Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid starts in New Mexico 1881 where Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) catches up with his old outlaw buddy William H. Bonney AKA Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson), since they were friends Pat ask's Billy to leave but in 5 days he'll make him. Billy isn't keen on the idea & eventually Pat arrests him, however Billy escapes the hang man's noose & goes on the run hitching up with his old gang. Pat is assigned the task to take him down which is just what he intends to do...
Directed by Sam Peckinpah this is a solid telling of the infamous story about two men who once were friends but ended up enemies, the first thing to say is that Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is available in several versions & I will be basing my comments on the longer 122 minute restored version from 1988. The script by Rudolph Wurlitzer is pretty good but so many things can happen between finishing a script & it actually appearing in theatres & Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is a very good example of that with the multiple cuts, who knows which one is closest to his original script? The two central character's make this film what it is, Pat Garrett & Bill the Kid who live in changing times & while Pat accepts it & becomes a Sheriff Billy won't let go of the past where you could shoot a man & claim it was self defence. They are only on screen together for a few minutes & the rest of the time the film follows them as they travel from place to place, I must admit it became a little boring after like a solid 100 odd minutes of it but there was something here that I liked. I thought it was well written although some of the dialogue is hard to make out & understand, it tells a good story & there are some memorable scenes here. The ending is one of the quietest & low key your likely to see & I didn't like the framing of the story where Garrett is shot dead as I thought it was a bit of a downer (having said that I think the 122 minute version is the only cut where this happens).
Director Peckinpah does a good job although it's well known that he was drinking heavily when he made this & that the studio interfered with the final cut, there's plenty of stylish scenes here & it's very nice to look at. Animal lovers beware as several chickens have their heads shot off at the start, there's a forward horse fall & a slow motion cock fight as many people seem to get upset whenever an animal is killed. There's not much violence here except for a few shoot-outs, there are some naked female breasts on show too if that sort of thing interests you.
According to the IMDb this had an estimated budget of $4,638,783 which sounds a very specific number to be an 'estimate' to me. This is well made with high production values, nice widescreen cinematography, an unusual soundtrack & good period design. The acting is very good with James Coburn standing out for me.
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid in it's 122 minutes version is a good solid entertaining Western but maybe a little slow going at times & I wasn't keen on the ending either. A good film for sure but one you need to be patient with.
Directed by Sam Peckinpah this is a solid telling of the infamous story about two men who once were friends but ended up enemies, the first thing to say is that Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is available in several versions & I will be basing my comments on the longer 122 minute restored version from 1988. The script by Rudolph Wurlitzer is pretty good but so many things can happen between finishing a script & it actually appearing in theatres & Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is a very good example of that with the multiple cuts, who knows which one is closest to his original script? The two central character's make this film what it is, Pat Garrett & Bill the Kid who live in changing times & while Pat accepts it & becomes a Sheriff Billy won't let go of the past where you could shoot a man & claim it was self defence. They are only on screen together for a few minutes & the rest of the time the film follows them as they travel from place to place, I must admit it became a little boring after like a solid 100 odd minutes of it but there was something here that I liked. I thought it was well written although some of the dialogue is hard to make out & understand, it tells a good story & there are some memorable scenes here. The ending is one of the quietest & low key your likely to see & I didn't like the framing of the story where Garrett is shot dead as I thought it was a bit of a downer (having said that I think the 122 minute version is the only cut where this happens).
Director Peckinpah does a good job although it's well known that he was drinking heavily when he made this & that the studio interfered with the final cut, there's plenty of stylish scenes here & it's very nice to look at. Animal lovers beware as several chickens have their heads shot off at the start, there's a forward horse fall & a slow motion cock fight as many people seem to get upset whenever an animal is killed. There's not much violence here except for a few shoot-outs, there are some naked female breasts on show too if that sort of thing interests you.
According to the IMDb this had an estimated budget of $4,638,783 which sounds a very specific number to be an 'estimate' to me. This is well made with high production values, nice widescreen cinematography, an unusual soundtrack & good period design. The acting is very good with James Coburn standing out for me.
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid in it's 122 minutes version is a good solid entertaining Western but maybe a little slow going at times & I wasn't keen on the ending either. A good film for sure but one you need to be patient with.