With this film Audie Murphy achieved another distinction besides being our most decorated war hero. Having played young Jesse James in Kansas Raiders, Murphy then played the second great outlaw name of the old west Billy The Kid in The Kid From Texas. Among many of the other inaccuracies of this film is the fact that Billy The Kid was not from Texas. He was born Henry McCarty in New York City and went west and became William H. Bonney. And as his outlaw reputation grew he became Billy The Kid.
Next to Robert Taylor's Billy The Kid this may yet be the most inaccurate retelling of the Kid's life. In fact the story is so confusing that there's no doubt Murphy is one dangerous young man, but he's so appealing that we don't know what to think. Whether by accident or design that left me quite confused.
Only three people's names were left as they were in life. Billy The Kid, Pat Garrett played here by Frank Wilcox who is really a peripheral character to the main drama and Governor Lew Wallace of New Mexico territory played by Robert Barrat. Everyone else you've seen in such films as Pat Garrett&Billy The Kid, Chisum, The Left Handed Gun or the Young Guns films has had his and her name changed.
Sheppard Strudwick, Albert Dekker, Ray Teal, Paul Ford, Will Geer, and William Talman all are in this. You'll note Talman who is a particularly vicious outlaw who gets a personal vendetta against Murphy going and pays in the end.
As to why Billy just didn't clear out of the territory once it got hot for him, just think of those last lines of King Kong and you'll know why.
Next to Robert Taylor's Billy The Kid this may yet be the most inaccurate retelling of the Kid's life. In fact the story is so confusing that there's no doubt Murphy is one dangerous young man, but he's so appealing that we don't know what to think. Whether by accident or design that left me quite confused.
Only three people's names were left as they were in life. Billy The Kid, Pat Garrett played here by Frank Wilcox who is really a peripheral character to the main drama and Governor Lew Wallace of New Mexico territory played by Robert Barrat. Everyone else you've seen in such films as Pat Garrett&Billy The Kid, Chisum, The Left Handed Gun or the Young Guns films has had his and her name changed.
Sheppard Strudwick, Albert Dekker, Ray Teal, Paul Ford, Will Geer, and William Talman all are in this. You'll note Talman who is a particularly vicious outlaw who gets a personal vendetta against Murphy going and pays in the end.
As to why Billy just didn't clear out of the territory once it got hot for him, just think of those last lines of King Kong and you'll know why.