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Billy the Kid

TV-PG 1989 1h 36m Biography List
Reviews 50% Audience Score 100+ Ratings
Gore Vidal's account of the gunslinger's rise to outlaw status and his relationship with friend-turned-foe Pat Garrett. Read More Read Less

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member was Billy gay? that question & others explored in Gore Vidal's version. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member 111225: Almost 4 stars. Good film predating Young Guns but eerily similar. Guess the historical information is roughly the same or, Young Guns wasn't very original. Enjoyed Val Kilmers portrayal of Billy. He was believable. Would buy this film and watch it again if I could find it anywhere. As a matter of fact, going to make it 4 stars. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Audience Member A nice effort, considering this was made for TV. Kilmer turns in a decent performance from early on in his career. Parks is good while he's present, but that's not very often at all. I recognised Julie Carmen straight away as being the main vampire in Fright Night Part 2. It dragged a bit for me at times and struggled to retain my attention fully throughout, but overall Kilmer's take on Billy the Kid and the emotional ending with the tearful reaction from Pat Garrett made the film. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member One of the best western's I have ever seen, seeing as this was a made for TV movie it was pretty damn good. At the start of Kilmer's career and he was fantastic. I've only seen one other incarnation of Billy the Kid in the film Young Guns where he was very flamboyant, cocky, violent etc but Kilmer played him very differently, with almost an air of total innocence. I'd read that Kilmer did this on purpose, to get away from what The Kid was really like and it payed off in my opinion. If you can find this and you're a western fan I highly recommend it, a small yet good role for Michael Parks too. The ending is a real heartbreaker, the emotion from Pat Garrett was beautiful I thought. A great and highly respectable film. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/30/23 Full Review Audience Member The writing is fairly good, as to be expected from Gore Vidal, but the film still lacks something... Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Billy the Kid

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Gore Vidal's account of the gunslinger's rise to outlaw status and his relationship with friend-turned-foe Pat Garrett.
Director
William Graham
Screenwriter
Gore Vidal
Rating
TV-PG
Genre
Biography
Original Language
English
Runtime
1h 36m