Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
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| Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid | |
|---|---|
 original film poster |
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| Directed by | Sam Peckinpah |
| Produced by | Gordon Carroll |
| Written by | Rudy Wurlitzer |
| Starring | James Coburn Kris Kristofferson Slim Pickens Bob Dylan Jason Robards |
| Cinematography | John Coquillon |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (original release) Warner Bros. (DVD) |
| Release date(s) | May 23, 1973 US |
| Running time | 106 min. (cut version) (1988 version: 122 min.) (Special edition: 115 min.) (DVD contains both Director's Cut and Theatrical) |
| Country | US |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $4,638,783 est |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
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, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, was released the same year.
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[edit] 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.[citation needed] 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. Among the songs written by Dylan for the film was "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," still regarded as one of rock music's most enduring anthems.
Peckinpah deliberately cast his film's supporting roles with legendary Western character actors such as Chill Wills, Katy Jurado, 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, unreliable, and troubled filmmaker. Others defend Peckinpah as making the best he could out of a difficult situation largely not of his own making.
[edit] 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 the 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.
Peckinpah did complete a director's cut of the film, which was shown to critics on at least one occasion. Martin Scorsese, who had just made Mean Streets, was at the screening, and praised the film as Peckinpah's greatest since The Wild Bunch.
This version, however, would not see the light of day for over ten years. While the circumstances remain murky, Peckinpah eventually left or was forced out of the production and the film was released in a truncated form which its director largely disowned. This version was a box-office failure and was largely disliked by critics, who had harbored high expectations for the director's first Western since The Wild Bunch.
The film remained something of an enigma for the next decade, with rumors flying about other versions and the nature of what had been left out of the release version. Peckinpah himself was in possession of his own director's cut, which he often showed to friends as his own definitive vision of the film.
[edit] Rediscovery
In 1988, Turner released Peckinpah's director's cut on video and laser disc. This version led to a rediscovery and reevaluation of the film, with most critics praising it as a lost masterpiece and proof of Peckinpah's talent as a filmmaker.[citation needed] The film's reputation has grown substantially since this version was released[citation needed], and the film has come to be regarded as something of a modern classic and the equal of Peckinpah's earlier films.[citation needed]
In 2005, a DVD of the film was released containing the director's cut as well as a new special edition which combined elements of the theatrical release version, the director's cut, and several new scenes which were left out of both versions. This version runs slightly shorter than the director's cut. This page gives a summary of the differences among three existing cuts of the film.
[edit] External links
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid at the Internet Movie Database
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid at All Movie Guide
- Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid at Rotten Tomatoes
| Films directed by Sam Peckinpah |
|---|
| The Deadly Companions • Ride the High Country • Major Dundee • The Wild Bunch • The Ballad of Cable Hogue • Straw Dogs • Junior Bonner • The Getaway • Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid • Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia • The Killer Elite • Cross of Iron • Convoy • The Osterman Weekend |
