Movie DVD Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid may be the most beautiful and ambitious film that Sam Peckinpah ever made. The time is 1881. Powerful interests want New Mexico tamed for their brand of progress, and Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is commissioned to rid the territory of his old gunfighting comrades. He serves fair notice to William Bonney–Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson)–and his Fort Sumter cronies, but it’s not in their nature, or his, to go quietly. Peckinpah’s theme, more than ever, is the closing of the frontier and the nature of the loss that that entails. But this time his vision takes him beyond genre convention, beyond history and legend, to the bleeding heart of myth–and surely of himself.
This is one strange and original movie. In 1973 most American reviewers responded by panning it and deriding its director, whom they saw as having betrayed the promise of Ride the High Country, been swept up in his own cult of violence, and become incoherent as a storyteller. Coherence wasn’t helped by MGM’s cutting at least a quarter-of-an-hour out of the finished film and removing a bitter, retrospective prelude. Subsequent releases have restored a lot of material, and now there’s more widespread appreciation of the depth and power of Peckinpah’s achievement.
The cast, teeming with fine character actors, is extraordinary, making the gallery of frontier denizens vivid and resonant. Coburn’s Garrett, a man who comes to loathe himself for his mission yet cannot abandon it, is the high-water mark of the actor’s career. L.Q. Jones, Luke Askew, Harry Dean Stanton, Jack Elam, and Richard Bright create indelible moments, and Slim Pickens becomes the center of an unforgettably moving scene. The presence of Kristofferson (just starting out as an actor) and Bob Dylan (whose enigmatic role is nearly wordless) nudges us toward recognizing Old West outlawry as an early form of rock stardom–flesh-and-blood gods for a primitive society to feed on. –Richard T. Jameson
Buy “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid “ For Only $5.00
March 25, 2008
#1
I hate this film and “The Ballad of Cable Hoge,” because of its depiction of animal cruelty. This happens just at the prelude of both films.
March 25, 2008
#2
I would love to review the film, but it hasn’t turned up yet!
March 25, 2008
#3
Let me tell you something, I like this movie, but I think that Sam filmed a great deal of it while carrying a foriegn load. …
Kris Kristoferson and James Coburn sleepwalk through their roles, while Bob Dylan produces the [worst] movie soundtrack of the early seventies. His acting [is bad], too.
March 25, 2008
#4
I’ve been reading these reviews with amusement if not outright laughter. This movie is dreadful. It goes beyond camp. It’s not the Wild Bunch, Junior Bonner, Major Dundee, or Ride the High Country.. all directed by Peckinpah. Don’t get caught up in the cast…Chill Wills and Jack Elam are good. You have to like “THEATER” to appreciate Jason Robards. However, Kris Kristofferson is an actor whose zenith was as “Mace Montana” in “Big Top Pee-wee”. His performance was a work in progress… He should has stayed with the song writing or flying copters for uncle sam…
To like this film, you must be personally related to the cast or crew…
March 25, 2008
#5
AMENDED REVIEW 2.12.10:
O.K. I GET IT NOW! Sam Peckinpah was a simple and unique genius. It’s still sloooow moving, but there are messages throughout the script and the production. For no other reason than nostalgia, this is a very good movie and one I find myself viewing over again every 9-months or so.
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I remember seeing this on t.v. back on July 26, 1980. I was getting married that day and was apparently anxious about the day. I tried watching this and having a drink to try to relax before the 6 pm ceremony. I couldn’t concentrate on the movie then, and I thought it was because I was reoccupied with getting married. I was wrong. I just bought this on cd and it’s a bad film. The story DRAGGGGGggggssss. The acting is very stilted and stiff. Kris Kristofferson couldn’t act his way out of a wet paper bag. Coburn is fair but he is surrounded by mediocrity. It is interesting and entertaining to a limited degree to see some old faces having cameo appearances but their parts are extremely limited and incidental to the overall effect. As for Bob Dylan, he is actually good as Alias, but the Alias character is truly lame and also incidental. The movie isn’t historically accurate either. I would recommend just about anything other western over this as your time would be better spent. If you like Peckinpah, try Junior Bonner. It’s a great film with a good story and character depth. Try anything John Wayne did or Burt Lancaster for that matter.
Two stars here because it IS a western and NO western deserves one star.