Young Guns (1988)

An Englishman running a New Mexico ranch in the old west recruits wayward young men to be his ranch hands. Among their duties is protecting the ranch from his more powerful and villainous neighbors, thus earning them the title "regulators". Through a combination of discipline and nurturing, he is able to civilize the men and give them discipline. When murdered by another rancher, the regulators are deputized to help catch the men who did it. But one of the regulators, known now as Billy the Kid, is a relative newcomer who has not yet learned self-discipline. Engaged in a power struggle for leadership of the group, he is far more interested in killing the villains than bringing them to justice, thus turning the group into outlaws themselves.

Although the movie is very well made, it never really explores the potential of the plot, relying instead on cliches to entertain us. It also seems completely confused in its portrayal of the main character. Is William Bonney a homicidal maniac or a fiercely loyal man out to avenge the death of a father figure? Is he a caustic head-strong youth or a steely smooth-talking leader? Depending on the scene, you can take your pick. He's clearly supposed to be a sympathetic anti-hero, but this is accomplished only by turning his antagonist into a cartoonishly evil villain, portrayed in perfectly predictable manner by Jack Palance. The shootout scenes are nicely filmed, but as the movie progresses they move more and more towards standard western cliche.

The strongest point of this movie is the relationship of the characters played by Sutherland and Estevez. Doc is strongly attracted to Billy the Kid and admires his strength of character at the same time that he fears him and is repulsed by his murderous actions. Both actors do an excellent job trying to pull this off in spite of the limited development which the script allows. This and the support of a very competent cast makes the film worth watching but not necessarily worth going out of your way for.

Fmovies: The year is 1870 and the place is Lincoln County in New Mexico territory. A young William H. Bonney is rescued from a possible hanging by John Tunstall, who befriends the youth and makes him part of the family of young guns known as Regulators. This puts Billy in the midst of a territorial dispute between Tunstall and the Santa Fe Ring, led by Lawrence G. Murphy, villainously portrayed by Jack Palance. Another western legend, Pat Garrett, is played by Patrick Wayne, the son, of course, of John Wayne.

After the killing of Tunstall by Murphy's henchmen, the Regulators and Billy hit on all cylinders in extracting revenge for the slaughter of their benefactor. The Regulators are branded as outlaws, and the "legal forces" of Murphy attempt to pare them down to nothing. This leads to a final shootout on the streets of Lincoln, and very few of the original Regulators escape, which leads to the sequel of "Young Guns," appropriately called "Young Guns II." The cast of young and upcoming Hollywood stars include Emilio Estevez as Billy, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Casey Siemaszko, and Dermot Mulroney.

One final note: the DVD includes as part of its special features section a Trivia Track, which flashes western facts and information about the stars or the characters being portrayed on screen without detracting from the viewing of the film. This is worth seeing and owning.

Young Guns was the brat pack western starring some of the brat packers of the late 1980s, well a few were deemed to be seen as rising stars such as Dermot Mulroney and Casey Siemaszko.

The rest are more bona fide brat packers such as Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland accompanied by a rock score. However there is also room for western veterans like Jack Palance and Brian Keith.

Estevez is the hot headed Billy the Kid who became regulators when their boss (Terence Stamp) is murdered by Palance's gang.

Now when the film came out some critics were rather sniffy about the film and you have to applaud the movie for shaking the genre up a bit. However it is bewildering silly as well. In the shootout with Brian Keith in the latrine, well they could had just gone round the side to attack him and even from behind. Maybe they needed a reason to write Charlie Sheen out of the movie a third of the way through as he was in demand as an actor at the time.

There is also the silly scene where the characters get high which now looks laughable. Estevez character is supposedly to be fiercely loyal to his slain boss but also appears to be psychotic.

I remember liking the film a lot when it first came out but now it looks dismal. You end up thinking why does Stamp's character want to surround himself with young lost men.

Sutherland's poetic character comes off best but even his romance with the Chinese ward of Palance looks rather odd.

