The legendary director Sam Peckinpah's life and career defined the concept of the maverick film-maker. He is best known for his westerns, which make up seven of his fourteen features along with another two which are as close as makes no difference. "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" is notable for (among other things) being the last western he ever directed. It's a fitting final word from the man who was so influential in the genre, a prime example of the style and themes he brought to his films as well as of the way his films were often compromised by studio conflicts and interference.
Aside from the violence and much-imitated Peckinpah style, the two most common adjectives for his westerns are "revisionist" and "elegiac," which explains why they were so influential to the 60s and 70s but also why they don't entirely belong in that era. Peckinpah's idea of a revisionist western has a lot in common with his contemporaries, replacing the John Wayne/Gary Cooper ideal of the Old West with something darker and more morally complex. But his films more than those of any other director mourn the passing of that era, and the people and values that have been lost. His parents and grandparents had to varying extents first-hand experience of that old world, and despite how bleak it is painted, you get the impression Peckinpah wished he lived in that time. They were in many ways more elegiac than revisionist.
Peckinpah's films also tend to be very personal, sometimes painfully so. In the Wild Bunch lead actor William Holden realised this and based a lot of his character on the director. "Pat Garrett..." takes this a step further, with Peckinpah appearing in the film himself, and depicting characters living a wild, destructive life on the fringes of the civilised world that cannot possibly last. This reflects his own life and inevitable demise with brutal honesty.
The story of Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid was the director's opportunity to make what he hoped would be his ultimate statement in western films. Although he filled his cast as always with actors he had used before, key roles are played by singers Kris Kristofferson (as Billy) and Bob Dylan, which along with the presence of Dylan on the soundtrack gave the film some modern trappings similar to contemporary work by Robert Altman and Arthur Penn. Mainly though, this film stays close to the themes close to Peckinpah's heart: men, the codes they live by, and their struggles to survive in the disappearing west.
The central plot is simple, although there are twists and turns in Pat Garrett's pursuit of the outlaw Billy the Kid whom he once called a friend. Mainly this film contrasts the lives and choices of the two titular outlaws. Billy the Kid here is played by Kristofferson as a man whose fame and legend has already overtaken the day to day reality of his life. He chooses to stay in Lincoln County long after the cattle wars are over and the powerful ranchers have won leaving him nowhere to go, because he'd rather be a fugitive outlaw with a great reputation than just another drunk hiding out in Mexico. Pat Garrett (the brilliant James Coburn) is the man who has left behind his outlaw life, taking money and a sheriff's badge from those he once fought, along with the job of bringing his old friend to justice, dead or alive. He has made the smart choice, because he is a survivor, but he hates himself for his decision and envies his old friend Billy.
Garrett's struggle is the heart of the film. We still see the gunfights, the destruction of the old West and the grimy, fading men who no longer see a place for them and their rambunctious way of life, all depicted in classic Peckinpah style. But really it's the story of a man wrestling with the fact that he has been commissioned to do something he doesn't believe in, to kill someone he loves and destroy things he once stood for. He sees his raising of a posse to go after Billy as one last adventure for both of them. This is of course full of fiction and myth as most Westerns are, but here the characters themselves choose the myth rather than the reality. Garrett even more than Billy seems to believe in the romantic ideal of being an outlaw gunfighter; even as he pursues and tries to kill his old friend he seems to be building him up in his mind as a glorious hero.
Sadly, while the film is classic Peckinpah in the sense of the story it tells, it's also a classic example of one of his films being compromised by his often troubled relationships with the studios. Here he had the misfortune of working for MGM when they were more interested in turning a quick profit to fund their expansion in Las Vegas than indulging a director who was hard work at the best of times. He was given less time, money and resources than he needed to make the film, leading to production problems above and beyond the usual barely-contained chaos that frequently attended Peckinpah. Resorting to desperate methods to get it made, such as secretly reshooting scenes at the weekend against the orders or producers, he was able to complete the film to his satisfaction. But he was let down once again when when the studio took the film off him and cut it to pieces in the editing room, and the truncated version released in 1973 showed only glimpses of his intended vision. The deliberate pace seemed too slow and build up of tension was lost thanks to the studio's hatchet job, and the theatrical release was not well-received. Once again the executives failed to learn the lesson of Peckinpah's career that they should either do it his way or not bother at all.
Fortunately, something close to the director's cut was later found and restored - partly thanks to members of the production stealing copies of the film and keeping them hidden for another time. There are now two versions, the Turner Cut (so-called because Ted Turner's TCM channel put together a cut of the film which people close to Peckinpah endorsed) and the 2005 Special Edition supervised by Peckinpah historians. These versions restore almost 20 minutes of footage which are crucial to the film making sense and giving the story back its power. In these versions it is a brilliant parting shot by the man who lived his life like the stories he told, even to the brink of self-destruction. By turns brutal, cynical, touching and eventually tragic, it evokes the fading away of this most mythical of American eras, and the raging last gasps of characters who find themselves out of time and options.
