It seems that the 80's were so flooded by the "Star Wars" and "Rocky" films, by Steven Spielberg's "Indiana Jones" and so many other blockbusters such as "Top Gun" or "Terminator" that it didn't leave much room for some little gems like "Biloxi Blues" or "Barfly" or let's say for the Western genre, "Young Guns"
one of my favorite westerns ever.
Maybe, I'm using 'one of' as an understatement, as if I was ashamed to say 'm favorite', but I am not, I just gained some maturity, I saw more westerns since the day I discovered "Young Guns", and I can understand why this movie didn't get much acclaim, especially if you consider the period, the 80's, when Eastwood the director was reconquering the genre, and through "Pale Rider" prepared the audience to a darker form of revisionist westerns. "Young Guns" with its youthful cast introduced by one my all-time favorite intros: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Philips, Charlie Sheen, Casey Siemaczko and Dermot Mulroney, looks closer to the typical 80's film marketed for teenage audiences than a mature film meant to be taken seriously, on the surface only because if you watch it, and decide to appreciate the film regardless of your personal tastes well, I defy anyone not to be captivated by theses 100 minutes of pure entertainment.
Yes, even the dark "Pale Rider" pales in comparison with "Young Guns", because the latter doesn't overdo the archetypes of the genre, it has its load of thrills, of chases, shootouts, parties, romances, discussions BUT with something more that lacks even in the most acclaimed masterpieces of the genre : it has characters, a wonderful gallery of characters, who carry their personalities less than stereotypes than true human flows, with their motives, actions and reactions, and within the plot of the film, there are different arcs involving each of these characters, handled with such a confidence, that nothing ever feels forced or cliché, and at the end, each of them would ultimately change, making "Young Guns" more than a Western but also a sort of coming-of-age story, a genre cherished during the 80's. And of course, the biggest change will concern the leader of the bunch who'll become one of the most defining legends of the Old West.
As a kid, I grew up reading "The Adventures of Lucky Luke", a Franco-Belgian comic book set in the Old West, needless to say that I loved it so much, I was familiar with Billy the Kid, the stagecoaches, Jesse James, Calamity Jane, the Conquest of the West before I reached my tenth year, so I discovered "Young Guns" at the age of 13, with enough knowledge of the Old West to appreciate it and not enough of cinematic westerns to judge it impartially. And I'll never forget that night, when I saw it with my father, I didn't care much about the story until that young blondish guy introduced himself by "William Bonney" and the other said "Pat Garrett", I told my dad, "hey, it's Billy the Kid, and this is the guy who'll kill him" The movie took a whole new direction for me and it immediately grabbed my interest. And the rest didn't disappoint me.
"Young Guns" is a movie whose rooting process is slow but efficient, you definitely get into the story when the tutor, John Tunstall, remarkably played by Terrence Stamp, is killed by men who belongs to the cattle owner and biggest competitor, the evil Murphy, Jack Palance whose evil smirk hasn't lost its touch either. Then, the 'young guns' are mandated as 'regulators' to arrest the killers, then it all gets wrong when Billy, the previously underestimated newcomer makes this business personal. He makes himself an enemy through Dick, Charlie Sheen, the straight man of the bunch, who'll get killed as if fate wanted another kind of leader, and progressively, as blood is shed and guns are fired, we get into the others, Doc, Kiefer Sutherland as the poet in love with a little Chinese girl sold to Murphy for a dirty shirt, Chavez, Philips as the only surviving of a Navajo tribe killed by Murphy's men with the army as accomplice, and of course, his 'friend', the scene-stealing tobacco-chewing "Dirty" Steve.
But the one who touched my heart the most was Simeaczko as Charley Bowder, the nicest and most friendly (also cowardly) of the bunch. It was a nice touch for the story to have a character who doesn't react as a coldblooded killer but feels sick from the simple thought that he might be hanged, and his evolution is also one of the most rewarding aspects of the film, as I never fail to have goose bumps in the scene where he finally overcomes his fear and start getting into the shootout that concludes the film. And talking of the shootout, it's certainly one of my all-time favorite climactic sequences because I never saw the way it started coming and the amount of thrills is so great that at the end, me and my Dad, sorry, my Dad and me could only wow, and I knew I had just watched one of the greatest films ever.
Yes, "Young Guns" became one of my all-time favorite films because of so many things, the extraordinary performance of Emilio Estevez, the difference between the characters and my rooting for each of them, the amazing shootout, the coming-of-age story and beyond everything, the emotional core of the film: a great message about solidarity and friendship, as mentioned by the concluding line of the film : "Pals", before followed by one hell of an amazing soundtrack.