Young Guns fmovies. This is a revisionist look about the known story of the West's greatest bandit. Contemporary-style Western with nice performances and fine direction by Christopher Cain who creates some good action scenes. The Kid is well played ,though sometimes overacting , by Emilio Estevez, he plays as a likable, sympathetic,attractive young and favourite with girls. Colorful and great cinematography by Dean Cundey. Modern and unfitting musical score by Anthony Marinelli. The motion picture will like to Western fans. Followed by a sequel titled 'Young Guns II'(Geoff Murphy,1990) with similar players and concerning about Billy and his band heading toward the Old Mexico and pursued by a posse.

The picture is based partially on actual events. These deeds are the following: Billy(Emilio Estevez) became a cowboy in Lincoln County(New Mexico)for cattleman Tunstall(Terence Stamp) along with a young group(Kiefer Sutherland,Charlie Sheen,Lou Diamond Phillips,Dermot Mulroney,Casey Siemaszko). Tunstall was supported by lawyer McSween(Terry O'Quinn). But Tunstall was murdered by rival cattleman Murphy(Jack Palance) and started the Lincoln County War. Billy seeks revenge for his death and he converted an outlaw and nasty gunfighter with a price on his head. Bonney and his gang pull off a hot pursuit against the enemies. Billy, his band and McSween were besieged but he went out firing his gun and made his escape. The Kid was caught and convicted of killing and sentenced to be hanged ; though shackled foot and hand , he managed to getaway from prison by shooting dead the deputies guarding him. Pat Garret(Patrick Wayne), a former friend, was elected sheriff and set off in pursuit to capture him and on 1881 tracked at Fort Sumner and there shot him dead by surprise. Legend says that Billy murdered 21 men in his 21 years of life but is really thought to be much less.

Here is one of the most underrated Western films of all time. What we have here is the untold story of "The Regulators," led by the infamous Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez). The film follows the group of six young men (none of them over 21 years old, but they all look like they're 25 or 30.) The story is quite simple; their guardian is murdered, and they are deputized to find the suspects and bring them in. When Billy goes on a killing spree of the murderers, the boys are on the run from the law themselves.

The great effect of this film is how it mixes exciting Western action with comedy and boyish charm. Each actor plays their part as it is meant to be played, nothing special but still exceptional. Each character also has their defining traits that make them individually likable. One of the most lovable is Doc (Kiefer Sutherland) who is great with the steel, but also claims to be a poet, even though all of his poems are slightly tweaked versions of classic poems by acclaimed authors. Lastly, we are given a wonderful, almost-evil villain played wonderfully by the Western legend, Jack Palance.

This film, being made just before the 1990s, contains new comedic elements for the genre, but is also quite relatable to the classic, beloved Westerns of earlier decades. It doesn't look like other 1980s films aesthetically; it looks more like a technicolor 1950s Western, and it is very refreshing. The film is not necessarily under-watched by Western fans, but does not receive the acclaim it deserves. It's easily one of the most fun Westerns of the last three or four decades.

Its easy to pass off Young Guns as an eager to please piece of throwaway rock video style entertainment aimed at the younger demographic but that would be unfair.The thing is,it knows what it wants to be and it does it very well.The young cast all perform with great fun and energy thus enriching the film immeasurably.They are well supported by Jack Palance and Terrence Stamp who bring weight to proceedings, particularly Palance who seems to revel in his hammy role.Emilio Estevez's interpretation of Billy The Kid is a great watch too,his realisation of the character may be a million miles from the reality but when there's this much fun being had on screen,who cares!? The music in the film is a little jarring in places,electric guitars screaming Van Halen style over a western horse chase feel very much out of place but its never distracting enough to take you out of the fun. So in summary Young Guns is a western that wants to entertain you and I say it succeeds well.It was never intended to be a Sergio Leone classic western,just a fun ride with characters you can root for.On that level,it is a triumph.