Watch: Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid 1973 123movies, Full Movie Online – In 1881 New Mexico, Pat Garrett, erstwhile traveling companion of the outlaw Billy the Kid, has become a sheriff, tasked by cattle interests with ridding the territory of Billy. After Billy escapes, Pat assembles a posse and chases him through the territory, culminating in a final confrontation at Fort Sumner, but is unaware of the full scope of the cattle interests’ plans for the New West..
Plot: Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.
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_**Peckinpah’s lyrical (dull) Western with a great cast and Dylan’s music**_In 1881 New Mexico, Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is now a lawman working for ranch barons who want Garrett to take out his former wild friend, Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson). Everything leads to the final showdown at Fort Sumner. Bob Dylan is on hand as a stranger who assists Billy while notable actors show up for bit parts, usually just to get shot to death (R.G. Armstrong, Matt Clark, L.Q. Jones, Slim Pickens, Jack Elam, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills, Jason Robards, Richard Jaeckel, etc.).
“Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” (1973) was a project that director Sam Peckinpah wanted to fulfill a dozen years earlier with his script for what he called “the definitive Billy the Kid movie” based on Charles Neider’s 1956 novel “The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones,” a fictional treatment of the story, with Stanley Kubrick set to direct. Marlon Brando eventually took over that production to create his outstanding “One-Eyed Jacks” (1961) with Peckinpah not given any writing credit.
In any case, this was a troubled production with the turbulent director struggling with serious alcoholism and only coherent for about four hours a day. Kristofferson got Dylan involved, who was initially enlisted to compose the title song, but eventually wrote the score/soundtrack for the entire film, most notably “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.” The soundtrack album was released seven weeks after the movie’s debut.
It’s very similar in tone and theme to Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch” (1969) with Coburn’s role being almost identical to that of Robert Ryan in that more famous Western. It’s also reminiscent of contemporaneous films like “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” and “The Missouri Breaks.” But it’s the least of these because the story is both uninvolving and tedious despite the gory gun slayings every 10 minutes. Like “The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid” from the year prior, it makes the Old West ugly.
Meanwhile Dylan’s one-dimensional folk ditties don’t help in making it compelling, but rather drag it down. I mean no disrespect to the musical icon. His music is fine for what it is; it’s just too static to carry a film like this IMHO.
Peckinpah complained that 15 minutes were cut from his preview version while six editors are credited with the final product. Maybe this is why there’s no drive to the picture. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
On a positive note, Dylan does fine in his acting debut and looks more like the real-life Billy the Kid than Kristofferson, who resembles Jim Morrison. Plus there are some great sequences, like Billy’s 10-step duel with Elam’s character. And you can’t beat the cast, which also includes Rita Coolidge, who was Kristofferson’s girlfriend during shooting and would become his wife for the next seven years.
To see Peckinpah at his Western best I recommend the outstanding “Ride the High Country” (1962) and the unique “The Ballad of Cable Hogue” (1970).
There are a few cuts of the film: The theatrical version runs 1 hr 46 min, the 1988 restored cut runs 2 hr 2 min and the 2005 Special Edition runs 1 hr 55 min (which is the version I saw). The movie was shot in Durango Mexico, roughly 500 miles due south of the historical locations in New Mexico.
GRADE: C
Ol’ Pat… Sheriff Pat Garrett. Sold out to the Santa Fe ring. How does it feel?Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is directed by Sam Peckinpah and written by Rudy Wurlitzer. It stars James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Slim Pickens, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills and Barry Sullivan. Music is scored by Bob Dylan and cinematography by John Coquillon.
One time they were friends, cohorts in crime, but now Pat Garrett is the law and his objective is to bring down Billy the Kid.
It seems to be an absolute when writing about a Sam Peckinpah film that it was plagued by studio interference. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is no exception, the back story to which tells of behind the scenes clashes, bizarre cuts and a disownment of the film by cast and crew. Thankfully through the advent of time and technological advancements, it’s one of the Peckinpah movies that can now be seen in a true light. A good job, too, since it’s one of Bloody Sam’s finest movies. My personal preference is for the TCM Preview version, and that is what is reviewed here.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid finds Peckinpah at his lyrical and elegiacal best, the old west is dying and as it is told through the eyes of aging Pat Garrett (Coburn), it’s meticulously played out via an unhurried narrative structure. Time is afforded the key players, helping the story unfold its bitter take on the frontier changes as greed begets violence, Peckinpah wryly observing that the newly appeared good guys are no better than the bad guys, hence The Kid’s (Kristofferson) reputation as a dandy likable outlaw becomes assured in spite of his less than honourable traits as a human being, but he at least is honourable to his codes.
Film contains many memorable scenes, scenes fit to grace any Western. A shoot-out and aftermath involving Pickens and Jurado has poignancy in abundance, Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door tenderly filtered over the top of it. A duel featuring Jack Elam is another that resonates highly, great character moments are plentiful, performed by a roll call of Western movie legends, Peckinpah knew how to pick a cast and then some. Moments of violence are dotted throughout, Bloody Sam’s trademark, as is cross-cuts, sepia tones and slow-mo. The great director even makes a Christ allegory not come off as cheap, and a self loathing mirror sequence strikes a significant chord.
This is a film big on characterisations, it’s not just a film of visual touches, be it the dual psychological conflict between Pat and Billy, or the ream of peripheral players, everything they do is detailed and designed to capture the period and atmosphere of the changing times, the environment that folk inhabit, on either side of the law, is a big issue. No frame is wasted, MGM and their head honcho James Aubrey in their ignorance failed to see this fact. While the cast turn in damn fine work and Coquillon’s burnished photography is striking and perfect for the director’s vision.
