Young Guns (1988)

Released in 1988 and directed by Christopher Cain, "Young Guns" stars Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid, an orphaned teen taken in by English merchant John Tunstall (Terrence Stamp) who mentors him and several other 'young guns' – Richard 'Dick' Brewer (Charlie Sheen), Doc Scurlock (Keifer Sutherland), Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), Dirty Steve Stephens (Dermot Malroney) and Charles 'Charley' Bowdre (Casey Siemaszko). When savage injustice strikes, the youths team-up as deputies, but their hunger for justice takes them beyond the law wherein they must be hunted as an outlaw gang. Jack Palance, Brian Keith and Patrick Wayne are also on hand.This is an excellent "modern" Western that sticks pretty close to history. The relatively lame 80's pop rock score wasn't as bad or prevalent as I remembered and, besides, it's mixed with some more traditional Western music, usually "live" stuff performed in the scenes, like banjo, guitar, etc. The movie is realistic with an amazing true-life story brought to action-packed life by a great cast with excellent performances and potent dramatic scenes (like, for instance, Chavez's notable venting sequence).Be sure to catch the excellent 30-minute documentary on the real-life Billy the Kid on the DVD for comparison to the events in "Young Guns" and the sequel.Speaking of which, 1990's "Young Guns II" is almost as good and is mandatory because it shows the rest of the story – the hiring of Pat Garrett to chase down the gang and put an end to it by taking Billy out. It also sticks pretty close to history, but takes some understandable licenses (e.g. Pat Garrett was never a member of Billy's gang).The film runs 107 minutes and was shot in New Mexico and Old Tucson, Arizona.GRADE: A-

The main selling-points of Young Guns are the incredibly compelling story of Billy the Kid and its very talented cast- actors like Kiefer Sutherland, Terrence Stamp and Jack Palance promises a lot. While it is a long way from flawless, this viewer did find themselves liking Young Guns a good deal.Young Guns does have its problems. The hard-rock soundtrack is incredibly jarring, can sound cheap and doesn't fit at all within the film, a lot of the film goes at a fast pace and the music sounded somewhat pedestrian at times. The storytelling does become a little less involving and quite ridiculous in the last third, where it also loses the momentum that the rest of the film has. Pacing is also a touch chaotic in places, and while he does what he can Charlie Sheen is badly wasted, his underwritten role doing little for his talents.However, Young Guns is a good-looking film, with handsome scenery, evocative costumes and some clever, stylish filming. The dialogue is very witty and funny, the film blisters in the action with a tense and exciting if rather far-fetched somewhat climactic shootout and while it does butcher history the story is compelling and goes at a breakneck pace. While it entertain in the comedy, excites in the action and rouses as a Western, there are some nice dramatic moments, Lou Diamond Phillips' scene where he tells of the slaughter of his family is the film's most heartfelt scene. The relationship between Billy and Doc is also very well done, providing a lot of heart and funny moments. . Christopher Cain's direction is crisp and efficient, his decision to do the action in first-person comes over more than effectively.Very good cast too, there have been mixed reactions to the performances quality, for me it was one of Young Guns' biggest strengths. There were initial reservations as to whether Emilio Estevez was too modern and too nice for Billy, but he is cool, fun and likable with a touch of sassiness in the role, and is closer in age to most other actors who have portrayed Billy. Kiefer Sutherland has one of the most strongest written characters in the film, and is remarkably poetic in this film, a pleasant change from the usual roles he takes on. Lou Diamond Phillips does overact quite broadly in places, but does mostly act with real soul and poignancy, especially in the aforementioned scene. Casey Siemaszko is also very affecting, when he overcomes his fear it came over very emotionally. Dermont Mulroney has some good intensity without going overboard, and he is very amusing as well. In lesser roles, Terrence Stamp is a sympathetically and touchingly played and tragic father-type of figure, and Jack Palance is perfectly cast as Murphy (a rather one-dimensional role but Palance does much with it, and is genuinely menacing without trying too hard. Brian Keith is memorable in his short appearance.Overall, not a flawless film in any shape or form and won't work for everybody but on its own terms it was a very entertaining film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Young Guns is directed by Christopher Cain and written by John Fusco. It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko, Terry O'Quinn, Jack Palance and Terence Stamp. Music is by Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli and cinematography is by Dean Semler.Film is a telling of Billy the Kid's part in the Lincoln County War in New Mexico 1878. Plot sees the murder of John Tunstall send Billy and the rest of the Tunstall Regulators on a mission to avenge his murder.It ain't easy having pals.Often derided by Western movie purists as a sort of MTV Western made to showcase the various talents of the then Hollywood Brat Pack of Estevez, Sheen, Sutherland et al, Young Guns is actually a far more entertaining picture than some critical assessments suggest it is. It also has some rock solid Western history footings holding it up, yes it's far from accurate in various scenarios, age of characters and numbers in gangs etc, but the core story of the Lincoln County War is there. A massive success at the box office and spawning an equally successful sequel in 1990, Young Guns zips along at pace, contains high energy action sequences and provides plenty of quotable dialogue. Best of all, though, it doesn't take itself seriously, it wants to be a rooting-tooting Western of fun endeavours, if viewed on those terms it's an absolute winner, especially since the cast are playing it that way.Alex, if you stay they're gonna kill you. And then I'm gonna have to go around and kill all the guys who killed you. That's a lot of killing.Estevez is terrific as The Kid, blending boyish arrogance with fearless rage, a fun and scary character who is easy to get on the saddle with. Elsewhere it's a mixed bag, but apart from the disappointing Sheen, the casting decisions sit well and if you talk to ten different Young Guns fans you will most likely get a number of different answers come back as to who is their favourite Regulator (mine is Dirty Steve played by Mulroney if you are wondering?). O'Quinn is spot on as Alex McSween, Stamp adds classical tones to the ill fated John Tunstall and Palance is a neat fit as villain Lawrence Murphy. Nice to see Brian Keith get a cameo as a larger than life bounty hunter as well. Semler's photography and Cain's filming techniques are a bit too anachronistic at times and the Banks/Marinelli score too modern an accompaniment on occasions. But film rounds out as a nifty bit of Oater play for Gen X and showed that as the 1990s approached there was still love for this greatest of genres. 7.5/10

and the result was this abomination of a movie and butchering of history. Anyone who doesn't think this movie is drek should watch a real western, "The Unforgiven" or "Tombstone" or even "The Searchers" with John Wayne. This movie is just Charlie and Emilio and their buddies getting paid to ride horses, wear cool clothes, and play with guns.Avoid it like the plague, along with the sequel (why???) and their other terrible outing, "The Three Musketeers" otherwise known as; the Brat Pack wanted to wear more cool costumes, play with swords and get paid for it. They're even less believable as Musketeers than they are as gunfighters.