SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Micitype Pretty Good

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Leofwine_draca Sam Peckinpah's western follow-up to THE WILD BUNCH is a very different kind of beast, but one that nearly equals that classic in terms of quality. This is an evocative western filled with violence, larger than life characters, and quite wonderful cinematography that brings the arid landscapes to life.James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson have a natural kind of camaraderie as the central twosome and a lot of the fun comes from their unhurried relationship and laughs along the way. Although this isn't exactly an action-packed movie, there's still plenty of the trademark Peckinpah slow motion and iconic death that the director was known for. The film's purpose is to bring to life two mythical characters from the Old West while at the same time looking at the changing landscape of the times and the dying out of the old ways. It's a fine film.

Fred Schaefer It should be stated up front that we will never get to see the version of PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID that Sam Peckinpah intended for the public; the movie was rushed into release after a truly torturous production in Durango, Mexico, highlighted by a battle between the stubborn director and MGM head James Aubrey. The studio was only interested in a product to pump up the cash flow as it prepared to build The MGM Grand in Las Vegas and thought a Peckinpah western-his biggest since THE WILD BUNCH-would be a huge hit, During the production, Peckinpah, having a distinctive and abiding dislike of the studio brass, often proved to be his own worst enemy when he made no attempt to humor MGM and had the editing taken away from him and his crew. The result, released to theaters in the summer of 1973, was a butchered work that only sporadically hinted at the greatness that could have been. Now thanks to the miracle of DVD, we have two restored versions: the 1988 TCM version and the 2005 Special Edition. Both of them contain scenes slashed out of the original and give a fuller glimpse of the epic Peckinpah wanted and intended to make.These restored "Director's Cuts" make some things very clear:Peckinpah wanted PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID to be another look at his favorite theme of the passing of the Old West and the price that was paid for leaving it behind. The day of the open range is passing for New Mexico, statehood beckons and the veterans of the range wars, Garrett, the Kid and the men that road with them, have to go according to the powers that be (the Santa Fe ring). The older Garrett decides to throw in with the Ring, becomes Sheriff of Lincoln County and agrees to do the dirty work of getting rid of the Kid and the others. But Garrett clearly does not reckon with the guilt that comes with the job and the blood that will ultimately stain his hands. But Peckinpah rewrote much of Rudy Wurlitzer's original script to work in a very contemporary political angle; looking at it another way, PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID is all about the clash between the counter culture of the late 60's and the Establishment. The casting of songwriter and singer Kris Kristofferson only underscored this theme, along with the addition of Bob Dylan to the cast while contributing to one of the all time great soundtracks. The Santa Fe ring that buys off James Coburn's Garrett could easily stand for Richard Nixon and all the reactionary millionaires that poured tons of money into his campaign. In this way Peckinpah was quit ahead of the curve in that when he touched up Wurlitzer's script, the crimes of Watergate were still being covered up successfully. Either way, the movie becomes a sad dirge for not only the passing of the Old West, but for what was best about America itself-a land where a man could be free to live as he pleased. The script, even with Peckinpah's contributions, lacks coherence and is mainly a collection of great set piece scenes, some of them dominated by great veterans of westerns, both of the screen and TV. For no other reason alone, PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID is worth seeing for the cast, which includes: Jason Robards, Jack Elam, Slim PIckens, L.Q. Jones, Katy Jurado, Richard Jaeckel, Paul Fix, Dub Taylor, Elisha Cook Jr., Barry Sullivan, Luke Askew, Harry Dean Stanton, Chill Wills, Richard Bright, Emilio Fernandez, Matt Clark, and R.G. Armstrong. Where was Strother Martin? The shootout with Jones's Black Harris, which culminates with Pickens's death, is one of the most unique things in any western-watch for the expressions on Jurado's face as Pickens faces his last moments. Simply unforgettable; so too is Wills's obscene monologue and Billy's escape from the jail in Lincoln, where he has a final confrontation with Armstrong's fanatical deputy Bob Ollinger. There are also many others like Garrett's confrontation with the man on the raft that are rightly legendary. All of it livened up with some of the most memorable dialogue in any western.It is also clear that Peckinpah's considerable talent was starting to wane by the time he made this film-there is some clunky symbolism, such as Billy taking an open armed Christ on the cross stance when arrested by Garrett, and other scenes (Paco's death) are just badly written in a way that the Peckinpah at the top of his game would never have filmed.Still, PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID is the great master's last western, a genre he loved dearly, and if it is not perfect (and non Peckinpah fans can find many faults), he still managed to say what he meant and get what he wanted up on the screen. It really does hold up.

