This is an intense and moving Western about a known gunslinger, the most famous outlaw-gunfighter of the South-west. However some moments is slow moving and contains a few flaws and gaps. Kris Kristofferson and James Coburn are cool as the title roles. Furthermore the secondary cast is frankly extraordinary: Chill Wills, Richard Jaeckel, Jack Elam,Rita Coolidge,Emilio Fernandez, L.Q. Jones, and Slim Pickens-Katy Jurado who form an intimate couple . And several cameos, Jason Robards, Jack Elam,Elisha Cook Jr and the same Peckinpah.Good cinematography by John Coquillon and emotive songs by Bob Dylan who sings classics as 'knocking on heaven's door's'; Dylan plays an anachronistic character and is pitifully miscast. This twilight look about Billy and Garrett was well directed by Sam Peckimpah , an expert filmmaker and writer.
Sam Peckimpah , after beginning his career as a writer , he was soon involved in TV Westerns . Filming popular television Western as ¨Rifleman¨ , ¨Westener¨ , and ¨Gunsmoke¨ . Moving into pictures in 1961 giving fine impression with ¨Deadly companions¨ starred by Brian Keith and Mauren O'Hara . After that , he did the prestigious ¨Ride the high county¨ that along with ¨Wild Bunch¨ , at the peak of his popularity , remain Sam's best films . Later on , he made ¨Major Dundee¨ that was heavily re-cutting . He subsequently filmed tougher-than-tough action movies , including gushing blood and guts with particular images in slow-moving , such as : ¨The getaway¨ , ¨the killer elite¨, the most popular ¨Straw dogs¨ , Convoy¨, and ¨The Osterman weekend¨ , until his early death .
This interesting Western titled ¨Pat Garret and Billy the Kid¨ is correctly based on real events, the deeds happened on the following way : Billy(Kris Kristofferson) became a cowboy in Lincoln County, New Mexico, for cattleman Tunstall. But in 1978 Tunstall was killed by a rival cattle outfit and this began the Lincoln County War, in which Billy played a leading part and was one of the group that shot dead Sheriff Brady. At that time the Lincoln County War was in progress,a range war between rival cattle interests, the Kid was a leading gunman for one faction but Pat Garrett, a former friend of Billy, stayed out of the fighting. When Billy became a rustler, the big ranch owners, especially John Chisum( played by John Wayne in the film with same title), wanted him out of the way and the man they chose to do the job was Pat Garrett. Then Pat Garrett(James Coburn) was elected sheriff of Lincoln County and set out to capture the young outlaw. He caught him and Bill was convicted of killing sheriff Brady and sentenced to be hanged . But Billy although shackled hands and foot,managed to escape from jail by shooting dead the two deputies(Matt Clark and R.G. Armstrong) guarding him. Garrett went after him again and on 15 July 1881 tracked him to the home of Pete Maxwell at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where Billy was along with his band(Harry Dean Stanton, Bob Dylan) and there shot him dead by surprise in a dark room.Legend says that Billy killed twenty-one men in his twenty-one years of life, the exact figure is not known but is thought to be much less. After Pat Garrett was not reelected sheriff of Lincoln County, however he was commissioned a captain in the Texas Rangers. On 19 February 1908 he was driving his buggy on a lonely desert road, he stepped down to urinate and was shot in the back by a hired killer. A man stood trial for the murder but was acquitted. Controversy still surrounds the end of Pat Garrett.
Sam Peckimpah , after beginning his career as a writer , he was soon involved in TV Westerns . Filming popular television Western as ¨Rifleman¨ , ¨Westener¨ , and ¨Gunsmoke¨ . Moving into pictures in 1961 giving fine impression with ¨Deadly companions¨ starred by Brian Keith and Mauren O'Hara . After that , he did the prestigious ¨Ride the high county¨ that along with ¨Wild Bunch¨ , at the peak of his popularity , remain Sam's best films . Later on , he made ¨Major Dundee¨ that was heavily re-cutting . He subsequently filmed tougher-than-tough action movies , including gushing blood and guts with particular images in slow-moving , such as : ¨The getaway¨ , ¨the killer elite¨, the most popular ¨Straw dogs¨ , Convoy¨, and ¨The Osterman weekend¨ , until his early death .
This interesting Western titled ¨Pat Garret and Billy the Kid¨ is correctly based on real events, the deeds happened on the following way : Billy(Kris Kristofferson) became a cowboy in Lincoln County, New Mexico, for cattleman Tunstall. But in 1978 Tunstall was killed by a rival cattle outfit and this began the Lincoln County War, in which Billy played a leading part and was one of the group that shot dead Sheriff Brady. At that time the Lincoln County War was in progress,a range war between rival cattle interests, the Kid was a leading gunman for one faction but Pat Garrett, a former friend of Billy, stayed out of the fighting. When Billy became a rustler, the big ranch owners, especially John Chisum( played by John Wayne in the film with same title), wanted him out of the way and the man they chose to do the job was Pat Garrett. Then Pat Garrett(James Coburn) was elected sheriff of Lincoln County and set out to capture the young outlaw. He caught him and Bill was convicted of killing sheriff Brady and sentenced to be hanged . But Billy although shackled hands and foot,managed to escape from jail by shooting dead the two deputies(Matt Clark and R.G. Armstrong) guarding him. Garrett went after him again and on 15 July 1881 tracked him to the home of Pete Maxwell at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where Billy was along with his band(Harry Dean Stanton, Bob Dylan) and there shot him dead by surprise in a dark room.Legend says that Billy killed twenty-one men in his twenty-one years of life, the exact figure is not known but is thought to be much less. After Pat Garrett was not reelected sheriff of Lincoln County, however he was commissioned a captain in the Texas Rangers. On 19 February 1908 he was driving his buggy on a lonely desert road, he stepped down to urinate and was shot in the back by a hired killer. A man stood trial for the murder but was acquitted. Controversy still surrounds the end of Pat Garrett.