This is one of Peckinpah's best films, made when his creative powers were at their height and he was just about keeping his personal excesses in check. Whether it's his definitive western statement compared to the Wild Bunch is less certain, but in the restored versions it deserves a viewing for fans of the genre to make up their own minds.
Aside from the violence and much-imitated Peckinpah style, the two most common adjectives for his westerns are "revisionist" and "elegiac," which explains why they were so influential to the 60s and 70s but also why they don't entirely belong in that era. Peckinpah's idea of a revisionist western has a lot in common with his contemporaries, replacing the John Wayne/Gary Cooper ideal of the Old West with something darker and more morally complex. But his films more than those of any other director mourn the passing of that era, and the people and values that have been lost. His parents and grandparents had to varying extents first-hand experience of that old world, and despite how bleak it is painted, you get the impression Peckinpah wished he lived in that time. They were in many ways more elegiac than revisionist.
Peckinpah's films also tend to be very personal, sometimes painfully so. In the Wild Bunch lead actor William Holden realised this and based a lot of his character on the director. "Pat Garrett..." takes this a step further, with Peckinpah appearing in the film himself, and depicting characters living a wild, destructive life on the fringes of the civilised world that cannot possibly last. This reflects his own life and inevitable demise with brutal honesty.
The story of Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid was the director's opportunity to make what he hoped would be his ultimate statement in western films. Although he filled his cast as always with actors he had used before, key roles are played by singers Kris Kristofferson (as Billy) and Bob Dylan, which along with the presence of Dylan on the soundtrack gave the film some modern trappings similar to contemporary work by Robert Altman and Arthur Penn. Mainly though, this film stays close to the themes close to Peckinpah's heart: men, the codes they live by, and their struggles to survive in the disappearing west.
The central plot is simple, although there are twists and turns in Pat Garrett's pursuit of the outlaw Billy the Kid whom he once called a friend. Mainly this film contrasts the lives and choices of the two titular outlaws. Billy the Kid here is played by Kristofferson as a man whose fame and legend has already overtaken the day to day reality of his life. He chooses to stay in Lincoln County long after the cattle wars are over and the powerful ranchers have won leaving him nowhere to go, because he'd rather be a fugitive outlaw with a great reputation than just another drunk hiding out in Mexico. Pat Garrett (the brilliant James Coburn) is the man who has left behind his outlaw life, taking money and a sheriff's badge from those he once fought, along with the job of bringing his old friend to justice, dead or alive. He has made the smart choice, because he is a survivor, but he hates himself for his decision and envies his old friend Billy.
Garrett's struggle is the heart of the film. We still see the gunfights, the destruction of the old West and the grimy, fading men who no longer see a place for them and their rambunctious way of life, all depicted in classic Peckinpah style. But really it's the story of a man wrestling with the fact that he has been commissioned to do something he doesn't believe in, to kill someone he loves and destroy things he once stood for. He sees his raising of a posse to go after Billy as one last adventure for both of them. This is of course full of fiction and myth as most Westerns are, but here the characters themselves choose the myth rather than the reality. Garrett even more than Billy seems to believe in the romantic ideal of being an outlaw gunfighter; even as he pursues and tries to kill his old friend he seems to be building him up in his mind as a glorious hero.
Sadly, while the film is classic Peckinpah in the sense of the story it tells, it's also a classic example of one of his films being compromised by his often troubled relationships with the studios. Here he had the misfortune of working for MGM when they were more interested in turning a quick profit to fund their expansion in Las Vegas than indulging a director who was hard work at the best of times. He was given less time, money and resources than he needed to make the film, leading to production problems above and beyond the usual barely-contained chaos that frequently attended Peckinpah. Resorting to desperate methods to get it made, such as secretly reshooting scenes at the weekend against the orders or producers, he was able to complete the film to his satisfaction. But he was let down once again when when the studio took the film off him and cut it to pieces in the editing room, and the truncated version released in 1973 showed only glimpses of his intended vision. The deliberate pace seemed too slow and build up of tension was lost thanks to the studio's hatchet job, and the theatrical release was not well-received. Once again the executives failed to learn the lesson of Peckinpah's career that they should either do it his way or not bother at all.
Fortunately, something close to the director's cut was later found and restored - partly thanks to members of the production stealing copies of the film and keeping them hidden for another time. There are now two versions, the Turner Cut (so-called because Ted Turner's TCM channel put together a cut of the film which people close to Peckinpah endorsed) and the 2005 Special Edition supervised by Peckinpah historians. These versions restore almost 20 minutes of footage which are crucial to the film making sense and giving the story back its power. In these versions it is a brilliant parting shot by the man who lived his life like the stories he told, even to the brink of self-destruction. By turns brutal, cynical, touching and eventually tragic, it evokes the fading away of this most mythical of American eras, and the raging last gasps of characters who find themselves out of time and options.
This is one of Peckinpah's best films, made when his creative powers were at their height and he was just about keeping his personal excesses in check. Whether it's his definitive western statement compared to the Wild Bunch is less certain, but in the restored versions it deserves a viewing for fans of the genre to make up their own minds.
Tell Your Friends