PAT GARRET AND BILLY THE KID

USA - 1973 - Color - 117’

Dir.: Sam Peckinpah | Scr.: Rudy Wurlitzer | Cin.: John Coquillon | Ed.: Roger Spottiswoode, Garth Craven, Robert L. Wolfe | Mus.: Bob Dylan | Cast: James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Jason Robards, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills | Prod.: Gordon Carroll

Sam Peckinpah’s masterful Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid employs a dark, violent, yet deeply poetic tone, exploring the doomed friendship between two men in the final days of the American West, as a lament for the inevitable end of a way of life. Kristofferson’s charismatic portrayal of Billy and Coburn’s nuanced performance as Garrett are considered among the finest of their careers. The supporting cast has been equally praised -amongst them Bob Dylan as the enigmatic "Alias." While the original studio release was heavily cut, later copies present a more complete version of the film, highlighting Rudy Wurlitzer’s witty, melancholic, and incisive screenplay, which sheds light on the characters’ existential unrest — as well as Bob Dylan’s haunting, lyrical soundtrack.