Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid Reviews

Please please watch the bonus disc version

Don't bother with disc one. It's a new cut which takes out all the magic of the film. Slightly speeded up for the A.D.D generation, many of the best lines in the film are removed, and a load of pointless rubbish scenes have been added back in. Disc 2 has the directors cut, including probably the greatest title sequence in the history of cinema, bizarrely left out of the new cut on disc 1 in favour of the bland and unmemorable version from the universally disliked original studio version. That said, one of the greatest films, no matter westerns, ever. So get disc 2 and blow your mind.

A real gem for western fans.

Both Coburn and Kristofferson are at the top of their game in this brutally gritty film. Violence is partnered with great performances and even Bob Dylan is pretty good.

Maybe The Greatest Western Ever Made...

Well its certainly up there if not the ultimate western, Sam Peckinpah's take on the twilight years of Pat Garret and his one-time friend, infamous outlaw Billy The Kid. The film is so unique due to its extreme unconventionalism, unafraid not to tread the straight and narrow path of John Ford or the dubbed entertainment of Leone, it falls somewhere inbetween with its grainy violence and window on the hard life of living in those times, all to a soundtrack by Bob Dylan... cinema magic.

The end of the Wild West

Great movie with great acting. Even Bob Dylan did well acting as well as doing the soundtrack. Well worth seeing

[Highly rated reviewer]

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid

Excellent western, Coburn and Kristofferson at their best

Must be seen not only by Western lovers but by all lovers of visual art

I believed that I had rented a good western but I soon realised that this film was in a class of its own. The music of Bob Dylan underlies the perfectionism of the director. Each and every image could be seen as a piece of Art. The story is treated with beauty, sensitivity and simplicity. I wish there were more westerns of that class.

CHANGED FOR THE WORST

They've edited this version - including some of the best one-liners - in a way that detracts from the original. Why alter a classic? Still has to be 5 stars

A maligned gem.

The other review which champions disc 2 over disc 1 is misleading.

The Turner preview edition which is found on disc 2 is not a 'director's cut' per se, more of a first assembly. The cut is created by editor's approximating what Sam Peckinpah would have wanted in his final cut.

The 2005 cut on disc 1 is another approximation which in some ways is better and more coherent.

Both versions are different to the 'theatrical edition' which was shown in cinemas on the film's release and which was cobbled together by six studio editors usurping Peckinpah's wishes for the film.

Peckinpah's own cut never saw the light of day and we will never really know what his true intentions were.

The history of this film has been plagued by various versions and so my advice is to watch both disc 1 and disc 2, compare both versions and make your own conclusions.

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Uneven and badly acted

Not without merit, the film explores its themes of loyalty and self-interest and has its own stylish look. However lazily acted - I never felt for long that James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson were anyone but themselves. Also let down by some crass and unbelievable exploitation scenes such as that set in the brothel. ('How can I get some more breasts in this?' I imagine the writer pondering.) Whilst the Bob Dylan sound track was a great asset to the film, his cameo was plain embarrassing.

Peckinpah shows how it's done

Slow menace, compelling scenes, underplayed but powerful performances: this film achieves masterfully what later pretentious efforts like There WIll Be Blood completely fail to do