Billy le cave

A whole lot of people have played Billy The Kid on screen and their personas have formed one mixed image. Off the top of my head I can think of B picture cowboy stars Johnny Mack Brown and Buster Crabbe, movie star idol Robert Taylor, method actor Paul Newman, Rhodes scholar Kris Kristofferson, and brat packer Emilio Estevez. But scruffy Michael J. Pollard is probably closest to what Billy actually was. It also gave Pollard his only lead in a film.

Of course this too has nothing to do with the facts. Dirty Little Billy concentrates on his formative years compressed as they would be for anyone who died short of his 22 birthday. It starts with his arrival in New Mexico Territory with his mother and stepfather and ends with some of his first recorded killings.

Our Billy is a kid from the mean streets of New York and he's got an aversion to the hard work it takes to be a pioneer. No farming, no business trade, but Pollard does like hanging around the saloon with some new friends Richard Evans and Lee Purcell.

The Lincoln County War, Pat Garrett all this comes a bit later in the life of our prairie juvenile delinquent. Pollard is always interesting and quirky be it a Disney film like Summer Magic or with outlaw legends of a more modern era like Bonnie And Clyde.

Dirty Little Billy is one unique Mr. Bonney.

Watch Dirty Little Billy back-to-back with Young Guns for a testimonial to how little faith you can place in Hollywood to give you an accurate portrayal of history.

In the latter we have William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, portrayed as the fastest, cleverest, most ruthless and domineering youngster ever born...a boy capable of shooting it out with a dozen experienced gunfighters and living to tell about it. Then, in the former, we have the very same William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, now portrayed as this skinny little punk with his hands wrapped in bandages because farm work is too rough on his delicate skin. He follows his hero, Goldie, around obsequiously, and trembles like he's giving birth to porcupines whenever he's got a gun in his hands.

So which one is accurate? Neither, of course; they're both Hollywood characters. They're both historical B.S., just like almost every other movie ever made about any other famous person who ever lived. I'm sure the real Billy the Kid fell somewhere far in between those two portrayals. No human being that ever lived could have survived all those gunfights that super-bad Emilio Esteves won so easily. (must be kin to Sylvester Stallone), just as a sissy like Michael J. Pollard could never have survived for two days as an outlaw in the Wild West.

But, is the movie good? Yeah, for entertainment value it's O.K. I guess, but my being an old fart that saw it at the drive-in, back in '73, may have something to do with that opinion. (It came on Encore Channel last night, which is why I'm writing this) I also kind of enjoyed Young Guns, even though I had to roll my eyes alot at the ridiculosity of it all. (It IS a word...I just invented it)

If you're a teenage badass wannabe, you probably won't like this flick. It will make you feel uncomfortable as you spot your own sad little weaknesses in Pollard's character. Someone like you is better off fantasizing that you're Vin Diesel, while you watch Fast and Furious or something equally low-brow and gangsta-oriented.

Forgotten little western about young slacker Billy arriving in the West from New York and not wanting anything to do with his father's crop-work. After being banished by his father he wanders aimlessly through town and finds a mentor in the town outlaw Goldie. Not the Billy the Kid story were familiar with; Billy is a dirty, chubby-cheeked kid who doesn't have a care in the world and gets shaky every time he attempts to fire a gun. The film has a terrific feel to it with grainy brown and black colors. Dirty is an appropriate word for the ambiance of the movie. Not much story per se, but the film is well acted especially by Pollard who looks and acts as though he is a rabid puppy. Some jarring moments of violence and a terrific ending. Worth a look if you're a western fan.

*** out of ****

I haven't seen this film for some years, but it made quite an impression. My memory of the plot is sketchy, but I remember a pungent sense of place and the black humour of re-presenting an outlaw hero as a dysfunctional teenager. Michael J Pollard was "hot" in my mind due to his showing in Hannibal Brooks. He certainly went for broke with his portrayal of Billy as a bumbling and baffled (retarded, even?) teen in a Wild West that is knee-deep in mud and horse-muck. The pistols Billy wielded seemed almost too big for him, huge, clumsy and old-fashioned. Certainly as a impressionable British youngster, I'd never seen anything like it before.

I'm more than pleased to encourage others to seek it out. It could well be a bit of a hidden gem - the flavour and satirical energy of the piece are surely in tune with today's tastes.

This realistic and harsh re-telling of the Billy the Kid myth is definitely worth anyone's time. Pollard is perfect as a none-too-bright Western punk who unfortunately became infamous. It stars the beautiful Lee Purcell and Gary Busey in a supporting role. Arthur Penn's Left-Handed Gun was very good and this is the second best version of that often-botched story of this kid.

Great and grungy cinematography, true-to-life costume design, interesting soundtrack and authentic western types in a downbeat, almost Cassavetes-like version of the tale. A 7 out of 10. Best performance = Michael J. Pollard. If you can find it, check this moody piece of Western Americana. One of Pollard's best films!