Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

source: Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

It takes Sheriff Pat two hours of movie time to hunt down Outlaw Billy. Along the way, each has isolated, random encounters with an assortment of characters that do nothing to move the plot along. An aimless and uninteresting Western, showing Peckinpah's continued decline after the peak of "The Wild Bunch." Every now and then some breasts are bared to perk things up but a better script would have been more helpful. Bland Kristofferson uses two facial expressions in playing Billy: Smiley Face and Not Smiley Face. Dylan's role seems to be an afterthought; he mumbles only a handful of lines, the most significant being the reading of food can labels. The only good thing about this clunker is cameo appearances by a Who's Who cast of character actors.

This is one of those "realistic" 70's movies that just creates a new myth to replace that of older films. Very few details of Peckinpah's story have anything to do with even the little we know about the real Billy the Kid. Why film directors can't come up with original stories, instead of screwing around with history, has always puzzled me. If Peckinpah's film had had anything truthful to say about life in the west or in general, the fictionalizing might have been worth it, but the film mainly has a great time showing lots of slow-motion blood, whitewashing Billy the Kid--who was a thug in the first degree, not to mention 21 years old at the time of his death--and giving women like Rita Coolidge thankless parts in which they have sex with the male characters, but have hardly any lines. (In Coolidge's case the part could also be construed as a racist stereotype of the "dark-skinned loose woman".) Buy the soundtrack, and skip the film.

Oh my God, what a mess! There is no narrative flow; indeed anything resembling typical plot devices to keep the story going has approximately the same role in this as dialog has in porno movies...just marking time until the next payoff (in this case, violence, not sex). The women in this movie are invariably employed in one of three ways. They either 1: Expose their breasts; 2: Scream in terror; or 3: Scream in terror with their breasts exposed. Poor Bob Dylan, who from the looks of him was going through a very bad time in his life, has a few scenes looking very uncomfortable atop a horse, for no apparent reason.

I usually enjoy Sam Peckinpah films, but this slow paced, meandering meditation on the decline of the West just never sparked my interest. There's an excellent cast, great music, stunning cinematography, terrific production design ... all the ingredients are there, but it never came alive for me. The performances are so understated that the characters have no definition. Kristofferson plays Billy the Kid and James Coburn his friend turned nemesis, Sheriff Pat Garrett. It takes two hours for Garrett and Billy to have their final showdown; in the process they drift languidly through one laconic scene after another. There's a fair amount of gunplay, with the by now banal slow motion deaths, but even the action sequences lack fire. This is ultimately a meditative, brooding film, which is probably the idea; but it's just too plodding for my taste. One trivial gripe: whatever they used for blood in this picture struck me as some of the fakiest I've ever seen. It looks exactly like plain red paint. It's actually a distraction, detracting from the impact of the action scenes. It's the one aspect of the production design that rings a false note.

While Peckinpah fans will go to their graves insisting on it's high quality; (invisable only to us non Peckhead morons}; the fact remains right up their on the screen in any version: this is a nicely shot but vapid film, filled with uneven performances, dumb dialog, and pretentiously rehashed ideas from other Peckinpah films. You might not have like Peckinpah's ideas in "Straw Dogs" or even "The Wild Bunch", but they were certainly guided by an original, virtuoso hand. Here characters wonder into a scene, crack a dirty joke, scratch themselves, and shoot somebody, or... maybe not. Peckinpah seems to be blowing vainglorious raspberry's at his critics, there are scenes of pointless cruelty enacted by the film's anti-heroes, animal abuse, and women whores who always seem happily mute in their work. The cast, the photography, and Bob Dylan's good score give it curio value; and the Slim Pickens scene works well. This is, however, tough going and ultimately pretty dull. When you hear the commentators fawning over the film on the commentary, you can't help but thinking some of this sort of stuff played a part in the man's downfall. As Dylan once said of his early rock performances, met with vicious booing: "Well, you can kill somebody with kindness."

In 1909 New Mexico, Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is shot many times. In 1881, he's riding into Old Fort Sumner to meet his friend Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson). He's taking over as Sheriff of Lincoln County. In five days, he has to follow orders to take on his friend. He and his men follow thru and take Billy the Kid prisoner in a gun fight. Director Sam Peckinpah had difficulties with the studio and the initial cut was received poorly. It's eventually recut into a two hour movie. Kris Kristofferson feels wrong for Billy the Kid. He doesn't have the outlaw murderer feel and he's way too old to play twenty one. It's all wrong. Bob Dylan brings some good music but he sticks out as an actor. I keep thinking that it's Dylan and nothing else. The story is a bit slow and meandering with short bursts of bloody, outrageous violence. I wonder if the Peckinpah name is affecting people's ratings. I don't see this as terrible but it has several problems.

