Review of Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973) by Ro D — 01 Dec 2012

In our modern era, I would call "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" an Occupy Wall Street Western. And, I mean that in the most complimentary sense.

So many westerns romanticize the transition from the American West to The American Industrial Revolution. Not Sam Peckinpah's westerns. He was one director who showed how the greed and brutality of the cattle barons despoiled the American landscape and the American heritage. He portrayed these visions very well in his two most famous movies, "The Wild Bunch" and "Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid".

Please note that many of the film reviews from the critics here are for the original cut that was rushed into release in 1973 by then-MGM Studio Head James Aubrey. The key cut of this picture to see is the 2005 restoration that was put together based on Sam Peckinpah's notes.

The picture is hardly free from flaws, but the overall sense of the upper 2% of the 19th century despoiling the land, corrupting friendships and brutalizing the people is crystal clear and gives the picture a resounding power that covers up those flaws. When Garrett's wife tells him that he's dead inside, in a scene that was cut from the original release, we can't help but agree as he goes down an ill-fated path of just being another killer for the cattle barons.

The movie also does not romanticize the violence of the Old West either. People die in bloody shoot-outs while longing to cling to life. No scene better embodies that than the one depicting a sheriff dying next to a brook while the famous Bob Dylan song "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" is playing. It's quite a powerful scene.

James Coburn has a perfect world-weary, beaten-down look to him throughout the picture that reflects a man who's compromised himself to the point where he has to murder his old friends. You can tell what an outstanding actor he is as I remember Mr. Coburn having that same look on his face a few months after this picture was released. Only, in that case, it was happening in real life, as he was a pall-bearer at a funeral for one of the best friends he ever had: Bruce Lee.

When an actor's performance conflates with an event from his own life, you know you're seeing some great work in a great movie. And, that movie is "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid".