Young Guns II (1990)

In 1881, cattle baron John Chisum pays a bounty to Patrick Floyd Garrett to kill outlaw Billy the Kid.

Director:

Geoff Murphy

Writers:

John Fusco (characters), John Fusco

Stars:

Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Emilio Estevez	...	William H. Bonney
Kiefer Sutherland	...	Doc Scurlock
Lou Diamond Phillips	...	Chavez y Chavez
Christian Slater	...	Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh
William Petersen	...	Pat Garrett
Alan Ruck	...	Hendry French
R.D. Call	...	D.A. Rynerson
James Coburn	...	John Chisum
Balthazar Getty	...	Tom O'Folliard
Jack Kehoe	...	Ashmun Upson
Robert Knepper	...	Deputy Carlyle
Tom Kurlander	...	J.W. Bell
Viggo Mortensen	...	John W. Poe
Leon Rippy	...	Bob Ollinger
Tracey Walter	...	Beever Smith

Storyline

Billy "The Kid" and his gang are wanted by the law, and when "Doc" Scurlock and Chavez are captured, Billy has to save them. They escape and set south for Mexico. "Let's hire a thief to catch one", John S. Chisum said, so he paid Pat Garrett, one of Billy's former partners, $1000 for the killing of William H. Bonney aka Billy "The Kid".

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Plot Keywords:

outlaw | escape | arizona | arizona territory | new mexico territory | 

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Taglines:

Yoo-Hoo, I'll make ya famous!

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Genres:

Action | Western

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 August 1990 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hell Bent for Leather

Filming Locations:

Bavispe, Sonora, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,017,438, 5 August 1990, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$44,143,410

Company Credits

Production Co:

Morgan Creek Entertainment, Eaves Movie Ranch, Film Partners 1

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

No one got away from the ambush by Garrett's posse at Stinking Springs. A few were injured, and Charlie Bowdre died. The Kid and his gang surrendered and were all taken to jail in Santa Fe, but Dave Rudabaugh eventually escaped and did flee to Mexico. Despite claims that he fled to Montana and led a "normal life", it is accepted that Rudabaugh killed two men in Mexico and was shortly thereafter beheaded. The Mexican government even took a picture of his severed head as proof that they had executed the outlaw.

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Goofs

The Royal Albert tea cup that John Poe uses was not manufactured in that pattern (Old Country Roses), until 1962.

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Quotes

Josiah Gordon "Doc" Scurlock: Those days are over, Chavez
Jose Chavez Y Chavez: When the spirit horse comes, then it's over.

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Connections

Referenced in Parker Lewis Can't Lose: Rent-A-Kube (1990)

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Soundtracks

Santa Fe
Written and Performed by Jon Bon Jovi
(c) 1990 Bon Jovi Publishing / PRI Music, Inc. (ASCAP)
Courtesy of PolyGram Records, Inc.

User Reviews

The Kid going down in a blaze of glory....

There have been only a handful of films to try to put the immortal story of Billy the Kid onto film. Among them was Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid with Val Kilmer and Young Guns I.

This is the sequel, of course, to the latter film, and it just might be the finest Billy the Kid film out there. True, some of the dialogue is shoddy ("I guess you don't know the true meaning of the word PALS!"), but that's not the point. The point is, this is the only film of all of them to really capture the spirit of Billy the Kid. There has always been a thin line in between characters such as the Kid, between legend and fact. Of course, this film reflects mostly on the legends, and it takes the attitude that in the midst of all the legend and stories that were told about Billy and his gang of cohorts, there was a very real, very human leader who allowed all the legends about him to get to his head. As a result, he must suffer the consequences.

The cast is at the top of its game, especially Esteves as the Kid, Sutherland as Doc and Diamond Phillips as Chavez. Slater and Ruck also lend their support as Arkansas Dave and Buckshot George, respectively. This motley group make up the "Young Guns," and their quest to get to the Mexican border and escape from former gang member Pat Garret. The film follows the standard Billy the Kid story, with only slight moderations, but this is the only film in which the spirit of Billy the Kid is alive and you truly feel like this character is what he thinks he is: some kind of god. This was exactly what the story needed, and it works for the same reason films like "Braveheart" worked: they don't try to do an accurate, historical retelling, but rather, they pay tribute to the legends centered around the character.

The soundtrack is also nice. Even if one hated this film, they have to admit that the Oscar-nominated song "Blaze of Glory" by Bon Jovi is a winner, and it captures the spirit of the whole film and the message that it was trying to make: that legends are forever.

Without a doubt, this is the best Billy the Kid film, and therefore it is one of the western genre's greatest achievement.

"Yoo hoo....I'll make you famous."