Richie-67-485852 According to this movie, all everyone ever did in the Wild West was drink, shoot, kill, whore around, sleep, eat, ride and repeat. I have no doubt that things were tough and rough but this had too much emphasis on sex and killing. I did like the dialog as it sounded believable and true to the West. Billy the Kid was hot grease and settled all differences of opinion with his shootin irons. He wasn't bad per se just quick on the draw. Back then, a mans reputation preceded him and Billy became known for killing more than anything else. He finally went along with it all and of course it cost him his life. The rule is simple. If you live by the gun you die by it and it can come at anytime especially when you least expect it. That's why Mexico was so popular to escape to. You could break the law in the states and then escape to Mexico where no one cared who you were or what you done. The movie could have been one of the greats similar to the Magnificent Seven. However there was infighting and arguing with the studio and of course money issues due to cost over runs. The dust and the drinking done in this movie is true to life as well as one other factor I always look for in a Western i.e. if there is horse dung in the streets. In the high majority of Westerns, there is none which is not true to life but to the movie screen. In this movie, lo and behold, there be horse poop! Well done. Lots of well known faces in this flick that provide a good supporting cast and it is always a pleasure to see James Coburn work. Good movie to eat a beef stew and corn tortillas while watching, perhaps some jerky and tasty drink. BTW...they do plenty drinking in this movie. I also like to mention that I like the Director's work here none other than Sam Peckinpah who unfortunately drank himself into oblivion. Enjoy

SnoopyStyle In 1909 New Mexico, Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is shot many times. In 1881, he's riding into Old Fort Sumner to meet his friend Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson). He's taking over as Sheriff of Lincoln County. In five days, he has to follow orders to take on his friend. He and his men follow thru and take Billy the Kid prisoner in a gun fight.Director Sam Peckinpah had difficulties with the studio and the initial cut was received poorly. It's eventually recut into a two hour movie. Kris Kristofferson feels wrong for Billy the Kid. He doesn't have the outlaw murderer feel and he's way too old to play twenty one. It's all wrong. Bob Dylan brings some good music but he sticks out as an actor. I keep thinking that it's Dylan and nothing else. The story is a bit slow and meandering with short bursts of bloody, outrageous violence. I wonder if the Peckinpah name is affecting people's ratings. I don't see this as terrible but it has several problems.

chorima75 I never liked "Pat Garret and Billy the Kid" very much. In fact, there are few 1970s Westerns that I like. I still find ironic that, in the decade of the feminist movement, the heroine's role became expendable, reduced to a sexual object to be used and discarded by the hero (i.e. Pat Garrett in the bathtub with the prostitutes). This said, "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" contains one of the most beautiful love scenes ever made. And yes, I am conscious that this is a Sam Peckinpah film. Yet he has always been capable of tenderness (the flash-forward in "The Getaway", with McGraw and MacQueen jumping into a river, immediately comes to mind).Veterans Katy Jurado and Slim Pickens play a husband-and wife team of guns for hire, brought out of retirement for a last job. Katy Jurado had been a beauty in her earlier films (see her in "High Noon"). Here, her looks had faded, but she retained her serene demeanour. Slim Pickens had never been handsome. He usually played a crook with a mischievous smile, here substituted for a venerable old man expression. While Garret (James Coburn) deals with the last villain standing, Katy realises Slim has been shot. She runs to the river where he agonises, his stomach pierced by a bullet. She kneels opposite him, looking at him with the saddest eyes in the world, trying to absorb every second they have left. He looks back, as if saying sorry for dying. There is no dialogue. They have gone through so much together that words are unnecessary. Then, the sun sets in the background, while "Knockin' on heaven doors" plays. This is not only the death of a character. This is the death of the classic western. Jurado and Pickens had been stock figures of the genre in countless productions during the 1950s. By the late sixties, the formula had worn out. Pure heroes and heroines had no place in the cynical Vietnam era, which advocated shades of grey. Heroes (like Pat Garret) could be morally reprehensible, while it was possible to feel for the villains (like Billy the Kid). Like Jurado and Pickens, the classic western was not youthful or pretty any more, but certainly died with lots of dignity.

Robert Peach I saw this was on TCM the other night and I recorded it, merely because I knew it was supposed to be good and I hadn't seen a Peckinpah film before. Despite how massive TCM's black screen banners are, and despite how quiet the film was, it still kept me engaged. James Coburns' masterful performance as wrinkly bandit Pat Garret was smouldering, his lawman bubbled with a mix of sadism, violence, and broken honour. He was far and away the best actor in the film. Comparatively, Kris Kristofferson just didn't hold up, I just plain didn't like him, and he didn't come across strongly enough as anything. It seems to me he's grown more expressive and nuanced as he's gotten older, though it may just be that against a giant like Coburn he seemed like little more than a distraction.Though his performance was woeful, Dylan's soundtrack is a thing of beauty and joy, setting the tone of the movie, perfectly complimenting some scenes and brilliantly offsetting others. The scene in which Knocking On Heavens Door is used is possibly one of the most beautiful and moving sequences in any film I've seen, it was utterly breathtaking.Much of that is done by the cinematography, which is frequently fantastic. There are several shots that had my mouth wide open, agape. Peckinpah is also well versed in directing shoot-out's,and building tension before and after. Though the make up and special effects look laughable now, the brutality and voyeurism of the violence haven't faded one iota.The print was very quiet though, so it was often hard to decipher what people were saying. As such, there were various moments when I was just waiting for the next scene, as the one playing was too quiet to enjoy. This is a film that I can't wait to watch again, and will certainly be buying on DVD, along with the soundtrack on CD. A brilliant, moving western from a great director.