Bill Il Sanguinario

Despite the disclaimer contained in the opening narration, you can be pretty sure that the mouth-breathing moron revealed in photographs of the original William Bonney bear little relation to Audie Murphy - whose pretty good looks if anything are even more unsettling than the original - in this handsome Universal oater.

Young Billy sets his hat at a comely young Gale Storm, married to upper echelon crook Albert Dekker, who we're expected to believe once trained to be a minister and carries a bible; but is not above administering her the occasional smack in the kisser.

Naturally (SPOILER COMING:) it all ends badly for our Billy. Although not in the fashion that it actually ended for him.

During the 1930s-50s, there were tons of westerns which brought actual living characters from the old west to the big screen. The problem, however, is that about 90% of what you see in these films has very little to do with the real life exploits of these minor characters. In many cases, sociopathic jerks like Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and Billy the Kid are elevated to almost heroic status...while in real life they were simply murderers and thieves...the type you really want in prison, not marrying your sister!

This film is Audie Murphy's chance to play one of these highly fictionalized real life people. He was not a bad choice, as Murphy was still young and short...and so playing a guy dubbed 'the Kid' was a good fit. He's good in it and the movie is entertaining.

The story follows the events, somewhat, from the so-called 'Lincoln County War'...a series of fights between wealthy ranchers in the New Mexico Territory. Mostly, it was one thug shooting another...no glory and if they could shoot you in the back, so much the better. But because they want to make Billy more likeable, the shooting unarmed folks and the like are eliminated and each of the MANY murders he commits seems reasonably justified.

Overall, a decent film but one you'd best see as fiction and not the real old west in any way. And, oddly, if you want to see Billy the Kid's grave, there are TWO of them in New Mexico today...something that confuses me!

Audie Murphy's first western for Universal is a blank-faced version of the story of Billy the Kid that white-washes almost everyone. The script tries to push a few romantic notes into the narrative, with him and Gale Storm obviously falling in love instantly, but neither of them doing anything about it, because she's married to Albert Dekker. Dekker himself has the best role as a guy wh wants to do the right thing, but is too weak-willed to stand up for anything under pressure.

I don't know if it was that way in the script, but Murphy's playing of Bnney, the lack of explanations or, indeed, many lines works well. I imagine director Kurt Neuman cut his lines and told him to under-react. The result is a simple, effective portrayal of someone wh feigns passivity, when what he really wants to do is kill.

I have a lot of respect for Audie Murphy, the most decorated US solder of WW II. However I have to admit that what I find most memorable about him are his acting roles, particularly in Westerns. He always played a deceptively young-looking gunfighter and had the real-life moves to back him up on camera. One excellent example is early in the film Duel at Silver Springs where he shoots the gun out of Lee Marvin's hand while sitting at a saloon card table - he was lightning fast on the draw.

I like Murphy here as Billy the Kid because he's still young-looking enough to be reasonably convincing. There is another movie called Billy the Kid from 1941 with Robert Taylor in the title role and he doesn't look anything like a kid - shortly after I started watching that one I switched it off. Taylor was over 30 years old and looked possibly even older than that. (On the other hand the opening scenes of To Hell and Back have Murphy at age 31 playing himself as a military inductee of 18, and to me, that also did not work.) Here, Murphy at 25 or so still looks young enough to pull off the role of a "kid".

Anyhow, back to this movie, it's one of the versions of Billy the Kid I enjoy watching because Murphy plays his part convincingly. And it has the added bonus of having been shot in Technicolor, making it easy on the eyes too.

Brought up on the wrong side of the tracks, William Bonney (aka Billy the Kid) is taken in by a kind rancher, Jameson, who is targeted by rival landowners who have key people in their pockets. When Mr Jameson is murdered Billy seeks revenge and, along with other men, is sworn in to bring the men to justice. However when some arrests turn into killings, Billy is cut off from the law and becomes a criminal in the eyes of the law. As his reputation grows the law put Sheriff Pat Garrett onto his trail.

Having seen a few Audie Murphy westerns recently I was interested to try and see a few more to get a flavour of who he was as an actor. I watched this film unaware (aside from the clue in the title) that it was another telling of the story of Billy the Kid. As such it is an inherently weak film – especially with time, as we have all seen elements of this story told in a variety of different ways. This recognisable story means that it is too familiar for such a basic film to work with, rather it ends up being duller and feeling rather plodding as a result. This isn't helped by the fact that this film could have had any story in it and it still would have been delivered as any other B-movie western would have been. The script doesn't add anything to the basic story and, if you know the story then there is nothing really different here to justify watching it. The action is the usual fare and will please those expecting a B-movie western but nothing more.

The cast is also run of the mill and just what you would expect. Murphy looks good and is reliable but he is far from being a good actor and he delivers the same performance I have seen him give in films that are all the same if you turn the sound down. The support cast are also par for the course and nobody really excels themselves; only Billy's new employer (Alexander) is an interesting character and gives a few good moments for Dekker to work with.

Overall this is a very ordinary film that will be passable entertainment for those looking for a basic B-movie western that just fits in with genre tradition rather than trying to do anything special or different. The story is too familiar to really hold the interest and the script, performances, action and direction are all just about par for the course for this type of thing.