A Million Ways

A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST
PLOT
In 1882, in the town of Old Stump, Arizona, timid sheep farmer Albert Stark's girlfriend Louise
breaks up with him because of his refusal to defend himself in a duel. He prepares to migrate to
San Francisco, believing that the frontier offers nothing for him. Meanwhile, infamous outlaw
Clinch Leatherwood shoots and kills an old prospector over a single gold nugget. He orders his
right-hand man, Lewis, to escort his wife Anna to Old Stump while he continues his banditry.
Lewis and Anna arrive in Old Stump under the guise of two siblings intending to build a farm, but
Lewis is arrested after shooting the pastor's son in a saloon fight. During the brawl, Albert saves
Anna from being crushed to death, and the two become close friends. They attend a county fair
where Louise's new boyfriend, the arrogant Foy, challenges Albert to a shooting contest. Albert
loses, but Anna steps in and defeats Foy. Foy publicly humiliates Albert, who impulsively
challenges Foy to a duel in a week's time to win back Louise. Anna then spends the week teaching
Albert how to shoot.
During a barn dance the night before the duel, Anna gives Foy a Mickey. After leaving the dance,
Albert and Anna kiss before heading home. After breaking out of jail and murdering the sheriff,
Lewis observes the kiss and reports it to Clinch. On the day of the duel, Foy arrives late and gets
diarrhea from the laxative he had unknowingly drunk. Albert, who has decided that Louise is not
worth fighting for, forfeits anyway. He retires to the saloon, but Clinch arrives and reveals that
Anna is his wife, threatening to kill more people unless his wife's lover duels him the next day.
Later, Clinch confronts Anna by demanding that she reveal Albert's name and his whereabouts, or
he will kill her. Before he attempts to rape her, she knocks him unconscious with a rock and
escapes.
Anna returns to Albert's farm to warn him about Clinch, but he chastises her for lying to him.
Clinch, having regained consciousness, tracks down Anna to the farm, but Albert helps her escape,
then escapes himself. While fleeing, he is captured by a tribe of Apache Indians, who threaten to
burn him alive. The Apaches spare him when he reveals that he can speak their language. They
give him a bowl of peyote, which sends him flashing back to his birth and through painful events
of his childhood before a vision of Anna makes him realize he loves her.
Meanwhile, Clinch recaptures Anna in town, but Albert returns to Old Stump and confronts him.
He wounds Clinch with a bullet dipped in rattlesnake venom before his own gun is shot out of his
hand but manages to stall until Clinch fatally succumbs to the poison. Louise attempts to win back
Albert, but he rejects her and instead happily enters into a relationship with Anna, who becomes
his new girlfriend. Albert also receives a bounty for killing Clinch and uses the money to buy
more sheep.
In a pre-credits scene, the proprietor of the racist shooting game called "Runaway Slave" at the
fair asks who would like to take a shot. This is the same game at which Foy had earlier defeated
Albert and Anna had then defeated Foy. Django Freeman steps up and shoots the man dead. He
then says: "people die at the fair," which Albert had previously observed after a snake-oil salesman
at the fair was gored by a runaway bull. This echoes the running gag in the film as to all the
dangers of the Old West.
CAST
Seth MacFarlane as Albert Stark, a wimpy but kind-hearted sheepherder
Mike Salazar as 6-year-old Albert
Preston Bailey as 12-year-old Albert
Charlize Theron as Anna Barnes-Leatherwood,[4] Clinch Leatherwood's rebellious wife, who
befriends Albert
Amanda Seyfried as Louise,[5] Albert's unappreciative ex-girlfriend
Liam Neeson as Clinch Leatherwood,[6] a notorious outlaw and Anna's abusive husband
Giovanni Ribisi as Edward,[6] a cobbler, Albert's best friend and Ruth's boyfriend
Neil Patrick Harris as Foy,[7] a rich, snobby Old Stump inhabitant and Louise's current boyfriend
Sarah Silverman as Ruth, Edward's girlfriend and a prostitute
Christopher Hagen as George Stark, Albert's abusive father
Wes Studi as Chief Cochise, the leader of a band of Apache Indians[8]
Rex Linn as the Sheriff/Narrator[5]
Alex Borstein as Millie, a madam at the local brothel where Ruth works
Ralph Garman as Dan
John Aylward as Pastor Wilson
Amick Byram as Marcus Thornton
Evan Jones as Lewis, a ruthlessly violent gunman and Clinch Leatherwood's right-hand man
Dylan Kenin as Pastor's Son, who is killed by Lewis in the bar
Matt Clark as the Old Prospector, an unfortunate victim of Clinch's gang
Jamie Foxx as Django Freeman (uncredited),[9] who shoots the owner of the "Runaway Slave"
game. The scene was added after test audiences reacted poorly to the shooting gallery's cartoon
black slaves as targets.
Ryan Reynolds (uncredited) as a man Clinch kills in the saloon
Tait Fletcher as Cowboy #1[10]
Gilbert Gottfried as Abraham Lincoln,[11] seen during Albert's drug trip.
Mike Henry as smiling man in photograph
Dennis Haskins as a snake oil salesman
John Michael Higgins as Dandy #1
Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown,[12] whom Albert stumbles upon working on the DeLorean time
machine
Bill Maher as a traveling comedian[13]
Ewan McGregor as a cowboy who mocks Albert at the fair
Alec Sulkin as guy at fair
Rupert Boneham as guy in bar fight
Kaley Cuoco (uncredited, unrated version only) as a woman that Albert tries to pick up in a store
Patrick Stewart (uncredited voice) as a long-legged sheep seen during Albert's drug trip
Mae Whitman as Prostitute
THEMES
Love
Comedy
CONCEPT THEORY AND IDEOLOGY
A Million Ways to Die in the West originated as an inside joke between MacFarlane and co-
writers Sulkin and Wild, while they were watching Hang 'Em High (1968). The joke evolved into
"riffing on the idea of how dull, depressing, and dangerous it must have been to live in the Wild
West."

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A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST

CONCEPT THEORY AND IDEOLOGY

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