Young Guns II
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| Young Guns II | |
|---|---|
 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Geoff Murphy |
| Produced by | Paul Schiff Irby Smith |
| Written by | John Fusco |
| Starring | Emilio Estevez Kiefer Sutherland Lou Diamond Phillips William Petersen James Coburn |
| Music by | Jon Bon Jovi Alan Silvestri |
| Cinematography | Dean Semler |
| Editing by | Bruce Green |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | August 1, 1990 |
| Running time | 104 min. |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Young Guns |
| IMDb profile | |
Young Guns II is a 1990 film, and is the sequel to Young Guns. It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, and features William Petersen as Pat Garrett. It was directed by Geoff Murphy.
It follows the life of William H Bonney aka Billy the Kid (played by Emilio Estevez) in the years following the Lincoln County War in which Billy was part of "The Regulators" - a group of around 50 highly skilled gunmen avenging the death of John Tunstall, and the years before Billy's documented death. The film however is told by Brushy Bill Roberts - a man who in the 1940s appeared claiming to be the real Billy the Kid.
While the film is not entirely historically accurate it does show some of the key events leading up to Billy's documented death, including his talks with Governor Lew Wallace, his capture by friend-turned-foe Pat Garrett, his trial and his following escape in which he killed two deputies.
Contents |
[edit] Cast
- Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid
- Kiefer Sutherland as Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock
- Lou Diamond Phillips as Jose Chavez y Chavez
- Christian Slater as 'Arkansas' Dave Rudabaugh
- Alan Ruck as Henry William French
- William Petersen as Pat Garrett
- Viggo Mortensen as John W. Poe
- James Coburn as John Chisum
[edit] Plot
The film opens with a young attorney talking to an elderly man named Brushy Bill Roberts, who claims that he is William H. Bonney (aka Billy The Kid, who was said to have been shot and killed by Pat Garrett in 1881). The majority of the film takes place in flashbacks as the old man recalls his story for the historian.
The movie begins with Billy going to save his old friends Doc Scurlock and Jose Chavez y Chavez out of prison. The group then make a run for the border with Billy's new gang including Dave 'Arkansas' Rudabaugh and Hendry William French and 14 year old Tom O'Falliard. After their escape, the authorities think it wise to hire an old friend of Billy's, Pat Garrett, to hunt him down and kill him. Garret agrees and begins his search for the legendary outlaw.
This adventure goes even worse than the last one did, throughout the film Tom is killed. Late in the film, Billy, Doc, Hendry and Chavez are all cornered, Doc being shot. Doc realizes there's no hope left for him, so to allow his friends to get away he make a final stand against the police while Chavez, Dave and Hendry get away, Chavez being badly wounded in the escape. Doc, is shot and killed as he had planned.
Billy is caught and taken back to be imprisoned and tried in Lincoln county. After the daring feat of killing his two guards Billy makes an audacious escape and goes to meet up with his friends in Old Fort Sumner. He comes to realize that Dave has abandoned them and that Chavez is mortally wounded. Billy is incensed at how his actions have lead to the deaths of his friends while he has been largely unharmed. He takes refuge with a female friend for the night. When he decides to go get something to eat he realizes that he is unarmed just as Pat Garrett makes his presence known. After a short dialouge, Billy turns around, forcing Garrett to shoot him in the back like a coward, Garrett shoots errantly, striking a distant pinata, and in the morning finds his horse missing. The film ends with Brushy Bill walking away after his story while the lawyer chases after him. The prologue reveals that Dave was in fact killed once he reached Mexico and that despite his claims, Brushy Bill Roberts was never credited as being Billy the Kid.
[edit] Soundtrack
Emilio Estevez originally approached Jon Bon Jovi to ask him for permission to include the song "Wanted Dead Or Alive" on the soundtrack[citation needed]. Bon Jovi didn't feel the song was entirely appropriate (particularly the line "On a steel horse I ride")[citation needed]; however, he was inspired by the project and resolved to write a new song for the film, that would be more in keeping with the period and setting. He quickly wrote the song 'Blaze Of Glory', offering it to Estevez for inclusion in the film. Bon Jovi then went on to write and record several more songs, working with legendary guitarist Jeff Beck. Only two of the songs made it into the finished film ('Blaze Of Glory' and 'Billy Get Your Guns'), but all the recorded songs were released as a 'Music From And Inspired By' soundtrack album (also featuring a brief Alan Silvestri cue, 'Guano City') - an album that achieved great success commercially and critically[citation needed].
[edit] Trivia
- The only actors to return from the original film are Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, and Lou Diamond Phillips.
- Jose Chavez y Chavez (played by Lou Diamond Phillips) did not die during this time, he lived a long life, dying much later in 1924.
- Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock (played by Kiefer Sutherland) also did not die during this time; he became a schoolteacher and died in 1929.
- The scene where Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh (played by Christian Slater) puts a knife through Chavez' arm was added due to Lou Diamond Phillips' breaking his arm during filming.
- When escaping after sentencing Billy shouts out "Hello, Bob" before shooting Bob Ollinger, and "Goodbye, Bob" afterwards - exactly the same as the real Billy.
- The real Billy is also known to have told a judge he could go to "Hell, Hell, Hell," after the judge sentenced him to hang by the neck until he be "dead, dead, dead."
- John Chisum (played by James Coburn) convinces Pat Garrett to accept a job as the new Lincoln County Sheriff. Coburn himself played Garrett in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.
