Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Short description
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid is a Western set in New Mexico in 1881. Pat Garrett, once an outlaw himself, takes on the role of sheriff on behalf of wealthy cattle ranchers who want Billy the Kid dealt with. Garrett and Billy were companions in their lawless days, and Garrett warns his friend to leave the territory rather than force a confrontation. Billy ignores the advice and stays, and the two men find themselves on opposite sides of a pursuit that neither can easily abandon.
Sam Peckinpah directed the film, which he made after The Getaway and before Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, as the seventh of the twelve features he directed. Rudy Wurlitzer wrote the screenplay, and Gordon Carroll produced it for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. James Coburn plays Garrett and Kris Kristofferson plays Billy the Kid, with Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills and Barry Sullivan among the credited cast of 39.
The film had a budget of 5 million USD and took 11 million USD at the worldwide box office. On TMDB it holds a rating of 7.2 out of 10 from 481 votes, and its critics' rating stands at 7.2 out of 10 from 57 reviews, so the two audiences broadly agree on the film's merits.
What's left behind the scenes
- The film was Bob Dylan's first acting role, and he also composed the film's music.
- By the time filming began, director Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984) was already suffering from alcoholism to such an extent that every morning he seriously reached for the bottle to alleviate involuntary tremors. This continued until he became too drunk to continue filming. According to actor James Coburn, Peckinpah was only more or less coherent for about 4 hours a day.
- Due to a technical malfunction with a lens, one of the Panavision cameras became unusable. Director Sam Peckinpah had requested a camera repair technician for the film crew from MGM studio from the very beginning, but his request was denied, so the technical defect of the lens was not discovered immediately. Eventually, the lens was replaced, and a technician was even sent on a permanent basis, but by that point, filming had fallen behind schedule and exceeded the approved budget (due to the need to reshoot footage taken with the malfunctioning camera).
- The role of Billy the Kid was offered to Al Pacino, but it turned out he couldn't ride a horse, and he was also uncomfortable with the director's reputation.
- Sam Peckinpah was gradually removed from working on the film, and MGM company president James T. Aubrey (1918-1994) ordered the film's runtime to be reduced from 2 hours and 4 minutes to 1 hour and 46 minutes. As a result, the film was released in this “castrated” version, to the great displeasure of the actors and crew, and flopped with critics and at the box office.
- The uncut version of the film miraculously survived because a copy was stolen from the projectionist's booth before James T. Aubrey's subordinates finished their work on shortening the film.
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