Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
1973 Directed by Sam Peckinpah
Synopsis
An aging Pat Garrett is hired as a lawman on behalf of a group of wealthy New Mexico cattle barons--his sole purpose being to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid.
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There are many things that make this one of my favorite underrated western, but first and foremost is the performance of James Coburn, my favorite of his. The man lives and breathes the old west without opening his mouth. He just has the look. Then he speaks, and has a command that is unquestioned. He is a force at the center of this film and has tremendous natural chemistry with another blindsiding force, Kris Kristofferson. I'm not as familiar with Kris in his younger acting roles, but he somehow fits into this drunken madman world just as seamlessly as Coburn.
The next best thing is of course the wild man direction from Sam Peckinpah. I don't think a drunkard has…
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One of Sam Peckinpah's very best films and one of my favorite Westerns of all time.
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One of the finest Westerns ever made. Sam Peckinpah (Director) was dismissed from the project before the final edit which explains why the parts may be better than the whole . . . but the parts are magnificent. And all the elements are magnificent – the cast led by James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan and Jason Robards but also including the legendary Katy Jurado and Slim Pickens; the haunting music score written for the film by Dylan (including Knocking on Heavens Door); the moody visuals and a terrific script with its ideas about change, trust, old loyalties and a dubious new age.
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Peckinpah presents his darkest vision of melancholy and betrayal in this terrifically moody and often disturbing portrait of the West. The romantic notions of the type of American individualism that built the West has been replaced by a corporate America where money and power create an allure of security that twists men into compromises that would have been unthinkable 20 years earlier. The gorgeous shots, signature Peckinpah editing, Bob Dylan's terrific music and Coburn and Kristofferson's contrasting performances combine to create a film whose stark fatalism and hopelessness reflect the times in which it was made.
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An oddly lyrical and contemplative movie in comparison to most of Peckinpah's others. Kris Kristofferson's Billy plays like James Taylor in "Two-Lane Blacktop" or Paul Newman in "Cool Hand Luke," an outlaw-as-counter-cultural hero preternaturally at odds with the encroachment of civilization into his world. James Coburn is more than adequate as Pat Garrett, though it's difficult to ignore the fact that Robert Ryan played essentially the same character in "The Wild Bunch" from four years earlier.
In fact, it's difficult to view "Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid" in any other context than in comparison to "The Wild Bunch." Though I understand that Peckinpah was trying to do something different with "Garrett" (more existential, less plot-driven, somehow even bleaker), I couldn't…
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This is another wistful, elegiac paean to the old West from Sam Peckinpah, painted in the earthy russet hues of Johnny Coquillon’s gorgeous cinematography, with a melancholic acoustic soundtrack from Bob Dylan. A tender, slow moving character study punctuated by sudden bursts of random violence, portrayed in the director’s customary slow-motion balletic style, with James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson as the titular duo -- former workers on a cattle ranch who have ended up on opposite sides of the law -- being just the central spokes around which a series of mini portraits of gruff, individualistic characters is arranged; each one of them will sooner or later be obliged to stroll out laconically to meet their certain doom: the result…
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Peckinpah presents his darkest vision of melancholy and betrayal in this terrifically moody and often disturbing portrait of the West. The romantic notions of the type of American individualism that built the West has been replaced by a corporate America where money and power create an allure of security that twists men into compromises that would have been unthinkable 20 years earlier. The gorgeous shots, signature Peckinpah editing, Bob Dylan's terrific music and Coburn and Kristofferson's contrasting performances combine to create a film whose stark fatalism and hopelessness reflect the times in which it was made.
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One of Sam Peckinpah's very best films and one of my favorite Westerns of all time.
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My favourite film.
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There are so many great elements in this film. Humor, drama, violence, an orgy and more. It's a joy to watch Peckinpah's mastery of the genre. It also has an all-star cast of mid century western actors led by Kris Kristoferson, James Coburn and Bob Dylan. You will also spot: Chill Wills, Slim Pickins, Jason Robards, Harry Dean Stanton, and Jack Elam. I'm pretty sure Bob dylan was just playing Bob Dylan in this movie, but it's great! -As is the music that Dylan also did for the film.
There's a lot going on and it's a bit slow but some might call that an Epic. It's really great!
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Bob Dylan is in this Picture…
I say I’m a fan of director Sam Pekinpah, but have only see a handful of his work. His skilled balance of dynamics with drama, adventure, slight humor, unusual and memorable dialogue, swift location and story shifts and underline graphic violence, is masterfully executed, even if it feels at times dangling by a thread.
But, that’s where I think Peckinpah's comfort is found. Not only can his films get a bit uncomfortable, they offer something unique and bold-plated to come back to, or to chew on you in the night. To me, that feels the work of a master filmmaker experimenting instead of meticulously precrafting, and I like that. Now, I’m not well versed…
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What is "Law"?
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Good western if not a little predictable. James Coburn was excellent, even Bob Dylan's acting wasn't too bad.
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There are many things that make this one of my favorite underrated western, but first and foremost is the performance of James Coburn, my favorite of his. The man lives and breathes the old west without opening his mouth. He just has the look. Then he speaks, and has a command that is unquestioned. He is a force at the center of this film and has tremendous natural chemistry with another blindsiding force, Kris Kristofferson. I'm not as familiar with Kris in his younger acting roles, but he somehow fits into this drunken madman world just as seamlessly as Coburn.
The next best thing is of course the wild man direction from Sam Peckinpah. I don't think a drunkard has…
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Entretenida pero se hace algo lenta. Lo mejor los momentos "knocking on heavens door" y el papel de James Coburn.