Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)

According to this movie, all everyone ever did in the Wild West was drink, shoot, kill, whore around, sleep, eat, ride and repeat. I have no doubt that things were tough and rough but this had too much emphasis on sex and killing. I did like the dialog as it sounded believable and true to the West. Billy the Kid was hot grease and settled all differences of opinion with his shootin irons. He wasn't bad per se just quick on the draw. Back then, a mans reputation preceded him and Billy became known for killing more than anything else. He finally went along with it all and of course it cost him his life. The rule is simple. If you live by the gun you die by it and it can come at anytime especially when you least expect it. That's why Mexico was so popular to escape to. You could break the law in the states and then escape to Mexico where no one cared who you were or what you done. The movie could have been one of the greats similar to the Magnificent Seven. However there was infighting and arguing with the studio and of course money issues due to cost over runs. The dust and the drinking done in this movie is true to life as well as one other factor I always look for in a Western i.e. if there is horse dung in the streets. In the high majority of Westerns, there is none which is not true to life but to the movie screen. In this movie, lo and behold, there be horse poop! Well done. Lots of well known faces in this flick that provide a good supporting cast and it is always a pleasure to see James Coburn work. Good movie to eat a beef stew and corn tortillas while watching, perhaps some jerky and tasty drink. BTW...they do plenty drinking in this movie. I also like to mention that I like the Director's work here none other than Sam Peckinpah who unfortunately drank himself into oblivion. Enjoy

Sam Peckinpah's final western "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" borders so many time on cinematic greatness that it's a real shame it never hits that chord of genius like "The Wild Bunch" or "The Ballad of Cable Hogue". It is a melancholic, moody, atmospheric Western with a constant sense of impending doom over the protagonists, we know it's a matter of time before fate finally strikes the Kid when he'll push his luck one time too many, but the question is: to which extent do we care enough to wish it happens as late as possible. Sometimes, I felt like betraying my own love for Peckinpah's movies by asking myself; "when will that be over"?I liked Kris Kristofferson's performance but I associate Billy the Kid with Emilio Estevez so much that I didn't care enough for this one, I can't figure why, maybe because he didn't seem to care much about himself as well. Ironically, the only one who seemed to care about him was the instrument of his death, I say 'instrument' because there's obviousness on Garrett's reluctance to kill his friend, but as the holder of the sheriff's badge, he must fulfill his duty. There's no getting away from it, and I guess this is the core of the story, it's about people killing each other because they stand on opposite sides of the law, men who, in other circumstances, (some that might have happened) would've been friends, would've played Poker together or shared a family meal.That would make life sound too arbitrary and meaningless, like ignoring what kind of people the outlaws and the lawmen were, but it seems to be the point. Indeed, in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", the line drawn between these two worlds is so thin and imperceptible that we don't really make a difference. Politicians and bounty hunters also play theses buffer roles, but you can tell Peckinpah hold neither of them with sympathy. So it's all a succession of arrests, gunfights and escapes, but they feel oddly random, lacking this precision from Sam's previous works, and as a Bloody Sam fan, I wondered if it was intentional, for the film is never as interesting when they halt fire, when you have a taste on their feelings, when it stops being about killing.Reading the trivia, I learned that the film was infamous for constant internal battles, including Sam's alcoholism and the interference of MGM executives who assigned six editors to work on the finished film, a cutting of forty minutes that resulted with the film's ill-reception and Sam's disowning his own creation. I saw the longer version and I suspect there were more to see about these characters in order to avoid this vacuous or unfinished feeling. A film populated with such fine performances and cameos can't be anything other than a fascinating experience, its misfire can only be accidental. And if Sam's hart wasn't in it, it sure wasn't the case for the actors, starting with James Coburn.Coburn plays a man of serene force, who says a lot without saying much, without that exaggerated devotion to duty and with an extraordinary inclination for sorrow and resignation, he's got a genuine fondness for his pal, but the call of duty has one merit, it's clear, fair and square and makes decision easier to make, although pulling the trigger is another story. The film isn't short of ironies; one of them is that Garrett is never stingy on bullets, except when it comes to the most ruthless killer of them all. It's like some outlaws' blood pumping in his veins, and killing Billy is killing a part of himself. This is how much he cares.On the other hand, Billy, is a guy who moves forward, and doesn't let circumstances dictate his path, he and Pat complete each other, and it is only just that one of them would finally have the upper hand, the more reasonable one. Garrett wants to grow as old as America and knows the Old West's days are numbered. This is not a novelty in Peckinpah's movies to play like an Epitaph to the Western genre, but while the end of an era was glorious and operatic in "The Wild Bunch", ironic and whimsical in "The Ballad of Cable Hogue", it is incongruously melancholic in this film, and we'll never know whether this choice of tone was deliberate.But one can't deny that this film offers some great bits that are among Peckinpah's best, one of the highlights of the film doesn't ironically feature the two leads, but two classic Western icons, Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado, Pickens has been shot under the ribs and we know what that means. He stands still but he knows he's watching his last sunset, he knows and she knows. He is in disbelief, she's resigned but in tears. This is the film in a nutshell, things that must happen, we don't believe they do, but we know they will. I don't know if it's the eyes of Pickens, the tears of Jurado or Bob Dylan's "Knock on the Heaven's Door", but the magic of this one moment has the power to almost redeem the movie.I didn't much care for Dylan's presence, pretty understated given how much publicity he was given, but his contribution to the scores gives this film a strange modern lecture, it stops being a Western but a sort of character study, a "No Country for Old Men" with a friendlier bond between the two leads, and with this time, a country that can't allow a youth that wouldn't play their games. There's a lot to appreciate in "Pat Garret and the Billy the Kid" from our standpoint so maybe the best compliment this film can be given is that it aged quite well.

