Review of Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) by Nick C — 29 Apr 2004

[center]The Death Of Sam Peckinpah[/center].

[center]1925 to 1984[/center].

"Suddenly a new West has emerged. Suddenly it was sundown for nine men. Suddenly their day was over. Suddenly the sky was bathed in blood.".

The Western is dead. I'll say it again, the Western is dead. And sad days have fallen for the Hollywood Sunset-Riding-CowboysandOutlaw-Gunslingers. Their horizon is bleak. The scripts are worse, prime example, the latest debacle for the western flick=The Alamo. Yes, we have lost one of the silver screen gems, that old dusty cowboy flick which was a SURE THING back in the day.

You make a cowboy movie now, you better pray, or you must be blowin' someone in the hi-rise executive offices to have a chance for this kind of film to see the light of day. And if it does, odds are it'll blow harder than the director and producer who were on their knees a sentence ago.

But, there are exceptions, and in this case it would be Clint Eastwood's off the charts, border line greatest western film ever produced = "Unforgiven" However, only one film in the last two decades? That my friends is a dismal performance.

Hmmmm....

Let's see here.

Do a bit of math.

Okay, I think I have the answer. The answer to why the western is dead, however, before I give the cheat sheet out, let's take a look at...

The Young Gun Movies '88 & '90.

Yah, loved 'em way back when, however, do they hold up. Meaning can they stand the test of time. The erosion that occurs, can, well, be fucking brutal. And these two films are biodegradable, forgettable. Directed by ?=who cares. No masterpiece, not even if you stretch the word masterpiece as far as humanly or animally(if that's a word) possible.

Quigley Down Under '90.

Magnum PI - directed by the guy who did the Lonesome Dove thing. Not even worth the words I'm typing right now, but, had to put this one in here for a good chuckle.

Okay...

Doing the math and.

The Quick and The Dead '95.

Raimi's attempt at a western, hmmm... Maybe it's just me, couldn't get behind this one. Not a memorable effort. Just a wimpy little film, no meat, nothing to chew over and spit out like a true outlaw back in the day. Sharon Stone kickin' Ass, HUH, Kill Bill?

Digressing a bit to.

1993.

Tombstone.

Starring, What Ever Happened to Val "I'll be your Huckleberry" Kilmer. Can it hold up? (sigh) This one is on the edge, but, I gotta go with the gut, No... Saving Grace in this flick is our old buddy What Ever Happened to Val "I'll be your Huckleberry" Kilmer.

Fast-Forward to.

Wild Bill '95.

Starring Jeff "the dude"Bridges. And, thought this one had a chance with Walter Hill at the helm, however, do not watch this film, it could cause terminal illness.

Doing the math.

And...

The answer to why the western is dead = Sam Pickinpah, the maestro, is six feet under, takin' a dirt nap. The once upon a time visionary, care taker, godfather of the western, the man who was carrying the entire weight and burden of the genre on his back, died of heart failure in Mexico, how fitting.

He single handedly began to re-write, re-inventing, (with imagery), the outlaw, and, like his identical twin, Sergio Leone, Sam P photographed his characters with compassion and loving care. As a mother would, even if her child grew up to be one of Peckinpah's characters, or pure evil, she, like Sam P, would still love the child. That's what's missing from our westerns in the modern day-splash-flash-MTV-Editing-Color-Induced, present time films. That love. Thinking now, it's missing thru out the entire spectrum of Hollywood.

Sam P loved the art of filmmaking and nowadays, not many directors love the art,they love... Well, I'm not sure what they love, but it's not filmmaking, cuz it shows in their work. Anyway, going off on a tangent here, get me back on the dirty cow trail of.

Sam Pickinpah, who crafted two of the all-time, greatest western flicks to hit our over-populated earth = The Wild Bunch & Pat Garret and Billy the Kid. And the times they are a'changing...

[u]The Untouchable Western List[/u].

The Good The Bad The Ugly.

High Plains Drifter.

The Wild Bunch.

Pat Garret and Billy the Kid.

Fist Full Of Dollars.

Unforgiven.