Billy the Kid (1930)

Truly Dreadful Film

Fresh and Exciting

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

If you listen to the opening scenes from this early talkie from another room, as I did, you'll quail. The acting is broad and the dialog like spoken title cards. ("Say, he can't outgun me.") But visually, crude as it is, it's not at all painful.For one thing, limited use is made of the typical "Western" ranches and towns that we see constantly on television and in films like "High Noon." There's a town here alright, but it's just a couple of ramshackle buildings, evidently built for the purpose in Northridge, California, where you can still find dilapidated buildings. Some of the important scenes are shot on locations, including two national parks.For another, it sticks fairly closely to historical reality, at least until the ending, when the virtuous Billy the Kid (Johnny Mack Brown) gallops off into the sunset with his girl friend. I have only an elementary grasp of the Johnson County wars, but my understanding is concurrent with the plot. At least I recognized some of the important names -- McSween and Tunston, for instance.The acting is all over the place, dominated by the need to shout lines so they'll be picked up by the hidden microphones. Wallace Beery,as Pat Garett, is his usual hammy self; this time he's a sheriff determined to keep the law but he has a soft heart when it's called for. The bad guys are really BAD. Johnny Mack Brown in the principal role looks okay, I guess, although perhaps a bit older than he might be, but he can't utter a believable line. Russell Simpson does pretty well by the Scotsman McSween.But the values promoted by the film are problematic. Billy the Kid takes it upon himself to murder those who murdered his friends and employers. The most evil of the evildoers is killed in cold blood. This is a reflection of the chivalric code of the aristocratic plantation owners of the South, the Cavaliers who believed that a man settled his own problems. That's what the sociologist Max Weber called "traditional authority," not the "rational/legal authority" that civilization now lives under. Mix that element of Southern values with the greed and ruthlessness of the Northern Robber Barons and you get land wars with vengeful shoot outs.It's a curious blend, still in evidence today.

Western Movie Fans are not Likely to be Disappointed in this Rowdy Shoot em' Up from 1930. It is a Big Production all around and there is Plenty of Gunplay and Wide Open Spaces, a Large and Scruffy Cast, and a Substantial Running Time.Holding it Back from Greatness are some Stiff Dialog Scenes and a Meandering Script Peppered with Down Home Humor and an Awkward Love Story. But there are Dozens of Deaths by Gunpowder and there are a Few Striking Set Pieces. Billy and the Gang Hold Up and Surrounded in a Cabin, Billy's Capture and Escape from the Lincoln County Jail, and a Cave Dwelling, Starving Billy the Kid forced into the Open by a Pan of Frying Bacon, Among Others.Overall it is a Rip Roaring Western that Helped Johnny Mack Brown stay a Star and it also didn't Hurt Wallace Berry's Career as He Plays a Rather Subdued Pat Garrett.

Billy the Kid (1930) * 1/2 (out of 4) Extremely disappointing film from Vidor features Johnny Mack Brown as Billy the Kid and Wallace Beery as Pat Garrett. After his boss and friend is murdered, Billy swears vengeance on any man who helped kill him. Along with his friends, Billy sets out for revenge only to find himself trapped inside a building in a long stand off. It's funny that this film starts off with a message from the then governor of New Mexico talking about how great Billy the Kid was and how this film was "mostly" truthful. This film was famous for being shot 1.20:1 but also in the 70mm Realife widescreen format but sadly all known prints of this are now lost. The film was also shot with two endings and the one I viewed was beyond silly and goes against what the governor said. With that out of the way, I found this film pretty hard to get through so I'm somewhat shocked at how many great reviews this one has out there. Being an early talkie I was surprised at how good the film sounded and that included all the dialogue plus the various sound effects. What shocked me was how old fashioned the film looked because just seeing the "style" of this picture made me wonder how much Vidor really directed and if this full screen version was second thought to everyone on the set. The movie is incredibly ugly with mostly medium shots that really don't do anything for the film. The ugly and still fashion of the film really takes it toll on the action in the film because it makes it just as boring. Even worse are some of the performance that suffer because of this. I though Brown and Beery were both decent in their roles but certainly nothing to write home about. Kay Johnson was rather bland as the love interest but future FREAKS cast member Roscoe Ates steals the film as the comedy relief.

Although generally forgotten, this version of "Billy the Kid" (1930) has held up remarkably well and should surprise contemporary viewers who think of the early talkies as something out of the Dark Ages. I'm normally disgusted when these so-called historical epics take great liberties with the truth (particularly when the true story is more interesting that the embellished version) but almost 80 years since its release I doubt if the film will be taken as serious history by any new viewers. They probably should have changed the names along with the facts but there was marketing potential in promoting it as the story of William Bonny.The title character is played by a young Johnny Mack Brown, just a couple years after his 1926 MVP performance for the victorious University of Alabama in the Rose Bowl. Mack was called "The Dothan Antelope" from his high school football days in Dothan Alabama. Watch for signs of his athletic prowess throughout the film, especially at the end where he mounts a horse and rides sidesaddle into the sunset while wearing handcuffs and leg irons.King Vidor's "Billy the Kid" was quite a production for its day, probably the first major production filmed in a widescreen format. Although most likely you will have to view it in the 4 x 3 Hollywood format in which it was simultaneously filmed. Brown's co-star was Wallace Beery (playing Pat Garrett) and their scenes together are excellent, the two manage a nice chemistry with different yet very complementary acting styles. The role made Beery a major star in "talking" pictures and Brown soon became a Top 10 movie cowboy.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.