Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid(1973)- User Reviews

In 1969 Warner Brothers released 'The Wild Bunch' at 135 mins hacking 44 minutes of 'poetry' from Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch' 179 min Director's Cut.

1973 Sam Peckinpah brings a rock western with Pat Garrett (James Coburn) trading in the outlaw life for a badge and a steady paycheck. His first order of official business is bring in 'Billy the Kid'(Kris Kristofferson), his old friend, to be hanged in Lincoln. However, after a dose of 'Christianity' shoved down his throat by a zealot with a shotgun loaded with ten shredded dimes replacing buckshot. Billy blasts his way out out of jail, leaving the zealot with a taste of his own medicine, as it were. The rest, as they say, is history, at least that is how it was presented after M-G-M Studios hacked 16 minutes from THE Cut Sam Peckinpah turned in prior to being released to theater's in 1973.

Since, Sam Peckinpah directed "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid", all the hack's at M-G-M could cut was Peckinpah's poetic style! It's that 'style' what differentiates Sam Peckinpah's last Western Masterpiece and a run of the mill yarn of a 'freebird' just before he gets his wings clipped by a sell-out who is really killing a part of himself. Small wonder, betraying the bond of friendship is a familiar theme in Peckinpah territory.
But, isn't it amazing how art reflects life and vice versa?
Anyway, the 106 min version is a turd. See the 122 min cut of 'Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid' the way Sam Peckinpah intended his film to be seen.
James Coburn is at his best in an early role as the 'heavy'. Kris Kristofferson, like Paul Newman, is too handsome to be Billy the Kid. However, he holds his own with a supporting cast of a 'who's who' of Western character actors like Matt Clark, R.G. Armstrong, Jack Elam, Slim Pickins, Katy Jarado, Chill Wills to name a few. Mostly he's believable bringing out the human and playful side of the legendary notorious outlaw killer.

FINAL NOTE:
I think knowing some of the Sam Peckinpah 'backstory' of how the studios did him dirty and wrong, may help one appreciate where he was coming from with his contemporary western horriffic love story 'Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia'...which doesn't make it any easier to watch.