There was a day when Hollywood was in love
with the western. The films were churned out with the regularity
that the teen romantic comedies enjoy today.
Then special effects happened and suddenly
the western faded from the limelight.
Still, Hollywood has never been willing to
abandon the genre entirely. Every couple of years someone gets
the bright idea to "reinvent" the Hollywood western.
In 1988, Hollywood thought it would be nifty to create a contemporary
western that featured the current crop of hot, young stars.
The result was Young Guns.
The film more or less follows the story of
Billy The Kid (Emilio Estevez). The story begins after Billy
has killed his first man and on the eve of his becoming a notorious
outlaw. He has just come into the community of Lincoln, New
Mexico, where he is discovered by the english businessman John
Tunstall (Terence Stamp).
Tunstall owns a ranch and is in direct competition
with cattleman Lawrence Murphy (Jack Palance). To protect his
interests, Tunstall hires a bunch of kids who all share a talent
with firearms. He spies Billy running from trouble and offers
him a position in his group of "regulators."
Perhaps for the first time in his life, Billy
begins to feel as though he belongs and has a place in the world.
That is all taken away when Murphy has Tunstall killed. Billy
witnesses the act and convinces the sheriff to deputize he and
the other regulators and allow them to pursue the warrants against
Murphy and his men.
But Billy isn't nearly as interested in justice
as he is in revenge. He views the warrants as a license to kill
and he proceeds to murder Murphy's men. Soon, Billy and the
rest of the regulators are wanted men and running for their
lives both from the law and from Murphy.
Underneath the brat pack stars and the occasional
anachronistic bits of dialogue, Young Guns is actually a reasonably
accurate account of Billy The Kid's exploits in New Mexico.
Certainly some details have been fudged, but the film plays
straight with most of the known facts.
There is also a certain rawness to the film
that lends to believability, but may turn off modern audiences
who are used to ultra-choreographed gunplay. The action was
played fast and loose in this film, with typical directions
being to simply draw their guns and begin shooting. The acting
performances are all solid, with the main characters seeming
appropriately cocky most of the time and at least slightly terrified
when the bullets start flying.
In the end, Young Guns delivers exactly what
it promises: an entertaining western filled with charismatic,
young stars and a plot that has at least read the history books.
