This was supposed to go up yesterday but I did homework instead.
William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid (Paul Newman), is a young man with a hot temper and no formal education. He is picked up as a cattle hand by peace-loving Tunstall (Colin Keith-Johnston), who is subsequently murdered by his business rivals. Billy takes it upon himself to get revenge for his employer, despite barely knowing the man. He convinces his two friends Charlie (James Congdon) and Tom (James Best) to help him gun down the killers, sparking a trail of bloodshed leading all the way to door of former outlaw turned sheriff, Pat Garrett (John Dehner).
Paul Newman was a bit old to be playing a teenager (he was 33 when the movie came out) but he does a good job nailing down that brash vulnerability so typical of that age. The story is necessarily tragic but the movie goes further to heighten the pathos by drawing so many parallels between Garrett and the Kid. Bonney desperately needed a father figure and Garrett could have filled that role if circumstances hadn't intervened.
The film is in black and white so you miss out on the piercing intensity of Newman's blue eyes, which were always his best feature. They try to shoehorn in a love story, unnecessarily in my opinion, to provide a downbeat from the waves of violence but that's not going to be the parts you remember. Overall, I'd say this isn't one of Newman's top-drawer works but it's not a terrible Western.
Paul Newman was a bit old to be playing a teenager (he was 33 when the movie came out) but he does a good job nailing down that brash vulnerability so typical of that age. The story is necessarily tragic but the movie goes further to heighten the pathos by drawing so many parallels between Garrett and the Kid. Bonney desperately needed a father figure and Garrett could have filled that role if circumstances hadn't intervened.
The film is in black and white so you miss out on the piercing intensity of Newman's blue eyes, which were always his best feature. They try to shoehorn in a love story, unnecessarily in my opinion, to provide a downbeat from the waves of violence but that's not going to be the parts you remember. Overall, I'd say this isn't one of Newman's top-drawer works but it's not a terrible Western.
No comments:
Post a Comment