Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Reviews (original) (raw)
Summary Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.
My Score
Hover and click to give a rating Saved
Summary Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.
Like Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, it both records and condemns the passage of time and the advent of progress; and there is a sombre, mournful quality which places the film very high up in the league of great Westerns.
The film is visually stunning, and Peckinpah makes great use of his Durango, Mexico, locations.
A dry, dour film where the moments of poetic Americana barely cohere.
Probably nobody involved was very happy about the results; Dylan doesn't come off at all.
Coburn offers more of his smiles as testimony to the wizardry of Old West dentistry, while Kristofferson ambles through his role with solid charm. Neither conveys the psychological tension felt between the two men whose lives diverge after years of camaraderie.
Pat Garrett and Billy the kid suggest either that he (Peckinpah) has begun to take talk about his genius too seriously (it can happen to the best) or that he has fallen in with bad company.
The movie fails to work up much excitement, and the title song by Bob Dylan is quite simply awful.
The first time I watched this film, I didn’t like it. It’s violent, gory, and much, much, much more /real/ than I was used to after being brought up watching spaghetti westerns. I persisted and soon realised that Peckinpah had captured a beautiful slice of the Wild West in all its glory and with all its faults. This film is captivatingly believable, and tells something of an unconventional love story. The plot is very plain, but the story is told at times with incredible beauty and always with intensity. The two main characters and the depth of feeling between them is constantly engaging, and the final thirty minutes always has my heart racing and my stress levels through the roof.
Production Company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A.
Release Date May 23, 1973
Duration 2 h 2 m
Rating Passed
Tagline Best of enemies. Deadliest of friends.