Guest Author - Kirsten Olsen-Keyser

In an era when the Western television genre was losing speed, The Wild Wild West combined the rising genre of spy shows with the fading gunslinger. Taking advantage of the James Bond craze, the show’s creator Michael Garrison struck gold with the concept of two secret service agents , James West (Robert Conrad) and Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), on a never-ending mission to protect president Ulysses S. Grant during the late 1800’s. Traveling the west in their specially equipped train, the scientist and the sharpshooter fought off all matter of dangerous characters including their recurring arch nemesis Dr. Miguelito Quixote Loveless (Micahel Dunn) while saving many a beautiful lady in distress.

Unfortunately, the movie version of the popular television show was not only a complete calamity of the scripted kind but nowhere near as humorous. Sonnenfield’s style of humor is better suited for such shows as The Tick and the critically acclaimed Pushing Daisies. Will Smith as James West was a strange casting choice leaving many fans of the show asking “What is HE doing in this film?” The “lynching” scene in which West if forced to convince a group of “Southern elites” not to hang him is forced and on the verge of poor taste. Kevin Cline as Artemus Gordon, while an excellent casting choice, was akin to mixing mayonnaise with chocolate, the flavor just wasn’t there. Gordon is supposed to be a master of disguise and yet we only see him in “costume” twice. Kenneth Branagh portrays Dr. Arliss Loveless, an ex-Confederate genius confined to a steam powered wheel chair. Always the consummate performer, Branagh could probably bring a paper bag to life but even he could not revive this lackluster and silly script. Our lady in distress, Rita, is performed by Salma Hayek who usually has the fortune of good taste to choose roles that are well suited for her. Rita is such a one dimensional, predictable character that one wonders what enticed Hayek to make this acting choice. Any appealing actress in Hollywood could have pulled it off with same “success”.

Besides the lack of humor in the script, most of the gadgets from a giant walking spider to magnetic collars used as a prison device seem completely over the top for the era in which the movie takes place. Even James Bond had moments of believability that kept the audience coming back for more. The only reason to waste any time in watching this disastrous film is to see just how awful it really is.


Director: Barry Sonnenfield

Writers: Jim Thomas
John Thomas
S.S. Wilson

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for action violence and sexual innuendo