043 - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

Synopsis: Sheriff Pat Garrett tracks down and shoots Billy the Kid (the clue is in the title!)

Director: Sam Peckinpah

Actors: James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan

Date: 1973

How viewed: Bought via Amazon

Rating: 4/5

David Meyer says:

.. the last half hour is the finest western - in pacing, acting, camera-work, dialogue, editing, music, gunfights, mood, atmosphere, historical accuracy, and meaningful legend-mongering - ever made.

I say:

There appear to be 3 versions of this film - the original theatre release (allegedly butchered by the studio) and the DVD I purchased came with the other 2: the 1988 'Turner director's cut' and the 2005 'special edition' - I watched the latter, which (from reading the reviews) may have been a mistake, but then again it probably only matters to aficionados! The story is a pretty straightforward telling of the true story - Pat Garrett (Coburn) is a poacher turned gamekeeper, hired by the cattle barons to clean up the local cattle rustlers and outlaws, especially Billy the Kid (Kristofferson). The Kid is captured, escapes, and is eventually tracked down by Garrett and shot. Garrett too is later shot in some conflict with land owners. The film includes everything you could ever want from Peckinpah - lots of brutality, lots of people get shot (though The Kid doesn't appear to bleed at all), honour, and the lack of it, evolving relationships between the men (Garrett and The Kid were/are friends), misogyny, and above all the gradual disappearance of the 'old west' being replaced by big business. One thing I never understand is why some films show you the end at the beginning - here the first scene is Garrett being shot, which actually occurred some 27 years later. I suppose it completes the circle, the land-owners taking out another old-timer, and if it had come at the end it would have distracted from The Kid's killing - hmm. Anyway, Coburn is great, but Kristofferson seems a bit too old (36, Billy was 21) and well-fed. The music (by Dylan) fits in perfectly, but including Dylan (as an enigmatic character called 'Alias') is odd (was that his fee for doing the music?). The impressive cast list includes the likes of Richard Jaeckel, Harry Dean Stanton, and LQ Jones, but one of the great joys of this movie is seeing all the old character actors who crop up in every great Western film: Jason Robarts, Chill Wills, Katy Jurado, Slim Pickens, Barry Sullivan, RG Armstrong, Paul Fix, Elisha Cook Jnr, Dub Taylor (though the latter 2 don't appear in the 2005 version of the film), and my personal hero: the magnificently grizzled Jack Elam.