So say what you want, it may not be the best Western ever made, it didn't get any Oscar nominations, but for some reason, it will forever have a special place in my heart.
Maybe, I'm using 'one of' as an understatement, as if I was ashamed to say 'm favorite', but I am not, I just gained some maturity, I saw more westerns since the day I discovered "Young Guns", and I can understand why this movie didn't get much acclaim, especially if you consider the period, the 80's, when Eastwood the director was reconquering the genre, and through "Pale Rider" prepared the audience to a darker form of revisionist westerns. "Young Guns" with its youthful cast introduced by one my all-time favorite intros: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Philips, Charlie Sheen, Casey Siemaczko and Dermot Mulroney, looks closer to the typical 80's film marketed for teenage audiences than a mature film meant to be taken seriously, on the surface only because if you watch it, and decide to appreciate the film regardless of your personal tastes well, I defy anyone not to be captivated by theses 100 minutes of pure entertainment.
Yes, even the dark "Pale Rider" pales in comparison with "Young Guns", because the latter doesn't overdo the archetypes of the genre, it has its load of thrills, of chases, shootouts, parties, romances, discussions BUT with something more that lacks even in the most acclaimed masterpieces of the genre : it has characters, a wonderful gallery of characters, who carry their personalities less than stereotypes than true human flows, with their motives, actions and reactions, and within the plot of the film, there are different arcs involving each of these characters, handled with such a confidence, that nothing ever feels forced or cliché, and at the end, each of them would ultimately change, making "Young Guns" more than a Western but also a sort of coming-of-age story, a genre cherished during the 80's. And of course, the biggest change will concern the leader of the bunch who'll become one of the most defining legends of the Old West.
As a kid, I grew up reading "The Adventures of Lucky Luke", a Franco-Belgian comic book set in the Old West, needless to say that I loved it so much, I was familiar with Billy the Kid, the stagecoaches, Jesse James, Calamity Jane, the Conquest of the West before I reached my tenth year, so I discovered "Young Guns" at the age of 13, with enough knowledge of the Old West to appreciate it and not enough of cinematic westerns to judge it impartially. And I'll never forget that night, when I saw it with my father, I didn't care much about the story until that young blondish guy introduced himself by "William Bonney" and the other said "Pat Garrett", I told my dad, "hey, it's Billy the Kid, and this is the guy who'll kill him" The movie took a whole new direction for me and it immediately grabbed my interest. And the rest didn't disappoint me.
"Young Guns" is a movie whose rooting process is slow but efficient, you definitely get into the story when the tutor, John Tunstall, remarkably played by Terrence Stamp, is killed by men who belongs to the cattle owner and biggest competitor, the evil Murphy, Jack Palance whose evil smirk hasn't lost its touch either. Then, the 'young guns' are mandated as 'regulators' to arrest the killers, then it all gets wrong when Billy, the previously underestimated newcomer makes this business personal. He makes himself an enemy through Dick, Charlie Sheen, the straight man of the bunch, who'll get killed as if fate wanted another kind of leader, and progressively, as blood is shed and guns are fired, we get into the others, Doc, Kiefer Sutherland as the poet in love with a little Chinese girl sold to Murphy for a dirty shirt, Chavez, Philips as the only surviving of a Navajo tribe killed by Murphy's men with the army as accomplice, and of course, his 'friend', the scene-stealing tobacco-chewing "Dirty" Steve.
But the one who touched my heart the most was Simeaczko as Charley Bowder, the nicest and most friendly (also cowardly) of the bunch. It was a nice touch for the story to have a character who doesn't react as a coldblooded killer but feels sick from the simple thought that he might be hanged, and his evolution is also one of the most rewarding aspects of the film, as I never fail to have goose bumps in the scene where he finally overcomes his fear and start getting into the shootout that concludes the film. And talking of the shootout, it's certainly one of my all-time favorite climactic sequences because I never saw the way it started coming and the amount of thrills is so great that at the end, me and my Dad, sorry, my Dad and me could only wow, and I knew I had just watched one of the greatest films ever.
Yes, "Young Guns" became one of my all-time favorite films because of so many things, the extraordinary performance of Emilio Estevez, the difference between the characters and my rooting for each of them, the amazing shootout, the coming-of-age story and beyond everything, the emotional core of the film: a great message about solidarity and friendship, as mentioned by the concluding line of the film : "Pals", before followed by one hell of an amazing soundtrack.
So say what you want, it may not be the best Western ever made, it didn't get any Oscar nominations, but for some reason, it will forever have a special place in my heart.