Young Guns (1988)

Very disappointed :(

Truly Dreadful Film

i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

Expected more

Really liked this film today as much as the first time it was released. Give this sort of cast the story it tells it's hard to fail. The start is very true to the events that happened, and shines a light on who is good or bad in a lawless society. The modern day heroes of the West usually played as law-men one day and outlaws the next.. The Earp brothers and Doc were a legal mob running Tombstone, the OK corral was a massacre of their rivals under protection of the law. It's a strange thing about society that we look back on some outlaws as heroic, where as, if it was happening today we'd want them hunted down and removed.

The movie is (loosely) based on Billy the Kid's adventures during the Lincoln County War, that took place in 1877-1878. The movie has this brat pack feeling to it. filled with fast action scenes and snappy one liners.The brat pack of gunmen consists of Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez), Dick Brewer (Charlie Sheen), Dirty Steve (Dermot Mulroney), Doc Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland), Chavez y Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips) and Charley Bowdre (Casey Siemaszko). These young men are a bunch of misfits and gunmen that are gathered under the guidance of English cattle rancher John Tunstall (Terence Stamp). They work and protect his ranch and economic interests and John Tunstall gives the young gunmen food, shelter and an education in return. The movies main villain is the Irishman Lawrence G. Murphy (played by western movie veteran Jack Palance), whom also is a rancher and merchant and the natural rival to John Tunstall. The rivalry goes bad and John Tunstall is murdered and the movie turns into a tale of revenge. Billy the Kid's gang is deputised after meeting lawyer Alexander McSween (Terry O'Quinn). They were young and inexperienced but they were the only men with guts enough to challenge the terror of Lawrence Murphy, whom had a huge gang following him. The young gunmen takes on the name The Regulators as they ride out to arrest some of the murderers in Murhpy's gang. But hot-headed Billy wants instant justice and starts to murder his enemies and the Regulators are stripped of their badges. Despite becoming outlaws the Regulators keep hunting down Murphy's men while bounty hunters and law men are closing in on them. The movie is filled with cool and creative shooting scenes, the dialogue is fast and saucy and often really memorable. The movie has a fast pace and there if the movie had been directed by Peter Jackson it would have been 3 times 3 hours long. Young Guns is more fun than your old John Wayne / Clint Eastwood movies. Funny fact is that: Pat Garrett is played by John Wayne's son Patrick Wayne.The cast is brilliant and Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jack Palance and Emilio Estevez does some of their best work of their careers. The movie doesn't go deep and rarely scratches the surface and at times the dialogue feels more cool than realistic. This western has everything, it's an adventure, it has comedic elements, it's action and it has even got some romance in it. The movie is about friendship and going against the odds as the men keep challenging themselves to grow. It's a very entertaining movie, It doesn't compare to some of the old Spaghetti westerns out there but it doesn't try either. Young guns was a new brand of Western that we hadn't really seen before. It doesn't follow the real story of Billy the Kid correctly either. There are some fabrications of the truth here and there, but Young Guns come in all guns blazing and it does it with a big grin on it's face. The movie came out when the Western genre was more or less dead and buried, but the movie did pretty well despite scoring bad reviews and it helped revitalise the dead genre a bit. I've seen more than 100 western movies in my days but I still think that this is the most exciting western movie out there, maybe not the best but definitely one of the few that I can watch over and over again. Movie fans... Mount Up!

This western was obviously aimed at the teenage audience , but it's not a bad thing. It's actually a quite refreshing take. The main heroes are young and not certain of their actions . The movie does reminds sometimes a music video (the opening credits , the final shootout) and the rock guitar solos work really well as the soundtrack.Emilio Estevez ("Stakeout") , Charlie Sheen ("Major league") , Kiefer Sutherland ("The Lost boys") and Lou Diamond Philips ("Stand and deliver") all give nice performances. Their characters aren't really complex , pretty much one note , but they managed to make them likable and interesting. Estevez gets the most attention , since his Billy The Kid is the most interesting of them – irresponsible hothead , typical "shot first , then ask questions" guy. Sheen is a calm and religious guy , Sutherland is a mild mannered poet and Philips is a mysterious Indian. There are also two other characters played by Casey Siemaszko and Delmot Mulroney , but they aren't really interesting. Last , but not least there is a good performance by Jack Palance ("Batman") as the villain.This is pretty much a action movie , but also a story about friendship and loyalty. I think it's a little weaker than other westerns from the 80's like "Tom Horn" , "Pale rider" and "Silverado" . Still , it's a satisfying movie that might be enjoyable even by people who usually don't like westerns. I give it 6/10.

William H. 'Billy the Kid' Bonney (Emilio Estevez) has trouble with the law. John Tunstall (Terence Stamp) takes him in just as he has done with several other young men. They call themselves Regulators. One day, Tunstall is killed by his competitor rancher Murphy (Jack Palance)'s men. Sheriff reluctantly deputizes the Regulators to bring the murderers to justice. However, that's just the start of an all out war.This is the best Brat Pack western. Emilio Estevez goes nuts in this movie. His manic laugh makes this movie. Oddly, Charlie Sheen plays the reasonable leader of the group. Kiefer Sutherland falls for Murphy's china doll Yen Sun. Lou Diamond Phillips is the Indian. Casey Siemaszko and Dermot Mulroney round out the Regulator crew. History be damn. This is fictional. Although there are some famous names for the characters. This is just a bunch of young guns having fun playing cowboys.