Russell Crowe's Star-Studded Western Scores a Bullseye on Free Streaming

By the 1990s, the Western genre was running on fumes after a heyday that had lasted several decades. Still, the decade produced a handful of classics that are remembered today. Some, such as Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves and Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, were both critical and commercial successes. Others, like the troubled Tombstone, did solid box-office business and built a cult following in later years. Even the costly misfire Wyatt Earp, which Costner developed as a rival project to Tombstone, has found an audience at home. One film, however, remains the undisputed Western cult classic of the 1990s, and it is now streaming for free in the United States.

The film had a stacked cast that included Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, Russell Crowe, and a young, pre-Titanic Leonardo DiCaprio. It was directed by the up-and-coming Sam Raimi as his second major studio project, following the success of his Evil Dead trilogy and the less successful Darkman. The Western received mixed reviews and fell short of box-office expectations, grossing $47 million worldwide against a reported budget of $35 million. It eventually found an audience on VHS, DVD, and other home-video platforms.