FILM TITLE: PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID DIRECTOR: SAM PECKINGPAH COUNTRY: USA 1973 CINEMATOGRAPHY: JOHN COQUILLON MUSIC: BOB DYLAN CAST: James Coburn ( Pat ), Kris Kristofferson Billy ), Bob Dylan, Katy Jurado, Jason Robarts, Rita Coolidge SUPER FEATURES: Peckingpah at his best.... in a western.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When this film came out it was panned as a bad western, in the days when John Wayne was still alive and a hero. Today, this film merits another release. It is, so ahead of its time, and so different from any other western, and such an innovatively designed film that it is hard to fault it, even if many of the actors in the production were not actors at all, but musicians. This production is well thought out and not at all a slipshod production. It does have, however, a hard dose of Sam Peckingpah, and his human approach to the western.
This western is more feasible, than the cardboard set wonders in the history of the celluloid.
It is the story of Pat Garrett, who was paid to chase down Billy the Kid, and finally does. But this is not what makes the film what it is, and what makes it a good film to see.
The story, here, is devoid of the grandeur of the western, and the hype of good guys versus the bad guys. The film makes its point, time and again, that the bad guys are never really that bad, and that one day, they would be good guys instead... funny how times change, states Billy one time amidst a drink. The law changes with a different rich man in charge of the town, or bank. Billy becomes the victim of revenge, rather than a victim to Pat Garrett in a duel, or a heroic stance which many cowboy heroes always find in the haven of the movies. And not even the revenge of the law.
But what stands out in this story is that it is raw, and personal and it makes the point of being sleazy and ugly where it needs to and pretty and respectful where it must. The contrast is almost too much. Pat, in the end, allows Billy to enjoy his night with the woman he has come to love, knowing that there had been few nights when loving meant anything to him, or anyone else around him. There were no loyalties, and he knows it. And one day, he too will fall victim to many others who can be bought, just as he was.
The language in the film is not the prettiest, and has some pretty foul language, which is to be expected in a place where education is basically non existent, and people only seem to live and hate each other depending on how much they can gain from it.
And the most obvious touch, that makes this western one of those that appear so close to the way things might have been then, is the music by Bob Dylan. Unlike the Hollywood standard of the big sound and romanticized music to help us along, the passages are illustrated by songs by Bob Dylan, who sings in his inimitable style, bad voice, and seemingly out of tune guitar.... so much like the music probably was in those days.... it creates an eerie effect, that immediately seems to tell us that things are bad, and going wrong. In those days, this singer would have sung and played, exactly the way this was done, and thought out.
And then, there are the way that people dress and behave. Sam Peckingpah had no qualms about a woman being naked or loved in the screen, and in this film, the women are exactly what they might have been, as opposed to always looking like defrocked dames. It's nice to see real women in these things, as opposed to images. Just like it's nice to see real men, or better said, real humans, telling a story about the human corruption, and how favors can change that corruption into something that is called, wrongly, the law, or the arms of the law.
Superb film. For all western enthusiasts, this is the eccentric film, that fits along the lines of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, by taking the glamorous style out of the film altogether.... it creates a stunning effect to describe a time, when men could behave like real sadists and animals, in spite of their humanity.
Such is the valor, and value of most of Sam Peckingpah's work.
4 GIBLOONS Copyright (c) Pedro Sena 1995. All Rights Reserved.
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