ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times

DATE: Saturday, December 2, 1995             TAG: 9512060039
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 12   EDITION: METRO 
                                             TYPE: MOVIE REVIEW
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT 

`WILD BILL' DOES THE WESTERN UP PROUD

Like so many good Westerns, ``Wild Bill'' is about that dreamlike gray area where myth and reality overlap.

As James Butler Hickok's friend Charley Prince (John Hurt) says, ``He discovered that being Wild Bill was a profession in its own right.'' But ``Wild Bill'' isn't a navel-gazing piece of cinematic revisionism. Writer/director Walter Hill constructs his story on exciting action scenes and carefully drawn characters, and whenever the film is about to take itself too seriously, a streak of strong humor rises to the surface.

The main subject is the most famous part of the Wild Bill legend: his death. That's where Jack McCall joined Lee Harvey Oswald and Mark David Chapman as nobodies who found their way into the history books by assassinating the famous.

Bill (Jeff Bridges) arrives in ``a hell-roaring place called Deadwood,'' South Dakota, with his legend in full flower. After all, he'd already played himself on Broadway in Buffalo Bill Cody's (Keith Carradine) Wild West show. In Deadwood, he finds old friends like Calamity Jane (Ellen Barkin) and California Joe (James Gammon), and a new enemy, young Jack McCall (David Arquette), who announces publicly that he's going to kill Hickok.

Why? It involves the only woman Bill ever loved, Susannah Moore (Diane Lane).

Much of the story is told in flashback, either through memory or opium dreams, strikingly photographed by Lloyd Ahern. Hickok emerges as a fascinating character, equal parts charmer and sinner, capable of sudden violence and generosity.

Though he's often hidden under long, flowing hair and a wide-brimmed hat, Bridges does some of his best, most engaging work to date. Without minimizing Hickok's flaws, Bridges makes the man seem real, a believable and even likeable individual.

Hill's script is based on Thomas Babe's play ``Fathers and Sons'' and Pete Dexter's novel ``Deadwood.'' He manages, somehow, to mold the two into a solid plot that doesn't sacrifice characters to action. In that regard, ``Wild Bill'' owes much more to Clint Eastwood's ``Unforgiven'' than to Hill's own ``Geronimo.'' But because so much of the story takes place outside of the film's ``present,'' it lacks a focused narrative drive.

That may be a problem for viewers expecting a traditional Western, but the film delivers in other areas. The landscapes are utilized effectively, and the Deadwood set, built on Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, is one of the most believable boom towns ever captured on film. A large ensemble cast does terrific work, particularly Barkin and Christina Applegate, as a hooker who's as tough as any man and smarter than most.

In the end, ``Wild Bill'' may be so rough-edged and violent that it'll be dismissed as a ``guy flick,'' but this film has substance. For Western fans, it's the best thing to show up in theaters in a long time.

Wild Bill

*** 1/2

A United Artists release playing at the Grandin Theatre and Tanglewood Mall. 98 min. Rated R for violence, strong language, drug use, sexual content, brief nudity.

LENGTH: Medium:   65 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  Jeff Bridges plays legendary frontier scout and marshal 
          ``Wild Bill'' Hickok. color.