Across a span of decades, the character of Billy the Kid has been portrayed in film by quite the eclectic group of well known actors - Roy Rogers, Robert Taylor, Bob Steele, Buster Crabbe and even Paul Newman in an early film role, "The Left Handed Gun". I'm repeating myself from other reviews I've written when I say that for my money, Emilio Estevez does the best job of bringing Billy the Kid to life on the big screen. He just has this ego-maniacal way of portraying The Kid's malice, but with a charisma that's kind of appealing when he's taking it to his enemies.
"Young Guns II" isn't a great picture, but it's generally a fine follow up to the original "Young Guns", seeing as how a sequel was going to be made to capitalize on the first. I liked the idea of book-ending the story with the Brushy Bill Roberts appearance to add a bit of a mystique to the legend. I'll have to read up some more about that whole piece of history, since it's not that well known. I only came to learn about it when I saw this picture the first time back in the Nineties. I guess it's an interesting controversy to get wrapped up in, but I'm not that invested in the idea to get all worked up about it.
What I liked about the story was the way it brought in some of the historical nuance to the legend of Billy. The Kid made it a point to say that the Lincoln County War was a merchant war, not a range war. It had all to do with commerce and the awarding of government contracts to supply beef to the Army. There was also the mention of the other names Billy used throughout his life. William Henry McCarty, was Billy's birth name, and he used the name of a step-father, William Antrim as well, though not often. In fact, Billy used a number of aliases throughout his outlaw career, presumably to conceal his true identity while on the run; William H. Bonney is the name that survives history the most memorably.
Returning for the sequel in notable support roles are Kiefer Sutherland as 'Doc' Spurlock, and Lou Diamond Phillips as the Mexican-Indian Chavez. I wasn't particularly fond of William Petersen's casting as Sheriff Pat Garret, he didn't seem gritty enough in the role to take on the assignment from the Governor. Lew Wallace by the way, in real life was also the author of 'Ben-Hur', an interesting bit of trivia that totally astounded me when I found out he had a history with Billy The Kid as governor of New Mexico.
As with most of these Hollywood treatments based on history, purists will take issue with the fictional elements thrown in to make the story engaging for a modern audience. If you can get beyond that, this one is entertaining enough for Western fans with some catchy dialog and skilled cinematography. As an added bonus, you have James Coburn in a neat cameo, and Jane Wright with that slinky Lady Godiva bit as she mounts up and heads out of White Oaks. I hope it wasn't too cold that day.
"Young Guns II" isn't a great picture, but it's generally a fine follow up to the original "Young Guns", seeing as how a sequel was going to be made to capitalize on the first. I liked the idea of book-ending the story with the Brushy Bill Roberts appearance to add a bit of a mystique to the legend. I'll have to read up some more about that whole piece of history, since it's not that well known. I only came to learn about it when I saw this picture the first time back in the Nineties. I guess it's an interesting controversy to get wrapped up in, but I'm not that invested in the idea to get all worked up about it.
What I liked about the story was the way it brought in some of the historical nuance to the legend of Billy. The Kid made it a point to say that the Lincoln County War was a merchant war, not a range war. It had all to do with commerce and the awarding of government contracts to supply beef to the Army. There was also the mention of the other names Billy used throughout his life. William Henry McCarty, was Billy's birth name, and he used the name of a step-father, William Antrim as well, though not often. In fact, Billy used a number of aliases throughout his outlaw career, presumably to conceal his true identity while on the run; William H. Bonney is the name that survives history the most memorably.
Returning for the sequel in notable support roles are Kiefer Sutherland as 'Doc' Spurlock, and Lou Diamond Phillips as the Mexican-Indian Chavez. I wasn't particularly fond of William Petersen's casting as Sheriff Pat Garret, he didn't seem gritty enough in the role to take on the assignment from the Governor. Lew Wallace by the way, in real life was also the author of 'Ben-Hur', an interesting bit of trivia that totally astounded me when I found out he had a history with Billy The Kid as governor of New Mexico.
As with most of these Hollywood treatments based on history, purists will take issue with the fictional elements thrown in to make the story engaging for a modern audience. If you can get beyond that, this one is entertaining enough for Western fans with some catchy dialog and skilled cinematography. As an added bonus, you have James Coburn in a neat cameo, and Jane Wright with that slinky Lady Godiva bit as she mounts up and heads out of White Oaks. I hope it wasn't too cold that day.