It’s undeniably downbeat, and the slow pace isn’t to everyone’s liking, but this is up with the other Peckinpah Western greats, The Wild Bunch and Ride the High Country. A truly great Western crafted by a truly great director. 9/10
A rich, haunting, yet demanding work…
Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” is a rich, haunting, yet demanding work that, above everything else, sees Billy as a creature of his day and ageHe is by no means made a wholly sympathetic character, but who was sympathetic in the New Mexico of 1881? Peckinpah has most of his characters dyed with violence and sniffing the prevailing air of corruptionthe chief protagonists, their filthy henchmen, even the onlookers
Where and what is the law? No one seems to know or care Garrett and Billy have seen both sides, like almost everyone else
And among the confusion and violence that is the legacy of range war there is no gleam of purifying light in the efforts we see being made to clean up the territory The powers that be want Billy out of New Mexico, not for ethical reasons, but rather so that things can be neatly protected for the approaching business exploitation
Garrett is the man made sheriff to hunt him down and thereby the man who compromises . . . ‘This country’s getting older and I aim to grow old with it … there’s an age in a man’s life when he has to consider what’s going to happen next.’
But Billy can’t compromise It’s not his way “Billy, they don’t like you to be so free!” proclaims the Bob Dylan theme song, summing up why the power men find Billy so irritating Perhaps that’s why Garrett who has sold out to power is in some ways a reluctant hunter He salutes Billy’s spirithis very own personal declaration of independencebut he knows it’s not the spirit of the new times
It says much for Peckinpah’s way with actors that he gets such admirable performances out of the comparatively inexperienced Kris Kristofferson, as Billy, and Bob Dylan, as Billy’s mate It says just as much for his Westerns perceptiveness that he relies even more heavily on experience The well-tried James Coburn is both solid and hard to define as Garrett And then there are the others who know their way around Westerns so wellKaty Jurado, Slim Pickens, R. G. Armstrong, Jason Robards, Jack Elam, Chill Wills There’s not a single performance here that isn’t a rounded-off portrait in its own right
It all adds up to a richness in characterization that is matched by the richness of marvelously composed scenes in which interiors and exteriors alike have been put together with loving care and attention to detail, whether it’s a big set-piece ‘shoot-up’ or a close-up of a can of preserveshow such a can looked in 1881
Garrett’s hunt for Billy is told mainly in set-pieces and it has to be said that Peckinpah makes little narrative concession to an audience in the way they are strung together But for the out and out Western fan this is a most memorable movie
Peckinpah and Brando: saddling the same horse
Sam Peckinpah’s “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid” has much in common with “One-Eyed Jacks”; Marlon Brando’s take on the Billy the Kid story, which was based on Charles Neider’s novel, “The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones”.Although Neider’s book, ridiculously renamed “Guns Up” in a Pan paperback edition (the one I read), is a fictionalised account, it is an unforgettable masterpiece, invoking a unique sense of nostalgia for the Old West. Peckinpah loved the book and was inspired to write what turned out to be the first screenplay for “One-Eyed Jacks”, later made by Marlin Brando who changed just about every element.
Although Peckinpah dropped out of that project early, when he finally got a chance to make his version, he moved a long way from Neider’s book. In fact, the script moved closer to the historical record. However, although Neider’s book is not credited, it’s obvious that Peckinpah tried to capture its spirit.
The story tells how Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid once rode together, but eventually found themselves on opposites sides of the law. When Billy brutally escapes from jail, in one of the film’s best sequences, it sets in motion a ruthless hunt by Pat Garrett, which can only have one ending.
Peckinpah actually frames the film with the death of Garrett. This sequence along with others have the trademark Peckinpah slow motion deaths with arching blood spray – techniques that had already become a little hackneyed even by 1973.
However, the central problem was in Peckinpah’s casting of Kris Kristofferson. Not so much, as many reviewers have suggested, that at 37 he was too old to play Billy the Kid, but more because he just didn’t project the necessary sense of danger; he comes across as too affable, too laid back. Brando in “One Eyed Jacks” gave a stunning performance as a man with a dangerous edge, and although it might seem unfair to compare the two, that lack of threat is a key weakness in Peckinpah’s film.
Bob Dylan is in the movie and also provides a couple of very nasally songs on the soundtrack; his presence isn’t just anachronistic, it’s bizarre.
On the other hand, James Coburn is just about perfect as Pat Garrett, and the rest of the cast is probably the greatest coming together of iconic stars from western movies ever – Chill Wills, Slim Pickens, Jack Elam, LQ Jones, Katy Jurado, Gene Evans, Paul Fix and others – one of the joys of the film is in spotting them.
Apparently the film was badly cut by the studio. Despite that, and some strange decisions by Peckinpah himself, the film is nothing less than interesting. But because of all the tampering, like Brando’s film, it misses out on greatness. As for Neider’s book, it still awaits the right filmmaker to give it the definitive treatment on the screen.
Original Language en
Runtime 2 hr 2 min (122 min) (1988 restored), 1 hr 55 min (115 min) (2005 DVD Special Edition), 1 hr 46 min (106 min) (Cut theatrical)
Budget 4638783
Revenue 11000000
Status Released
Rated R
Genre Biography, Drama, Western
Director Sam Peckinpah
Writer Rudy Wurlitzer
Actors James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel
Country United States, Mexico
Awards Nominated for 2 BAFTA 4 nominations total
Production Company N/A
Website N/A
Sound Mix Mono
Aspect Ratio 2.35 : 1
Camera Panavision Lenses
Laboratory Metrocolor, Culver City (CA), USA (color)
Film Length N/A
Negative Format 35 mm
Cinematographic Process Panavision (anamorphic)
Printed Film Format 35 mm