Main Cast: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Jack Palance
Release Year: 1988
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
In this Western based loosely on actual events and people, Emilio Estevez stars as William H. Bonney (aka Billy the Kid). Sought for a petty crime in Lincoln County, Billy is taken in by John Tunstall (Terrence Stamp), a British ranch owner seeking to make it in the cattle business. Tunstall employs a group of "regulators," comprised of wayward youths he's gathered over the years, to watch over his ranch; in turn, he teaches them how to read and reforms them into better men. Tunstall's business interests come into conflict with those of corrupt and murderous businessman Lawrence Murphy (Jack Palance), whose widespread connections make him a power to be reckoned with. When Tunstall won't budge from his right to pursue a living, Murphy's henchmen stage an ambush and kill him. This triggers a vow of vengeance from the quick-tempered Billy and his five fellow regulators, who are deputized to serve arrest warrants in the murder. However, when Billy decides to gun down the suspects instead of detaining them, his loyal pals become accessories in a vigilante spree to wipe the territory clean of Murphy and his web of conspirators. Soon, the supposed lawmen are on the run from bounty hunters, henchmen, and government soldiers, from all directions of the compass. This box-office hit also stars Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dermot Mulroney, and Casey Siemaszko. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Review
Young Guns was surprisingly successful at taking a rusty genre, the Western, and making it accessible and interesting to the Brat Pack generation. The result is a popcorn film popular enough to have spawned a sequel two years later, yet not good enough to land on many lists of favorite Westerns. Still, it's not as conventional as one might expect. For starters, Emilio Estevez's Billy the Kid is far more gleefully sadistic than most other Western antiheroes get to be, especially those designed for the consumption of teenagers. The film also features a narratively unimportant yet strangely fascinating sequence in which the characters trip on peyote, complete with vomit, dangerously aimless shotgun blasts, and an underwater-sounding audio track that seems like an experimental coup on the part of director Christopher Cain. Add in the premature death of one of the film's biggest stars, and Young Guns is not as easy to telegraph as it should be. Still, it's not as exciting as it should be, either -- the climactic set piece is the only sustained gun battle, and it gets resolved extremely improbably. While the back stories of the key characters are meant to give them soul, they are clumsily handled, particularly Kiefer Sutherland's tacked-on affair with a Chinese girl enslaved by his enemy. Young Guns has a certain comforting familiarity to its target audience, but not much of a following beyond that. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Casey Siemaszko - Charley Bowdre; Terence Stamp - John Henry Tunstall; Terry O'Quinn - Alex McSween; Sharon Thomas - Susan McSween; Geoffrey Blake - J. McCloskey; Alice Carter - Yen Sun; Brian Keith - Buckshot Roberts; Tom Callaway - Texas Joe Grant; Patrick Wayne - Pat Garrett; Lisa Banes - Mallory; Victor Izay - Justice Wilson; Allen Keller - John Kinney; Cody Palance - Baker; Randy Travis - Ring Member; Jeff Prettyman - Judge Bristol; Forrest Broadley - Rynerson; Loyd Lee Brown - Soldier; Craig M. Erikson - Peppin; Gadeek - Henry Hill; Sam Gauny - Morton; Joey Hanks - Hindman; Gary Kanin - Col. Duoley; Daniel Karmin - Sheriff Brady; Pat Lee - Janey; Jeremy H. Lepard - Jimmy Dolan; Elena Parres - Manuela's Mother; Richela Renkun - Bar Girl; Alan Tobin - Bartender
Credit
Harold Thrasher - Art Director, Penny Perry - Casting, Christopher Cain - Co-producer, Joe Roth - Co-producer, Paul Schiff - Co-producer, Irby Smith - Co-producer, Richard Hornung - Costume Designer, Richard Von Ernst - Costume Designer, Christopher Cain - Director, Jack Hofstra - Editor, John Fusco - Executive Producer, James G. Robinson - Executive Producer, Brian Banks - Composer (Music Score), Anthony Marinelli - Composer (Music Score), Karoly Balazs - Makeup, Jane Musky - Production Designer, Harold Thrasher - Production Designer, Dean Semler - Cinematographer, James G. Robinson - Producer, Robert Kracik - Set Designer, Joe Quinlivan - Special Effects, Carey Lindley - Sound/Sound Designer, Michael Minkler - Sound/Sound Designer, Wylie Stateman - Sound/Sound Designer, Everett Creach - Stunts, John Fusco - Screenwriter, Louis Garfinkle - Screenwriter
