BlazeLime Strong and Moving!

Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Micah Lloyd Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Blake Rivera If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

AaronCapenBanner Arthur Penn directed this obscure(and umpteenth) filming of the story of Billy The Kid(William Bonny) Paul Newman(utterly miscast) plays Billy as a misunderstood and pensive youth who merely wanted to avenge the death of his employer, an expatriate Englishman and cattle rancher murdered by a corrupt sheriff and his men because they didn't want the competition. Billy hunts down and kills the men responsible, but becomes a wanted criminal as a result. His friend and lawman Pat Garret(played by John Dehner) reluctantly pursues him, as Billy's fame grows... Terrible film is unbearably slow and uninteresting; a real chore to sit through, and misinformed title makes it look even worse!

lbrtyrose If you're looking for the current blockbuster hit....this wouldn't be it. But, if you keep things in perspective, and remember when it was made...this is a very entertaining movie. So what if it doesn't follow the life of Billy the Kid verbatim. It's a western, and like most westerns back then....the acting wasn't the best...neither was the effects. But, back then....we enjoyed the "story" of the movie. This movie is especially close to my heart, since I remember the first time I ever saw it....it was already a late movie, and I think I was about 5! Paul Newman became my favorite actor immediately !! He still is :-) Anyone who knows me, knows this is my "all time" favorite movie. Yea, I've seen better acting, directions, etc....but, I've never been touched by any movie since, as much as I was by this one. So...if I could rate it a 12, I would :-)

MartinHafer When the film began, I suddenly had very low hopes for it. That's because the opening tune was simply horrible--with bad lyrics and a cheesy quality that made me cringe. However, I assumed it would get a lot better. After all, almost anything Paul Newman did is well worth seeing (other than his first film, "The Silver Chalice"--which Newman himself often mocked when asked about it). Well, while this isn't as bad as "The Silver Chalice", it is pretty bad.The biggest problem with the film is the direction. It seems that instead of making a simple western, the actors had been told to act as if they were at a workshop given by The Actor's Studio--and each of them was trying to out-emote each other. Imagine a film where EVERYONE is method acting and all trying to do it more broadly and noticeably than the last guy! Subtle, it was not--in fact, it was seriously funny at times. There were just so many scenes that were overacted horribly. I especially loved the death scenes and when folks got mad because they REALLY died spectacularly or got insanely angry! I especially loved Pat Garrett's (John Dehner) reactions in the film--they were downright funny.The other big problem is that as a historical piece, the film bore no resemblance to reality! Like a lot of bad westerns, this one purports to be about an infamous western bandit (in this case, Billy the Kid) but isn't his life in the least. And, combined with the crap acting and direction, the film is just a complete mess. So, unless you like bad films or have no taste at all, steer clear of this one. Even with Newman, it's a dog.

secondtake The Left Handed Gun (1958)You have to be curious what director Arthur Penn did before his famous "Bonnie and Clyde" from almost a decade later. And with Paul Newman as the leading man, charming and funny and not totally unlike Warren Beatty in the later film as a lovable outlaw, it works.But it's also a kind of routine affair, mixing funny or violent scenes (often led by the incomparable Newman) with more ordinary ones that keep the movie in line. It's pretty interesting and well enough done stuff, for sure, but relatively routine. Not much different than other Westerns in the 1950s.There is some history built in here--Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. And Newman makes a creditable Billy, and a sympathetic one, a kind of victim of a terrible childhood, good hearted and with a simple morality that doesn't quite match what the law demands.The clichés are not all in play here, which is nice. Check it out.