inventions) stopped the bullet fired at him. West dances exotically to distract Loveless but West's brassiere is revealed to be a flamethrower (yet another of Gordon's inventions). Loveless's complex is set ablaze, allowing him to escape to his mechanical spider with the President.

Gordon and West, using a flying machine, catch up with the spider and bomb it with nitroglycerin before crashing onto it. West is dropped into the engine room to defend himself against the spider's crew, all of whom are fitted with bizarre prosthetics. West defeats the crew and Loveless himself descends into the engine room to defeat West.

Loveless, making use of four hydraulic mechanical legs, 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 hits the control lines of the spider, 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 deliberately releases the wheelchair, sending both Loveless and himself plummeting into the canyon. 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. Gordon and West meet Rita again, both of them planning to propose marriage to 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 Gordon and West seemingly riding through a typical Western landscape on horseback, but the camera pulls back to reveal that they are piloting the immense steam-spider into the sunset.

[edit] Reception

Will Smith, who did not have producing power on Wild Wild West, apologized publicly to actor Robert Conrad, who starred in the original 1960s series, for the poor fan and critical response to the movie while doing promotion for his then current film Seven Pounds in an interview published in February 2009 in the British magazine Total Film. The apology was initiated by Smith when the interviewer, Lesley O'Toole, asked him to comment on film critics' reaction to his last film Hancock:

Hancock may not be your favorite but hopefully, other than Wild Wild West, it's not the worst movie you've ever seen. I made a mistake on Wild Wild West. That could have been better. ... [Interviewer: "...how would you feel about seeing The Fresh Prince hit the big screen?'] When there's a Fresh Prince movie, I hope I'm so far buried under something [laughs]. No, it's funny because I could never understand why Robert Conrad was so upset with Wild Wild West. And now I get it. It's like, 'That's my baby! I put my blood, sweat and tears into that!' So I'm going to apologize to Mr. Conrad for that because I didn't realize. I was young and immature. So much pain and joy went into The Fresh Prince that my greatest desire would be that it's left alone. But I'm sure some kid someday is going to be fantastic and it's going to be bigger than it was with me. And I'm going to be angry [laughs].

—Will Smith,  Total Film magazine, Feb 2009 Issue 151, pp 120-125, Will Smith: The Total Film Interview, by Lesley O'Toole, Future Publishing Ltd., London England

[edit] Controversy

In 1997, writer Gilbert Ralston sued Warner Brothers over the upcoming motion picture based on the series. Ralston helped create The Wild Wild West 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 '60s 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

A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on June 15, 1999, by Interscope Records. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

[edit] Orchestral score

The film's orchestral score including its main theme was composed and conducted by Elmer Bernstein, a veteran of many straight western movie scores, such as The Magnificent Seven. The score mainly follows the western genre's symphonic tradition, while at times also acknowledging the film's anachronistic playfulness by employing a more contemporary music style with notable rock percussion and electronic organ. (The score also briefly incorporates Richard Markowitz's theme from the television series, uncredited - ironically, since Markowitz never received credit on the series, this is one of the few aspects of the movie which is actually true to the original!) Additional parts of the score were composed by Elmer Bernstein's son, Peter Bernstein, and his daughter Emilie A. Bernstein served as one of the orchestrators and producers. Thirty minutes of the film's orchestral music were released on CD from Varése Sarabande in 1999. Elmer Bernstein won an ASCAP Award in the category Top Box Office Films.

Track listing of the score album (italics indicate Peter Bernstein):

1. Main Title (3:00)

2. West Fights (1:14)

3. Dismissal (2:13)

4. East Meets West (1:15)

5. Of Rita, Rescue And Revenge (5:43)

6. Trains, Tanks And Frayed Ropes (4:03)

7. The Cornfield (1:09)

8. Loveless' Plan (4:45)

9. Goodbye Loveless (4:33)

10. Ride The Spider (2:14)

[edit] Songs

Like most of Will Smith's films during this period, a hip hop single by the rapper/actor, called Wild Wild West, served as the promotional theme song for the film, despite its incongruity with the Western tone of the film, where it is only heard during the end titles. It also formed the basis for an elaborate seven minute music video that works as a mini-sequel to the film, with Jim West (Will Smith) rescuing Rita Escobar (Salma Hayek) from a villain resembling Dr. Loveless. Alfonso Ribeiro, Will Smith's co-star from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, makes a cameo in the video.

Wild Wild West was a #1 hit on the U.S. pop charts, but also won a Razzie Award. It was produced by Rob Fusari, who lifted a sample from Stevie Wonder's 1976 hit I Wish. The song features guest vocals from R&B group Dru Hill, and was a star-making vehicle for Dru Hill lead singer Sisqo. Old school rapper Kool Moe Dee had recorded a Wild Wild West single of his own in 1987, and re-performs the chorus from his old Wild Wild West as the chorus of this new Wild Wild West.

The song Bailamos, sung by Enrique Iglesias, is also heard during the film's end titles. The music videos for both end title songs are featured on the DVD.

Several songs not heard in the film itself are featured on the promotional CD album Wild Wild West: Music Inspired By The Motion Picture (released by Interscope Records on June 15, 1999). This includes the song "Bad Guys Always Die", which marked the first collaboration between Dr. Dre and Eminem.

[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. Much of the 'wild West' footage was shot around Santa Fe, New Mexico, particularly at the western town set at the Cooke Movie Ranch. During the shooting of a sequence involving stunts and pyrotechnics, a planned building fire grew out of control and quickly overwhelmed the local fire crews that were standing by. Much of the town was destroyed before the fire was contained.^[3]

[edit] Smith on Peters

Writer-director Kevin Smith talked about working on the fifth potential Superman film in 1997 in a 2002 Q&A event that appears in An Evening with Kevin Smith. The film was being produced by Jon Peters, and one of Peters' demands for the script was to have Superman fight a giant spider in the third act. After Tim Burton came on board, Smith's script was tossed away and the film was never produced due to further complications. A year later, Wild Wild West - produced by Jon Peters - was released with the inclusion of a giant mechanical spider in the final act.^[4]

Neil Gaiman has said that Jon Peters also insisted a giant mechanical spider be included in a film adaptation of The Sandman.^[5]

[edit] See also

• List of American films of 1999
• Weird West
• Wild West
• List of most expensive films

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Wild Wild West at the Internet Movie Database
• Wild Wild West at Allmovie
• 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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