Movies - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

	Movies - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

:This article is about the 1973 film. For the Bob Dylan album see Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (album)

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is a 1973 film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring James Coburn
and Kris Kristofferson
. An album of songs from the film composed and performed by Bob Dylan was released the same year.
Production
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid was originally intended to be directed by Monte Hellman, who had just directed an acclaimed film called Two-Lane Blacktop. The screenplay was written by Rudy Wurlitzer, and was universally considered to be highly literate and poetic. Sam Peckinpah became involved through the actor James Coburn, who wanted to play the legendary Sheriff.

Peckinpah believed that this was his chance to make a definitive final statement on the Western genre, and complete the revision of the Western he had begun with Ride the High Country and The Wild Bunch. He rewrote the script with Wurlitzer in order to create a more cyclical narrative, and added a prologue and epilogue depicting Garrett's own assassination at the hands of those who had hired him to kill Billy the Kid. In the original script, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid never met onscreen until the end of the film, and Wurlitzer reportedly deeply resented Peckinpah's reworking of the narrative. Wurlitzer and Peckinpah had a volatile relationship, and Wurlitzer would later write a book highly unfavorable to Peckinpah.

After having initially considered Bo Hopkins
, who had played a small role in The Wild Bunch, for the part of Billy, Peckinpah eventually cast country music star Kris Kristofferson as the young outlaw. Kristofferson's band would also play small roles in the film along with Kristofferson's then-wife Rita Coolidge. Besides playing Billy, Kristofferson also brought Bob Dylan into the film. Initially hired to write the title song, Dylan eventually wrote the score and played a small role in the film. Peckinpah had never heard of Dylan before, but was reportedly so moved by hearing Dylan play the proposed title song that he hired him immediately.

Peckinpah deliberately cast his film's supporting roles with legendary Western character actors such as Chill Wills
, Katy Juarado, Jack Elam
, Slim Pickens
, and Paul Fix. Jason Robards
, who had starred in Peckinpah's earlier film, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, also made a cameo appearance.

From the beginning, the film was plagued with production difficulties. The studio, for economic reasons, refused to give Peckinpah the time or budget he required, and forced the director to rely on a local crew on location in Durango, Mexico, which led to technical problems and costly reshoots. The studio also objected to several scenes they considered superfluous to the film's plot, and Peckinpah and his crew reportedly worked weekends and lunch hours in order to complete these sequences.

Peckinpah was also beginning to be plagued by the alcoholism which he would struggle with for the rest of his life. This, combined with his actors' rock n' roll lifestyle and his clashes with the studio led to Peckinpah's growing reputation as a difficult and troubled filmmaker who could not be relied upon. Others defend Peckinpah as making the best he could out of a difficult situation largely not of his own making.
Controversy Over Post-Production
By the time Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid was in the editing room, Peckinpah's relationship with the studio and his own producers had reached the breaking point. The studio was demanding the film for an unrealistic release date, and Peckinpah and his editors were desperate to finish on time. Furthermore, the studio still objected to several sequences in the film which they wanted removed, forcing Peckinpah to engage in protracted negotiations over the content of his own film. Adding to the problems, Bob Dylan had never done a feature film score before and Peckinpah's usual composer, Jerry Fielding, was unhappy with being relegated to a minor role in the scoring process.
[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid ]

Some related entries: Steel Magnolias | Pluto's Kid Brother | Yogi Bear's Big Break | Gamera 2: Attack of Legion | Golden Years | Lieutenant Athena | A Zed & Two Noughts | Legendary Weapons of China | List of Criterion Laserdisc releases | The Hunchback of Notre Dame | Psych-Out
This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay