Billy the Kid Reviews

Another inaccurate version of the Billy the Kid story, this time starring Taylor in his first foray into the western genre. The plot has Taylor ride into a Southwest town and join up with Lockhart's gang of outlaws. Here he meets old boyhood friend Donlevy, who is now marshal of the territory. (This character is obviously patterned after Pat Garrett, but the script calls him Jim Sherwood for some unknown reason.) Taylor begins to change his shady ways when he is befriended by kindly landowner Hunter and Donlevy's fiancee, Howard. This is not to be because one of Lockhart's men murders Hunter and Taylor goes wild, gunning down all those responsible for the killing. Donlevy tries to convince the Kid to give up and stand trial, but Taylor refuses and lets the marshal kill him in a showdown. The performances are good and the color photography is excellent--it earned an Oscar nomination--but the film may as well have been about an entirely fictional outlaw because the story bears no resemblance to the actual last days of Billy the Kid.