Young Guns
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| Young Guns | |
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 Young Guns movie poster |
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| Directed by | Christopher Cain |
| Produced by | Christopher Cain Joe Roth |
| Written by | John Fusco |
| Starring | Emilio Estevez Kiefer Sutherland Lou Diamond Phillips Charlie Sheen Dermot Mulroney Casey Siemaszko Jack Palance Terence Stamp |
| Music by | Brian Banks Anthony Marinelli |
| Cinematography | Dean Semler |
| Editing by | Jack Hofstra |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | August 12, 1988 |
| Running time | 102 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Followed by | Young Guns II |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Young Guns is a 1988 action/western film directed by Christopher Cain and written by John Fusco.
Its stars include Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, and Casey Siemaszko. It also features Terence Stamp, Terry O'Quinn, Brian Keith, and Jack Palance. Young Guns is a fictionalized retelling of the adventures of Billy the Kid (Estevez) during the Lincoln County War, which took place in New Mexico during 1877-1878. It was filmed in and around Los Cerrillos, New Mexico.
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[edit] Plot
John Tunstall, an educated Englishman and cattle rancher in Lincoln County, New Mexico, hires wayward young gun men to live and work on his ranch. Tunstall's ranch is heavy competition for another well-connected rancher named Murphy and their men clash on a regular basis. Tunstall recruits Billy and tensions escalate into the murder of Tunstall. Billy (Estevez), Doc (Sutherland), Chavez (Phillips), Dick (Sheen), Dirty Steve (Mulroney), and Charley (Siezmasko), consult their lawyer friend Alex who deputizes them and gives them warrants for the arrest of Murphy's murderous henchmen.
Billy quickly challenges Dick's authority as leader of the group. The men call themselves "The Regulators" and begin to kill many of the men they are charged with arresting. The men are stripped of their newly-found badges, which they find out about by reading a newspaper. That same paper also confuses Dick for Billy, showing a picture of Dick labeled "Billy the Kid", a nickname to which Billy takes an immediate liking. While the local authorities begin their hunt for Billy and the boys, The Regulators decide to finish off their list of arrest warrants. The last one on the list is cornered in an outhouse and an intense shootout begins that ends up killing Dick. Billy appoints himself as the new leader of the group. The gang becomes famous and the U.S. Army are brought into the arena, charged with bringing them to justice under Murphy's corrupt political influence.
The gang eludes attention for some time but are tracked down and trapped while in the home of their lawyer on the main street of Lincoln, New Mexico. An intense shootout begins as the authorities enter the house. A ceasefire is called for the night, but the battle continues the next morning when the Army rolls in, accompanied by Murphy. They torch the house and Chavez runs out the back of the house, appearing to desert the gang. As the house begins to burn down, the men come up with an escape plan. They begin throwing the possessions of Alex, their lawyer, out the windows of the second floor. Billy places himself inside of a large trunk, and when it lands in front of the house, he takes his opponents by surprise when he leaps out and begins to open fire.
Almost at the same time, Doc bursts out of the stairway leading to the top floor with guns blazing. He's followed by Charley and Steve. As all the men make it to the lawn, Billy is shot twice in his arms. Charlie challenges the bounty hunter John Kinney; Kinney shoots Charlie and Charlie fires back. Charlie kills Kinney but in the process takes a few more bullets and dies.
Chavez takes the Army by surprise. He is riding a horse and has two more horses with him. He comes from behind the army and jumps their barricade to get his two extra horses to the surviving Regulators. Billy jumps on one horse as Doc gets on the other. Doc gets shot as his girlfriend screams; he rides over to her and picks her up, and they ride off. Chavez tries to get Steve on a horse, but Steve is unable to get on in time and Chavez is forced to ride off. Steve is left without a horse and unarmed. He is shot multiple times by the Army and Murphy's men. He falls into a dirty puddle, dead.
Alex cheers the boys on as they ride away. The army opens fire on him with a Gatling gun and he is killed. As the remaining men ride away, Billy returns to the street for only a moment to shoot Murphy right between the eyes, growling "Reap it Murphy, you son of a bitch."
The final scene is a voice over of Doc explaining what happend to the surviving three Regulators. In Doc's explanation, he includes that Chavez took work at a farm in California; Doc moved east to New York and married the China Girl he saved from Murphy; and Billy continued to ride until he was gunned down by Patrick Garrett. Billy was buried next to Charlie Bowdre at Fort Sumnter. A stranger went to the grave of Billy the Kid late at night and made a carving into the headstone. The epitaph read only one thing: "PALS."
The film was followed by its sequel, Young Guns II, in 1990.
[edit] Cast
- Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid
- Kiefer Sutherland as Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock
- Lou Diamond Phillips as Jose Chavez y Chavez
- Charlie Sheen as Richard 'Dick' Brewer
- Dermot Mulroney as Dirty Steve Stephens
- Casey Siemaszko as Charlie Bowdre
- Terence Stamp as John Tunstall
- Jack Palance as Lawrence G. Murphy
- Terry O'Quinn as Alex McSween
- Geoffrey Blake as J. McCloskey
[edit] Reception
This film is often dismissed by film critics as a "brat pack" or glossy "MTV Western" even though it does continue some of the genre's conventions. Some glaring differences between this film and other westerns are the use of drugs (peyote) and the hard rock musical score by Anthony Marinelli and Brian Banks. These elements were probably used in the film to appeal to the film's targeted teenage demographic.
It should be noted that many well-regarded films use music not native to the era the film takes place. Among these are Meet Me In St Louis ("The Trolly Song"), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"), Grease (featuring seventies themed songs by Olivia Newton-John and The Bee-Gees), Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid (featuring songs by Bob Dylan) and every song in Moulin Rouge!.
[edit] Trivia
- Billy repeatedly says "Reap the whirlwind", a reference to Hosea 8:7.
- It is widely believed that Billy's real name was William H. Bonney; however, this is one of many aliases the real Billy the Kid used, as was William Antrim.
- The song "When Irish Eyes are Smiling" is sung by patrons of a cantina, even though it wasn't written until 34 years after 1878.
- Tom Cruise makes a cameo as one of the cowboys shot as the regulators flee the home of lawyer Alex McSween (Terry O'Quinn).
- Dialogue by Casey Siemaszko's character is sampled in the seminal 1994 hip-hop song "Regulate" by Warren G and Nate Dogg, but according to the DVD commentary Siemaszko had no clue that this happened nor had he heard of the song itself.
- The opening and closing theme to "Young Guns" was later used as the theme song for the first year of the tv series Walker, Texas Ranger.
- The word 'PALS', Findagrave: Billy the Kid, is in fact carved onto the grave site tombstone shared by Tom O'Folliard, Charlie Bowdre and Billy the Kid.
- Randy Travis makes a cameo at the end of the movie shooting the Gatling gun that kills Alex McSween.
