Sam Peckinpah’s final western, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, is also his most impressive work since The Wild Bunch (1969). The film was the third and final installment in Peckinpah’s unofficial “end-of-the-west” trilogy, in which he aimed to deromanticize the American West and conclude the genre’s revision that he started with Guns in the Afternoon (1962) and The Wild Bunch (1969).
Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is a lawman hired by the governor and wealthy New Mexican cattle barons to bring down his old friend and an outlaw, Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson). Pat gives Billy five days to leave, but he refuses, resulting in a shootout and Billy’s eventual imprisonment. However, Billy escapes from jail, and Pat decides to go after him. He assembles a posse and pursues him through the countryside, resulting in significant bloodshed before their final encounter.
The film’s strength lies in the detailed characterization of the principal characters and their relationships, which not only enhances the story but also subverts the conventional cat-and-mouse chase plot—a common trope in Westerns in which an outlaw (Billy) and a cop (Pat) engage in a frantic pursuit. Even though Pat is pursuing Billy, you don’t see a situation in which Pat is mercilessly hunting him. Similarly, you don’t witness Billy repeatedly eluding Pat’s grasp by going from one location to another, trying to outfox him. Instead, Billy stays in one place (although he tries to get away once but decides against that), waiting for Pat, and Pat keeps stalling from the inevitable face-off between the two. This is primarily due to their low-key yet intimate bond, similar to a father-son relationship; they were formerly close but have now become rivals owing to the different paths they’ve taken in life.
Through the decisions that lead Pat and Bill to find themselves on opposing sides of the law, Sam Peckinpah explores themes of change in his film. In the new world order, where there is no place for outlaws and bounty hunters and the new corporate world has taken control, Billy chooses to remain a renegade and persists in his fight against the wealthy landowners, while Pat opts to conform and sells his soul by serving powerful politicians and influential people. And the decisions of both of these characters are fully justified. Pat, a former outlaw, decides to become a sheriff and adapts to change because, as he puts it, “I am getting old, and I would like to grow old with the country.” Billy, on the other hand, would continue living life as an outlaw and be his own boss because of his previous experience working for someone. He was formerly a man of the law working for a ruthless cattle baron named John Chisum (Barry Sullivan), but they had a falling out after Chisum failed to pay Billy the money he owed him.
The film’s melancholy tone—bolstered by Bob Dylan’s haunting soundtrack—portrays a world of immense sorrow, meticulously built by Sam Peckinpah and cinematographer John Coquillon, in which things are changing and people are struggling to accept, adapt, and move on. In one scene, Pat meets up with an elderly sheriff named Colin Baker (Slim Pickens), who has been fed up with the place and wants to make enough money to build a boat and get away. Pat seeks Colin’s help in locating and interrogating several of Billy’s former gang members to learn Billy’s whereabouts. As a result, Pat and Colin engage in a shootout with the gang members, in which Colin gets shot. At that moment, a wide shot of a stunning sunset backdrop shows Colin slowly walking towards the river. He sits serenely by the river, at which point Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” starts playing in the background as Colin takes in the breathtaking riverside scenery and passes away peacefully (similar to Jonathan Banks’ character in Breaking Bad). The scene truly captures the essence of the film—a masterful blend of emotional depth and heartbreaking tragedy—making it one of its finest moments. Furthermore, Dylan’s song, a masterpiece he wrote expressly for this scene, adds an extra layer of poignancy to the situation.
Contrary to the typical grand finales in Westerns of that era—a series of spectacular gunfights involving multiple people—Sam Peckinpah chooses a tense, subdued ending—the two lead characters simply bumping into each other—that is both heartbreaking and fitting with the film’s building momentum. James Coburn delivers a remarkable performance as Pat Garrett, a weary old man who has spent his life rebelling against the law and has finally accepted that, despite his aversion to change, it is necessary for his survival. He is a cold-hearted man who harbors a great deal of self-hatred and regret for the actions he must take, and Coburn effectively conveys this.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid ran into numerous production and post-production problems. On set, there were issues concerning Peckinpah’s alcoholism and his feud with some of the cast members. Additionally, he had a falling out with MGM Studios over the film’s final cut; his first cut was 165 minutes, but the studio executives ultimately released the 106-minute version. Despite my continued admiration for the shortened version (I have seen a 115-minute cut among several truncated versions), I hope to watch Peckinpah’s original cut someday and see the full scope of his vision for the film.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid movie links: letterboxd, IMDB
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