Did You Know?
Monte Hellman was supposed to direct the film as a follow-up to Two-Lane Blacktop (which was also written by Rudy Wurlitzer). His first choice to play Billy was James Taylor (who starred in "Blacktop").
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Rumors began to reach the studio that director Sam Peckinpah was unable to work due to his heavy drinking. So as a joke, a photo was taken which showed Peckinpah on a stretcher being fed whiskey through an IV bottle while cast members carried him.
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Average Shot Length (ASL) = 4.5 seconds (2005 DVD Version). This is fast by most 1970s' film standards, but quite slow for Sam Peckinpah. For example, The Wild Bunch has an A.S.L. of three seconds, Junior Bonner 3.5 seconds, The Killer Elite four seconds.
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According to Kris Kristofferson, director Sam Peckinpah so detested the studio cut of this film he actually urinated on the screen.
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According to Kris Kristofferson, Sam Peckinpah hired Donnie Fritts, a log-time collaborator of Kristofferson's as a favor, and cast him as Billy the Kid's gang member, Beaver. Because Fritts had no scripted lines, all he does is repeat whatever anyone says in the movie.
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Kris Kristofferson and Sam Peckinpah had several heated arguments during the making of the film, and others on the set often thought it would end up in a fight. Peckinpah, always very confrontational, wanted to fight Kristofferson but said that he feared Kristoffersonm, a former Army Airborne Ranger, would "kill him". Kristofferson answered, "Yeah, Sam, I think you're right". In spite of this, Peckinpah referred to Kristofferson as a "fucking great guy" and said that working with him was "one of the greatest experiences of my life".
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Sam Peckinpah had Roger Miller (singer of "King of the Road") in mind for the soundtrack, but Kris Kristofferson suggested Bob Dylan.
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Kris Kristofferson fell in love with on-screen love interest Rita Coolidge and the two were married shortly after filming.
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At various stages of the film's gestation, there was talk of Marlon Brando and Jon Voight, Robert Redford and Sam Shepard, and Jack Nicholson and John Denver playing the lead roles.
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After seeing Kris Kristofferson perform at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and his appearance in Cisco Pike, Sam Peckinpah decided to cast him as Billy the Kid in this film.
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Barry Sullivan (Chisum) had played Pat Garrett in the TV series The Tall Man. And James Coburn (Garrett) will play John Chisum in "Young guns II" (1990).
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A bent flange on a lens of one of the Panavasion cameras caused all the shots made with that one camera (all of them master shots) to be out of focus on the right side, and thus rendering them totally unusable. Because MGM had refused Sam Peckinpah's request for a camera mechanic to be on duty during the shoot in Durango, and because all the footage was first sent back to Los Angeles for processing, the crew didn't discover the problem for weeks. Only after the faulty lens was replaced did MGM send a camera mechanic down; and by that time, the film was several days over schedule, and several hundred thousand dollars over budget.
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