Delayed Reaction: Young Guns

The Pitch: Let's make the Billy the Kid story into something a little more palatable for Hollywood.

How I Came Into It: This is one of those movies no one ever talks about but everyone knows. The cast certainly precedes it. Of the six guns, Casey Siemaszko is the only one who isn't still pretty well known and he's worked plenty regardless. The casting gods really shined down on this one.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) The movie begins making it very clear what this is about: getting as many hot young stars together for a western. It doesn't work hard to convince you that it's perfectly accurate. It's a star vehicle for numerous stars. In fact, I quite enjoyed that they played with the truth a little, things being incorrectly attributed to Billy and the turmoil within the group. The action too has a good sense of fun.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: It was a little too busy trying to do right by all the leads and still fit in a relatively short run time. I liked the length, but I would've liked a pass or two more at the script to tighten it up. It also hasn't aged too well. The gun fights are shot using what I call "Hollywood logic". It's not that they purposely choose to go over the top with the action, like this is a heightened reality. It's that thing where you can almost hear the director saying "it would be cool if" and the protagonists' shooting accuracy is 50 times better than the antagonists'. It's the difference between knowing that you are over the top (Commando is a good example) and thinking you are just "going big".

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend