YOUNG GUNS is a nifty film to watch, not so much for the historical accuracy of the legend of Billy the Kid that it blatantly avoids, but for the obvious good time this cast of then young bucks had in working together. It may be difficult to realize that when this film was made (1988) these boys were in their twenties, some at the apex of their careers while others were still on the rise, and now they are hovering around 50. Sort of a baby boomer film. The story based on bits and pieces of the life of one of America's outlaw icons was written for the screen by John Fusco and was directed by Christopher Cain; it looks like an extended ad for Abercrombie and Fitch - and that's not necessarily a visual bad thing!
The story is set in 1878 and a gentleman by the name of John Tunstall (an elegant performance by Terrance Stamp) is an English cattleman who has gathered 'regulators' to guard his property - those Regulators being the studs, Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland), "Jose; Chavez y Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), Richard 'Dick' Brewer (Charlie Sheen), Charles 'Charley' Bowdre (Casey Siemaszko), and the tobacco chaw chewing Dirth Steve Stephens (Dermot Mulroney). A 'new guy' comes on the scene, the handsome, winsome William H. 'Billy the Kid' Bonney (Emilio Estevez) and immediately attracts the attention of Tunstall who dresses him up and wins his affection. A neighboring cattleman Lawrence G. Murphy (Jack Palance) and his men are arch enemies with Tunstall and in time murder Tunstall, a deed that sets into action the killing spree that is the core of the film. Billy the Kid gains fame and his gang of 5 find favor in the eyes of the prairie people - a Robin Hood take on the story. And of course there is the encounter with Patrick Floyd 'Pat' Garrett (Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne). It is a rootin' tootin' Western with some dialogue updating that somehow works coming form the mouths of the brat pack. A great movie? No, but it is an entertaining one and an homage to a period of time when these young actors had style - back then.
Grady Harp
The story is set in 1878 and a gentleman by the name of John Tunstall (an elegant performance by Terrance Stamp) is an English cattleman who has gathered 'regulators' to guard his property - those Regulators being the studs, Josiah Gordon 'Doc' Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland), "Jose; Chavez y Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), Richard 'Dick' Brewer (Charlie Sheen), Charles 'Charley' Bowdre (Casey Siemaszko), and the tobacco chaw chewing Dirth Steve Stephens (Dermot Mulroney). A 'new guy' comes on the scene, the handsome, winsome William H. 'Billy the Kid' Bonney (Emilio Estevez) and immediately attracts the attention of Tunstall who dresses him up and wins his affection. A neighboring cattleman Lawrence G. Murphy (Jack Palance) and his men are arch enemies with Tunstall and in time murder Tunstall, a deed that sets into action the killing spree that is the core of the film. Billy the Kid gains fame and his gang of 5 find favor in the eyes of the prairie people - a Robin Hood take on the story. And of course there is the encounter with Patrick Floyd 'Pat' Garrett (Patrick Wayne, son of John Wayne). It is a rootin' tootin' Western with some dialogue updating that somehow works coming form the mouths of the brat pack. A great movie? No, but it is an entertaining one and an homage to a period of time when these young actors had style - back then.
Grady Harp