Film of the Day: 24
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Back in the old American West, there was a lawman named Patrick "Pat" Floyd Garrett who was born today in 1850. He was a sheriff in Lincoln County, New Mexico, a customs agent, a bartender, and was even good friends with Theodore Roosevelt (the 26th president of the United States) in his final years. However we will always remember him as the man who shot Billy the Kid.
This is quite similar to the story of Jesse James and Robert Ford, Pat Garrett was also friends with Billy the Kid, so of course once the killing was done, he was an outcast. He also lost the support from his friend Theodore (which also had to do with the fact that he got Tom Powers, who was a notorious gambler, to pose with Theodore in a photo, which gave the president some very bad publicity).
Also similar to the Robert Ford story, Pat Garrett was also murdered, only his story had much more controversy. Whilst riding horseback with Carl Adamson and Jesse Wayne Brazel, with whom he had a major argument over a cattle ranch (turned goat ranch), Pat was shot twice (once in the head and in the stomach) before he could reach for his shotgun.
There have been many films about Billy the Kid (as most films don't focus as much on Pat), however I find this is probably the best film to portray both figures. It was directed by Sam Peckinpah (also known as Bloody Sam), "the man who unleashed The Wild Bunch". It also had many stars in the film including the first acting role of legendary singer Bob Dylan and features James Coburn who also worked with Peckinpah on Cross of Iron.
This may not be Peckinpah's best film, obviously not living up to some of his best work like Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, yet is quite on bar with The Getaway or Ride the High Country. It is most defiantly a major improvement from the much over-rated Straw Dogs and is still one of the better westerns of the 1970's.
Click here for the trailer
This is quite similar to the story of Jesse James and Robert Ford, Pat Garrett was also friends with Billy the Kid, so of course once the killing was done, he was an outcast. He also lost the support from his friend Theodore (which also had to do with the fact that he got Tom Powers, who was a notorious gambler, to pose with Theodore in a photo, which gave the president some very bad publicity).
Also similar to the Robert Ford story, Pat Garrett was also murdered, only his story had much more controversy. Whilst riding horseback with Carl Adamson and Jesse Wayne Brazel, with whom he had a major argument over a cattle ranch (turned goat ranch), Pat was shot twice (once in the head and in the stomach) before he could reach for his shotgun.
There have been many films about Billy the Kid (as most films don't focus as much on Pat), however I find this is probably the best film to portray both figures. It was directed by Sam Peckinpah (also known as Bloody Sam), "the man who unleashed The Wild Bunch". It also had many stars in the film including the first acting role of legendary singer Bob Dylan and features James Coburn who also worked with Peckinpah on Cross of Iron.
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| The Real Pat Garrett |
Click here for the trailer
Now here is a familiar name in 'Billy the Kid'. I seen one film about him, and it kind of stays with you. This outlaw apparently killed a lot of people and he earned the respect from townsfolk in the Wild West...so he was a bit of a folk hero!
ReplyDeleteBut that was it.....the Wild West & the American Frontier. Interesting stories and legends which produced great films too. Good piece!
Thanks dad, and it was rumoured that Billy the Kid had killed as many people as he had birthdays... 21!
ReplyDeleteAlso a close call as I was almost going to do The Killers (1964), because Ronald Reagen died on June 5th, but that's not very interesting...
ReplyDeleteBdw Ronald Reagan WAS a very interesting person, besides being a movie star himself!
ReplyDeleteMissed out on a great Statesman....