The narrow focus of this movie is in the lives of two Western legends when one ends the life of the other. Marshall Pat Garrett catches up with Billy the Kid who has killed two deputy sheriffs and escaped from jail. That is after he had been caught by Garrett for killing another sheriff. The year was 1881, and the place was New Mexico.
With all the respective legends about the two men, and considerable verifiable history, it's still surprising how little is known about them. Most stories, and movies made about Billy the Kid have more fiction from the legends than fact. The legends over time, from earliest newspaper reports, began to intimate the young renegade as a sort of folk hero. He claimed to have killed 21 men, but historians think the number is more like 10. Still, most of those were cold blooded killings - not the type of one-on-one quick-draw shootouts on main street. That may be the fodder of many a Western film, but it didn't apply to Billy. His last two killings were a deputy sheriff in the back and another deputy from a balcony with a shotgun.
Pat Garrett had one brush with the law as a buffalo hunter in Texas, and then worked as a bartender and other jobs before becoming a lawman. Neither of these two legends was a native of the West.
Billy the Kid was born Henry McCarty in New York City in 1859. He had a couple of aliases he took for himself before getting nicknamed Billy the Kid. For a time he took the surname Antrim of the man who married his mother after his father's death in Indianapolis. William Henry Antrim then moved the family to Wichita, Kansas. After his mother died, Billy took off for the New Mexico Territory. He tied in with some other characters and began rustling cattle. Because of his very young looks, even as an older teenage, he picked up the nickname, Kid Antrim. Then, around age 18 he began going by the name William H. Bonney. And, that's the supposed "real" name that he was called in the early newspaper accounts of his killings that began in 1977. His first was a blacksmith in a saloon brawl. Soon his nickname was changed to Billy the Kid.
Pat Garrett was born 10 years earlier than the kid, in Alabama. He was raised mostly in Louisiana on a family plantation. But the family went broke after the Civil War and Pat struck out on his own for the southwest. After his buffalo hunting years, first killing of a man and turning himself in, Garrett was released and never prosecuted. Hethen bounced around for a time, and got to know Billy when Pat worked as a bartended in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. They had purportedly become friends for a time. But Garrett married and settled down and won election as Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico. From then on he would have a career as a lawman on and off throughout New Mexico and Arizona. After that, he got appointments for a couple of government jobs and then bought land, and went into business. This movie show Garrett being killed - being bushwacked by someone while he was riding to a meeting with two other men. That was mysterious in itself, but was 27 years after he killed Billy the Kid. So there was nothing to connect Garrett's killing to the kid.
Billy the Kid was five feet, 8 inches tall and weighed about 140 pounds. He was described as a thin but muscular kid. Pat Garrett was six feet, 5 inches tall, and a special casket had to be made for his body. The kid was 21 years old when he died. Kris Kristofferson was 37 years old when playing the kid here, and just short of six feet tall. James Coburn was 45 when he played the 31-year old Garrett. His was a closer match in appearance.
The movie tends to project the folk hero legend some in portraying Billy as friendly with the Mexicans in Fort Sumner. One scene shows two Mexican boys throwing stones or dirt clods at Garrett as he rides out of town after shooting Billy. The film is mostly neutral in its portrayal of Pat Garrett. In real life, the governor of the territory had offered a $500 reward for Billy the Kid, dead or alive. Garrett went to collect the reward but the sheriff at the government seat refused to give it to him. Many private citizens though, who were glad to have a notorious killer out of the way donated and raised $7,000 as a reward to Garrett.
Too much of this story is based on legend, rather than fact. Some good facts for background aren't included that could and should have been for proper historical setting. While the main characters and major incidents are true and correct, some of the details are complete fiction. For instance, no one had hidden a gun in the outhouse that Billy retrieved to make his escape. Instead, at the top of the stairs as he and the deputy returned from his trip to the outhouse, Billy slipped out of his handcuffs and beat the deputy with them. He then grabbed the deputy's revolver and shot the man in the back as he fled.
The movie moves slowly in segments, showing Billy affably talking with members of his former gang, Mexicans and others in Fort Sumner and other places. All of these things combined, with the graphic portrayals of the killings by Billy, don't recommend this film as a very good Western. Indeed, the killings, pursuit and overall portrayals seem so easy going and lackadaisical at times. As a Western film this is quite a dull story.
