I have no idea why Hollywood was so fascinated by a no-good jerk-face like Billy the Kid. However, despite his being a nasty villain, again and again, films were made depicting him as a hero. Buster Crabbe made about a dozen films as Billy, Bob Steele about a half a dozen and actors such as Robert Taylor and Roy Rogers also played the guy like he was pretty decent and not a dumb thug. In other words, the real Billy the Kid was nothing like the ridiculous image these films portrayed him to be.
In the previous Billy the Kid film I saw with Bob Steele ("Billy the Kid in Santa Fe"), Billy was an innocent guy who was set up by evil doers--making him look like a bandit when he really was an angel. And, much of the film consisted of Billy cleaning up a lawless town and catching the baddies. Well, this is EXACTLY the plot of "Billy the Kid in Texas"...except, of course, he's in Texas--a state the real Billy probably never visited (most of his adult life he lived in Indiana, Arizona and New Mexico). Historically speaking, it's all hogwash. But, the film is mildly enjoyable as is Fuzzy St. John's antics. Watchable but a history teacher's nightmare!
In the previous Billy the Kid film I saw with Bob Steele ("Billy the Kid in Santa Fe"), Billy was an innocent guy who was set up by evil doers--making him look like a bandit when he really was an angel. And, much of the film consisted of Billy cleaning up a lawless town and catching the baddies. Well, this is EXACTLY the plot of "Billy the Kid in Texas"...except, of course, he's in Texas--a state the real Billy probably never visited (most of his adult life he lived in Indiana, Arizona and New Mexico). Historically speaking, it's all hogwash. But, the film is mildly enjoyable as is Fuzzy St. John's antics. Watchable but a history teacher's nightmare!