Synopsis

In the post-Civil War American West, Secret Service agent James West and inventor Artemus Gordon are ordered to protect President Ulysses S. Grant from Dr. Arliss Loveless, a bitter Confederate scientist. Their mission leads them across the frontier and into a battle involving elaborate disguises, experimental machinery, and a gigantic mechanical spider.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is loosely based on the 1965-1969 television series *The Wild Wild West*, but it changes the tone, character relationships, and the racial identity of James West.

• Warner Bros. began developing the film in 1992. Richard Donner was originally attached to direct, with Mel Gibson intended to play James West, but both left the project to make *Maverick*.

• Will Smith chose the film over *The Matrix*. He later described turning down the role of Neo as one of the worst decisions of his career.

• Test audiences reportedly did not recognize the film as a comedy, leading to costly reshoots intended to make its humor more obvious.

• The visual design combines traditional Western imagery with steampunk machinery. The giant mechanical spider became the production's most memorable invention and one of its defining pieces of imagery.

• Elmer Bernstein wrote the orchestral score, while Smith's title song incorporated elements of the original television series theme and became a major part of the film's marketing.

• Produced on an estimated budget of $170 million, the film earned about $222 million worldwide. Its reception was poor, and it received five Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture.