I can understand why western fans might like this film. I love westerns, but this one doesn't work for me. It's so full of posturing and attitude that I just roll my eyes. Someone forgot to mention that Billy was 21 when he died. Most twenty one year old men don't look like they're in their thirties (which Kristofferson was). He was also slightly built and tended not to drink. He also didn't tend to wear a cowboy hat, his favorite hat being a sombrero (this is what Pat Garrett noted). Most importantly, many recent biographies note that the Kid wasn't a killer with a grin. Of the four main killings attributed to him, two were in self defense, another was the result of a bullet ricocheting off the wall during his final escape. Only the killing of the deputy with the shotgun (during that same escape) was intentional (it should be noted that very same deputy had been pretty mean to The Kid). He may also have killed five more men as a result of shootouts between The Regulators (of which he was one) and The House, during the Lincoln County War. Also, Pat Garrett wasn't some guy who tumbled into bed with three hookers. He didn't saunter off at the end like it's "mission accomplished". In real life, after shooting Billy the Kid, he and his two deputies spent the night in the house of Pete Maxwell, frightened that the townspeople, many of whom were The Kid's friends and genuinely loved him, would try to kill them. It should be noted that in the film they're good buddies where as in real life, according to historians, Pat and Henry McCarty weren't generally seen to be friends, just acquaintances.
This movie reminds me of Bonnie and Clyde with the way it plays so fast and loose with many of the facts that the characters are Bonnie and Clyde in name only. The difference, tho, is that Bonnie and Clyde is a genuinely good film. Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid could have been a great film, but it just isn't. It's a typical western that wastes a legendary time in history.
This movie reminds me of Bonnie and Clyde with the way it plays so fast and loose with many of the facts that the characters are Bonnie and Clyde in name only. The difference, tho, is that Bonnie and Clyde is a genuinely good film. Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid could have been a great film, but it just isn't. It's a typical western that wastes a legendary time in history.