Billy le Kid

There are over fifty movies and television shows on the notorious Old West cattle-rustler and killer Billy The Kid. Two minor silent films were produced before director King Vidor tackled the subject of this young outlaw in cinema's first talking picture of William, released on October 1930, aptly called "Billy The Kid."

Based on the 1925 book by Walter Noble Burns, 'The Saga of Billy the Kid,' Vidor's plot loosely follows his involvement in the New Mexico Territory's 1880's Lincoln County War, pitting two rich ranchers feuding over land and cattle. MGM was pushing former college football star-turned-actor Johnny Mack Brown for major roles in an effort to make him one of Hollywood's top tier movie stars. Signing a five-year contract with the studio, Brown appeared as Mary Pickford's love interest in her first talkie, 1929's "Coquette." When producer Irving Thalberg assigned the actor as the lead in "Billy The Kid," Vidor was less than enthusiastic on the studio's choice. Within a year, with the ascendency of newcomer Clark Gable at MGM, Brown's career dropped as quickly as a plunging fiery zeppelin. "Billy the Kid" proved to be the peak of Brown's popularity. The actor turned to playing parts in Grade B westerns from the mid-1930s.

To make up for Vidor's disappointment, MGM slotted its rising star Wallace Beery as Pat Garrett. This was Beery's next movie after his Academy Award nominated Best Actor performance in 1930's "The Big House." The movie's plot pits Billy the Kid, an employee for English rancher Jack Tunston (Wyndham Standing), against Garret, the Deputy Sheriff who sided with town enforcer Colonel William Donovan (James Marcus).

MGM intended to make "Billy the Kid" into a major epic, rolling out its widescreen 70 mm format the studio labeled 'Realife.' The large screen was a variation of Fox Film's 'Grandeur' projection system. Vidor's film crew shot in the 70mm format and coverted most of the movie's prints into the 35mm standard image so the vast majority of theaters could show the motion picture. Those whom had the fortune to view the movie on the widescreen praised the film. The New York Times was bowled over by the large image, saying "The picture is chiefly noteworthy for this enlarged screen idea, for the story is merely a moderately entertaining." Besides some raised eyebrows on Brown's performance, the actor's laconic lasting words on the movie was the film was "a fine motion picture." MGM used the same identical plot in a 1941 color version with Robert Taylor as Billy The Kid.

In the tradition of Hollywood this version of the saga of Billy The Kid is as false as many others were including some more modern versions purported to be the real story. In fact this has one truly radical change I won't reveal.

Johnny Mack Brown who would shortly find his career niche in B westerns is William Bonney. Pat Garrett is played by Wallace Beery who plays it a bit more straight forward without the usual mugging for the camera.

Some of the other characters from the Lincoln County War are here as well. Kay Johnson supplies the love interest who tries to keep Bill Bonney on the straight and narrow.

This Billy The Kid is a decent western and does credit to both of its leads.

This film was full of surprises for me, given its less-than-stellar reputation. One has to view it in terms of Hollywood myth-making and not as if it's an episode of `Biography.' King Vidor's camerawork is startlingly fluid - he uses camera movement and cutting very effectively. One of the biggest surprises was the brutality (not to be confused with gore) of certain scenes. The film also does an excellent job of creating a mood of futility. As for Johnny Mack Brown, at first I thought he was inappropriately cast. But as the movie continued, his characterization seemed more valid. And of course, the location shots are stunning. This film is underrated and overdue for critical re-evaluation. Perhaps that will happen if an archivist finds a widescreen print!

By the time King Vidor directed this "Billy the Kid," he already had 36 movies under his belt (most of them silent), so it's weird that the movie seems so arbitrarily thrown together. Brutality and tenderness each try to crowd the other out. Somebody dies, and minutes later everyone's smiling again. I think the Western/Cowboy genre was still developing in Hollywood at the time (even after all those silent Westerns), and the addition of sound just threw another monkey wrench into the works. Nevertheless, you can tick off all the Western conventions and clichés as the film unfolds; they're all there. But it's like they're on steroids or something -- you never know when they're going to take on a life of their own. They just don't add up. I'm tempted to give this movie an "8" rating just for its consummate strangeness, but I think a "6" is probably a fairer assessment.

After a ruthless land baron named "William P. Donovan" (James A. Marcus) orders the murder of several people who refuse to sell him their land, several local ranchers decide to band together to defend themselves. One particular rancher is a man named "John W. Tunston" (Wyndham Standing) who has as one of his employees a loyal gunman known as "Billy the Kid" (John Mack Brown) who isn't afraid of anyone. Even so, that doesn't stop William Donovan from continuing to intimidate the local residents. However, after ordering the murder of John Tunston, he soon comes face-to-face with a kind of violence he never thought would happen--and Billy the Kid soon becomes his worst nightmare. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be a pretty decent Western which benefited from good performances by Wallace Beery (as "Sheriff Pat Garrett"), Kay Johnson (John Tunston's wife "Claire") and the aforementioned John Mack Brown. And although the sound technique was quite good for its time, the editing technique could have used some fine-tuning as the scenes didn't flow well together at all. Likewise, it should also be noted that there are several historical inaccuracies contained in this movie with the primary one being the manner in which the film ended. But that's Hollywood for you. Even so, I enjoyed this movie for the most part, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.