Patented Peckinpah violence opens the film, transporting the viewer immediately to a past time and place where target practice with live targets would not have been at all far-fetched. The movie then proceeds in portraying a chronologically and more worldly sophisticated Billy than the real character most likely was, and a Pat Garrett who is best amplified and probably portrayed more accurately in the Director's Cut edition of the movie (otherwise, Pat's too patently one-dimensional). Look for Peckinpah grittiness to be at it's best with the Bob Dylan and Chill Wills characters, and the most emotionally provocative scene in the entire film as "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" with classic film character actors Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado.

Fans of Sam Peckinpah and Fans of the Movie Western seem to give this Meandering Semi-Incoherent Film a Pass because it is a Sam Peckinpah Western. There are Moments in this Troubled Production that are Poignant and Beautifully Gritty. There are just as Many Others that are Clunky and Awkward.Much Controversy Arises Concerning this Movie the Least of Which is the Casting and Utilization of Bob Dylan as an Actor and His Songs. At Times the Inclusion of the Musical Numbers can be Heartfelt and Effective and at Other Stages not so much. But Using the Dylan (Lyrics or not) Material doesn't do too much to Diminish the Overall Effectiveness. As an Actor in a Smallish Role Mildly Detracts but Again not to the Detriment of the Whole.James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson as the Title Characters, it can be Argued, are Good Enough and along with the Slew of Familiar Faces and Odd Ball Stalwarts the same can be Said. So just what is the Major Malfunction that Keeps this from Becoming a Great Peckinpah, like say The Wild Bunch (1969) or Ride the High Country (1962) or to a Lesser Extent, Fine Films like Straw Dogs (1972) or the Getaway (1974)?The Answer My Friend is the Gloomy, Sombre, Lethargic, Motionless Pace and the Stumbling Editing. Add to that a Few Scenes of some Stiff and Unnecessary Nudity and a Couple of Other Ill-Advised Excesses and Underdeveloped Important Characters. The Studio Interference and the Director's Personal Detachment from Alcohol Abuse and General Belligerence around the Set are most Likely Contributions.Overall it is Worth a Watch and which Version is not that Important because as a Complete Peckinpah Picture it Works more than it Doesn't and is not one of His Worst and not one of His Best.