This movie begins with a very cruel opening scene. For kicks, Billy the Kid, his friends and Pat Garrett are shooting the heads off chickens. Unfortunately, it appears as if the scene is 100% real. Now the blood and headless chickens didn't sicken me, but killing any animal for entertainment's sake seems sick--and is one of the few cases where I'd agree with the PETA folks. At least in other Sam Peckinhaph films where you see killing, it's all fake and it involves people who have a choice in the matter. "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" is a revisionist film. Instead of all the old clichés of westerns, it keeps a few and introduces some new ones. In some ways it appears more realistic than earlier westerns, but to a retired history teacher like me, it's still a real mess. First for the good. Most of the folks in this film DON'T wear cowboy hats, they are often pretty filthy and some of the killing is far from glorious--such as shooting your enemy in the back. You certainly didn't see this in Roy Rogers' films and it's nice to see SOME attempt at realism. Now for the bad. Although the film looks more like the real West, it promotes a stupid stereotype of the bandit as a hero. The real-life Billy the Kid was a pretty ugly guy (based on the one surviving picture of him) and a murderer. He was NOT a hero of the people who fought against the evil cattle barons--he was just a cheap hood. But, here in "Pat Garrett...", he's handsome Kris Kristofferson and he is a force of good in a West filled with evil. He murders, but the men are enemies of the people and rapists. Instead, the lawman Pat Garrett is the nasty bully--the creep given a gun and told to kill for corporate America. If you think about it, this is a western for the Occupy Wall Street folks...but not history teachers! Apart from all the inaccuracy, is it a good film? Maybe. It all depends on what you are looking for in a film. If you want the usual Peckinpah slow-motion violence with lots of unrealistic blood, swearing and occasional nudity, then you'll probably like the film very much. If this sort of stuff turns you off, then the film may be tough going--even with some nice performances. As for me, I found it all to be slow...very slow. And, since I'm not particularly a Peckinpah fan, I felt like it was a decent time-passer and nothing more.

Opening with the gunning down of Pat Garrett in 1909, we flash back to 1881 where Garrett has been hired to bring his ex-partner in crime Billy the Kid to justice. The story unfolds against a backdrop of a west that is moving forward, driven by businessmen (represented by Chisum) leaving behind the 'old ways'. Of modern (ie after 50's and 60's) westerns Once Upon a Time in the West stands out as the best. However I feel that this film covers similar themes, of the death of the cowboy way and passing of times. The story is not really a duel between Pat and Billy but more a look at times changing around them – with Garrett changing with them and Billy trying to remain still. The story is well told with plenty of good characters, great setups and interesting dialogue. The relationships and the look at the old west 'code' easily hold the interest. Peckinpah does plenty of good work here – for example intercutting the killing of Garrett with the killing of chickens etc, making it visually clever too. However his best move is the use of Bob Dylan's score – it could have been intrusive and made the film feel tacky and like it tries too hard to be hip. Instead the score works well and gives the film a soulful feel. The cast is not only superb but deep with talent. Coburn is as good as ever as Garrett, struggling to move with times he doesn't approve of. Kristofferson is good, but his character of Billy is not well developed, but he still has a strong role to play. The support cast is full of famous faces from Westerns and a few actors just starting out – slim Pickens, Chill Wills, Jack Elam, Luke Ashew, Charles Martin Smith, Harry Dean Stanton and a good part for Bob Dylan. If you're watching it – make sure you've got the restored version that adds 15 minutes and uses the score better. The director's version makes more of the role of Boss Chisum and fills the story out with playful brothel scenes and delivers a few more cameos. It makes a big difference to the film and lifts the story above being Garrett versus Billy the Kid. Overall an excellent western from one of the greats at this type of thing.

With two classic westerns under his belt (Ride the High Country and The Wild Bunch)and a reputation for being a rebellious non-conformist you would think Sam Peckinpah the ideal person to relate the story of the teen prodigy outlaw, Billy the Kid. You would be wrong. From start to finish this western is an aimless mess. Scenes are poorly paced and disjointed. It looks like it was edited on a beach. Kris Kristofferson is clearly too old and limited for Billy. As Garrett, James Coburn fares much better with a stylish and graceful performance that exudes a cool confidence despite being in conflict with himself. Bob Dylan supplies some fine music but his performance is an embarrassment. In minor rolls some of the great old guard (Slim Pickens, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills, Jack Elam, R G Armstrong) steal every scene they are in. There's the requisite slow mo blood spattering scenes of violence and in one scene Chickens replace scorpions (without the symbolism) in a gruesome moment of male bonding but Peckinpah for the most part allows Dylan's score to set the pace in scenes, rendering them sluggish and mawkish. At this point in his career it was clear Peckinpah had nothing left. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is a testament to how far and fast he had fallen.