oldblackandwhite In a decade when grown white men wore Afros, purple bell-bottom trousers, and beads, women opened conversations with "What's your sign, Man?", and decor was dominated by dark, faux wood grain on every surface, even phonographs and air conditioners, would you really expect the public to have good taste in movies? They didn't, as Pat Garret And Billy The Kid, directed by the grossly over-rated Sam Peckinpah, demonstrates. Too much profanity, too much posturing, too much gratuitous nudity, too much violence, too much socio-political drum beating, too many shots of the sunset, just too aimless and slow moving. Too little character development, too little story, too little discipline of the director. A general mess, saved only by good cinematography and a good performance by leading man James Coburn. And what I hate to tell you, if you're new to watching movies from the 'seventies, is that it was one of the better ones of that dreary era.With all the characters this ambling picture had, any depth of character development would have been neigh impossible, unless it was twice as long as the 122 minutes of the so-called director's cut. It may be that this bloated oat-burner has more characters than War And Peace. And what a waste of a sterling cast of old Western-identified character actors, including Slim Pickens, Chill Wills, R. G. Amstrong, Jack Elam, Paul Fix, and Katy Jurado. Most of these fine players are given only a few minutes or even a few seconds of screen time before being shot down or simply forgotten. Far too much time is given to Kris Kristofferson, as Billy the Kid, and Bob Dylan, as his nameless and useless-to-the-plot pal. Some people obviously liked their singing, but neither could out-act a wooden cigar store Indian with a microphone implant. Another singer who should have stuck to the disks and stayed off the film was Rita Coolidge, as Billy's main squeeze. As much of an empty envelope as Kristofferson, but at least she has few lines with which to be boring.If you are the decadent type who likes looking at nude babes in movies, this picture, like most 'seventies flicks, will give them to you. This was the first generation to give in to voyeurism. But I must warn you that most of the average to homely dames they rounded up to take 'em off in this turkey aren't much worth looking at -- though the "some kind of an octoroon from Texas" (as described by her pimp) wasn't bad. For Pete's sake, if you're going to make a point of having women take their laundry off in a movie, at least get some that look good in the buff! Forty-nine year-old Katy Jurado, even in a floppy cowboy hat, was the best-looking female in the picture. Though be assured she stayed dressed. Only the hat came off.To yours truly Bob Dylan's country-rock music and singing, passed off as the score, is simply grating. This dull hay-burner could have been considerably improved by a rousing, old time, grand operatic score, folded into the editing in a way to enhance the dramatic and psychological impact. Such as Dimitri Tiomkin or Max Steiner could churn out in Hollywood's Golden Era. But those balmy days were gone by 1973. The lack of movie-makers' and their public's taste in music engendered generally awful scores, which was one of the signs that Hollywood had sunk into the pits.Still Pat Garret And Billy The Kid has some good points. A big plus is John Coquillon's soft focus, wide-screen cinematography in Metrocolor (MGM's name for the German Agfacolor), the sepia-drenched, low-key tones of which set a nostalgic mood for this tale of 19th century gunmen. Sets and costumes were likewise well turned out. The key interest is in Coburn's performance as an introspective Pat Garrett, probably the best of his not particularly distinguished career. Peckinpah handles actions scenes well as always, though as always, the violence is grossly overdone, and there is so much of it you get numb to it after a while. Peckinpah continually railed against the studio system, and his groupies continue the rant today. But unfortunately for him, the old studio systems were actually moribund by his time. He was exactly the kind of talented but sloppy, self-indulgent director who would have benefited by having a tough, old time big studio producer such as Hal B. Wallis ride herd on him.As it is, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid is a typical Peckinpah picture, well filmed with many interesting scenes, but ultimately pretentious, empty, and unsatisfying. Neither the worst nor the best of the umpteen movies on the Billy the Kid story. Better than Left-Handed Gun (1958) but not as good as the Audi Murphy version, The Kid From Texas (1950), which surprisingly may be the best of a not very inspired bunch. At least it is not pretentious, which was one of Peckinpah's repeat sins, and a chronic infection of 1970's cinema.Nevertheless, Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid is a watchable Western. And some of us will watch any of that genre above the Hoot Gibson level and not encrusted with spaghetti.P.S. (July 2016) Since posting this review, oldblackandwhite has decided he is not too good for Hoot Gibson westerns, and apologizes for insulting the memory of Hoot and his various producers and directors by implying that their neat little oaters were in any way inferior to this mess of a movie Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid.

Jeff (actionrating.com) Skip it – This is a filthy, shameless, porno western with more sex scenes than gunfights. James Coburn stars as Pat Garrett, and isn't half bad as a cowboy. But director Sam Peckinpah butchered this classic story by trying to push the envelope with nudity and violence every chance he gets. The only reason, and I mean the only reason, I would see this subpar western is to see Bob Dylan as Billy the Kid's knife-wielding side kick. Dylan isn't a good actor by any stretch of the imagination, but it's just such a strange choice for a role that it's worth a look. Dylan also does all the music in the movie. Consensus: Dylan should stick with what he does best. The music is great, albeit a little out of place for a western. 3 out of 5 action rating