With all the respective legends about the two men, and considerable verifiable history, it's still surprising how little is known about them. Most stories, and movies made about Billy the Kid have more fiction from the legends than fact. The legends over time, from earliest newspaper reports, began to intimate the young renegade as a sort of folk hero. He claimed to have killed 21 men, but historians think the number is more like 10. Still, most of those were cold blooded killings - not the type of one-on-one quick-draw shootouts on main street. That may be the fodder of many a Western film, but it didn't apply to Billy. His last two killings were a deputy sheriff in the back and another deputy from a balcony with a shotgun.
Pat Garrett had one brush with the law as a buffalo hunter in Texas, and then worked as a bartender and other jobs before becoming a lawman. Neither of these two legends was a native of the West.
Billy the Kid was born Henry McCarty in New York City in 1859. He had a couple of aliases he took for himself before getting nicknamed Billy the Kid. For a time he took the surname Antrim of the man who married his mother after his father's death in Indianapolis. William Henry Antrim then moved the family to Wichita, Kansas. After his mother died, Billy took off for the New Mexico Territory. He tied in with some other characters and began rustling cattle. Because of his very young looks, even as an older teenage, he picked up the nickname, Kid Antrim. Then, around age 18 he began going by the name William H. Bonney. And, that's the supposed "real" name that he was called in the early newspaper accounts of his killings that began in 1977. His first was a blacksmith in a saloon brawl. Soon his nickname was changed to Billy the Kid.
Pat Garrett was born 10 years earlier than the kid, in Alabama. He was raised mostly in Louisiana on a family plantation. But the family went broke after the Civil War and Pat struck out on his own for the southwest. After his buffalo hunting years, first killing of a man and turning himself in, Garrett was released and never prosecuted. Hethen bounced around for a time, and got to know Billy when Pat worked as a bartended in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. They had purportedly become friends for a time. But Garrett married and settled down and won election as Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico. From then on he would have a career as a lawman on and off throughout New Mexico and Arizona. After that, he got appointments for a couple of government jobs and then bought land, and went into business. This movie show Garrett being killed - being bushwacked by someone while he was riding to a meeting with two other men. That was mysterious in itself, but was 27 years after he killed Billy the Kid. So there was nothing to connect Garrett's killing to the kid.
Billy the Kid was five feet, 8 inches tall and weighed about 140 pounds. He was described as a thin but muscular kid. Pat Garrett was six feet, 5 inches tall, and a special casket had to be made for his body. The kid was 21 years old when he died. Kris Kristofferson was 37 years old when playing the kid here, and just short of six feet tall. James Coburn was 45 when he played the 31-year old Garrett. His was a closer match in appearance.
The movie tends to project the folk hero legend some in portraying Billy as friendly with the Mexicans in Fort Sumner. One scene shows two Mexican boys throwing stones or dirt clods at Garrett as he rides out of town after shooting Billy. The film is mostly neutral in its portrayal of Pat Garrett. In real life, the governor of the territory had offered a $500 reward for Billy the Kid, dead or alive. Garrett went to collect the reward but the sheriff at the government seat refused to give it to him. Many private citizens though, who were glad to have a notorious killer out of the way donated and raised $7,000 as a reward to Garrett.
Too much of this story is based on legend, rather than fact. Some good facts for background aren't included that could and should have been for proper historical setting. While the main characters and major incidents are true and correct, some of the details are complete fiction. For instance, no one had hidden a gun in the outhouse that Billy retrieved to make his escape. Instead, at the top of the stairs as he and the deputy returned from his trip to the outhouse, Billy slipped out of his handcuffs and beat the deputy with them. He then grabbed the deputy's revolver and shot the man in the back as he fled.
The movie moves slowly in segments, showing Billy affably talking with members of his former gang, Mexicans and others in Fort Sumner and other places. All of these things combined, with the graphic portrayals of the killings by Billy, don't recommend this film as a very good Western. Indeed, the killings, pursuit and overall portrayals seem so easy going and lackadaisical at times. As a Western film this is quite a dull story.