Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is a 1973 western movie directed by Sam Peckinpah, with a running time of 1h 55m. It stars James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson and Richard Jaeckel.
An aging Pat Garrett, once an outlaw himself, pins on a badge for the cattle barons who now run New Mexico Territory and rides out to hunt his old friend Billy the Kid. James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson play the two men caught on opposite sides of a closing frontier. Sam Peckinpah directs in his elegiac, blood-slowed style, with Bob Dylan both scoring the film and appearing in it. The pursuit moves at the pace of inevitability, less a manhunt than a long goodbye to a vanishing way of living. Weathered, mournful, and shot through with regret.
Quick answers
What is Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid about?
An aging Pat Garrett, once an outlaw himself, pins on a badge for the cattle barons who now run New Mexico Territory and rides out to hunt his old friend Billy the Kid. James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson play the two men caught on opposite sides of a closing frontier. Sam Peckinpah directs in his elegiac, blood-slowed style, with Bob Dylan both scoring the film and appearing in it. The pursuit moves at the pace of inevitability, less a manhunt than a long goodbye to a vanishing way of living. Weathered, mournful, and shot through with regret.
When was Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid released?
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid was released on 23 May 1973.
How long is Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid?
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid runs 1h 55m.
Who made Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid?
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid was directed by Sam Peckinpah.
Where can I watch Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid?
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is available on Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home, Google Play Movies and YouTube.
Where to watch Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Rent: Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home, Google Play Movies, YouTube
Cast
- James Coburn as Pat Garrett
- Kris Kristofferson as Billy the Kid
- Richard Jaeckel as Sheriff Kip McKinney
- Katy Jurado as Mrs. Baker
- Chill Wills as Lemuel
- Barry Sullivan as Chisum
- Jason Robards as Governor Wallace
- Bob Dylan as Alias
- R.G. Armstrong as Ollinger
- Luke Askew as Eno
- John Beck as Poe
- Richard Bright as Holly
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A few thoughts on Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Bob Dylan scored this film, and his soundtrack album, home to Knockin' on Heaven's Door, stands on its own as a portrait of the same dusty ending. Rockstar's Red Dead Redemption 2 carries that identical ache for a frontier being fenced in and paved over, trading gunfighters for the slow, sad death of the outlaw age.
Westerns about outlaws who've outlived the frontier that made them
Sam Peckinpah's mournful hunt for Billy the Kid watches the open frontier close in real time, its outlaws already relics. These stories share that same fatigue: gunslingers, drifters, and gang members riding through landscapes that no longer have room for them, whether on screen or across an open frontier you ride yourself.
Crime sagas where violence hardens into legend
Peckinpah turns a real manhunt into myth, and these sagas do the same with their own violent histories. Gangs of New York mythologizes 1860s gang war, The Krays turns London's twin enforcers into folklore, and outlaw riders like the James gang get the same treatment: men whose brutality outlives them as story.