| Young Guns | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Christopher Cain |
| Written by | John Fusco |
| Produced by | Christopher Cain Joe Roth |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Dean Semler |
| Edited by | Jack Hofstra |
| Music by | Anthony Marinelli Brian Banks |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox (United States and Canada) Vestron International Group (International) |
Release date |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $11 million[1] |
| Box office | $56 million |
Young Guns is a 1988 AmericanWesternaction film[2] directed and produced byChristopher Cain and written byJohn Fusco. The film depicts a heavily fictionalized version of the actions ofBilly the Kid and theRegulators during theLincoln County War, inNew Mexico in 1877–78. It starsEmilio Estevez as Billy, andKiefer Sutherland,Lou Diamond Phillips, Estevez's brotherCharlie Sheen,Dermot Mulroney, andCasey Siemaszko as the other Lincoln County Regulators. The supporting cast featuresTerence Stamp,Terry O'Quinn,Brian Keith, andJack Palance.[1]
The first film to be produced byMorgan Creek Productions,Young Guns received mixed reviews, with critics polarised over its inaccuracies and story, despite praise for the performances, and opened at number one at the US box office and eventually grossed $56 million against an $11-million budget. Because of the film's cast, it is often associated with the "Brat Pack" set of 1980s actors.[3]
A sequel,Young Guns II, was released in 1990, with the principal cast reprising their roles. A third film is currently in development.
InLincoln County, New Mexico, English cattlemanJohn Tunstall hires a wayward young gunman namedWilliam “Billy the Kid” Bonney to join the "Regulators" who lived and worked on his ranch:Doc Scurlock,Jose Chavez y Chavez,Dick Brewer,"Dirty" Steve Stephens, andCharlie Bowdre. Tunstall tries to educate and civilize the young men in his employ, and clashes with rival rancherLawrence Murphy, a well-connected Irishman in league with the corruptSanta Fe Ring.
One of Murphy's hired hands, McCloskey, joins up with Tunstall, while Doc attempts to court Murphy's Chinese ward, Yen Sun. AsNew Year's Day starts, Murphy's men kill Tunstall, leading his lawyer friendAlexander McSween to arrange for the Regulators to be deputized and given warrants for the killers' arrest. Hotheaded Billy challenges Dick's authority as the group's foreman, as the Regulators attempt to take Murphy's henchmen in alive. Instead, Billy kills several unarmed men, including McCloskey, whom he suspected of feeding Murphy information. Newspapers paint the Regulators as a deadly gang headed by a larger-than-life outlaw, "Billy the Kid".
With bounty hunters seeking them all over the West and unsure where to go, Chavez leads the others on apeyote trip. One of the men on their warrants,Buckshot Roberts, tracks them down, and a shootout ensues. Roberts barricades himself in an outhouse and kills Dick, and as a reaction, the rest of the Regulators shoot up the outhouse, presumably killing Roberts. This leads the others to flee, while an injured Doc goes a separate way. Chavez reveals that Murphy's corruption led to the brutal murders of his mother and herNavajo tribe, and urged the others to abandon their need for bloodshed. Still, Billy takes charge as their new leader, determined to avenge Tunstall.
Doc visits Yen Sun before rejoining the gang, and they kill the corrupt SheriffWilliam J. Brady and his men. They meet with a furious Alex, who explains that their badges have been revoked. Though they are now wanted men, Billy insists their actions will bring attention to Murphy's corruption. While Charlie revisits a brothel, Billy kills an arrogant bounty hunter at a cantina, and the gang flees to Mexico, where Charlie marries a local woman. Soon-to-be-sheriffPat Garrett warns Billy that Murphy's men will attempt to take Alex's life the following day.
At Alex's house in Lincoln, the gang is surrounded by Murphy's men and famed bounty hunterJohn Kinney. Realizing they were lured into a trap, the Regulators survive an entire day's shootout. CorruptU.S. Army troops arrive at the Houses, as does Murphy himself with Yen, who runs inside and is reunited with Doc. Murphy orders the soldiers to set fire to the house. Alex's wife is allowed to leave unharmed and Chavez slips away. Trapped in the burning attic, the gang throws Alex's possessions out of the window, including a trunk with Billy inside, allowing him to surprise their attackers. In the chaos, Chavez returns with their rescued horses, and Charlie and Kinney shoot each other dead. Doc and Yen ride away, and Steve is shot dead after getting a wounded Chavez onto the remaining horse to ride. Alex is gunned down by aGatling gun, and Billy escapes after shooting Murphy between the eyes, killing him.
An epilogue from Doc reveals that Chavez took work at a farm inCalifornia, Doc moved east and married Yen Sun, Alex's widow became one of the most prominent cattlewomen ever, and Murphy's ring of corruption collapsed, especially whenGovernor Axtell was forced to resign by PresidentHayes. Billy continued to ride until he was killed by Garrett and buried next to Charlie atFort Sumner, where someone later carved the epitaph: "PALS".
In addition,Tom Cruise briefly appears in a nonspeakingcameo role as one of Murphy's henchmen that is shot and killed by Charlie during the climactic shootout.[4][5][6] Cruise made the appearance while visiting friends on the set.[7] Country musicianRandy Travis has a cameo as aGatling gunner.[7]
ScreenwriterJohn Fusco developed an interest inBilly the Kid and theLincoln County War while living in the American Southwest in the 1970s.[7] He spent five months in New Mexico researching the incident and Billy's life.[7] He first met directorChristopher Cain while working as ascript doctor on his filmThe Principal. Cain committed to the project after reading just sixteen pages of Fusco's first draft, and suggestedEmilio Estevez for the leading role, following their collaboration onThat Was Then... This Is Now. Cain initially wanted Sutherland to portray Billy, but Estevez convinced him he was suitable for the part.[8]
Filming took place mainly on-location inSanta Fe County,New Mexico.[7] The town ofLos Cerrillos was redressed to look like an 1870s Lincoln County.[7]
Estevez later said "John Fusco wrote a magnificent script, but then it was turned into what I call Hollywood's first heavy-metal western. It was just an excuse for a personality piece featuring all these young actors, and I was very disappointed."[9]
James Horner, whom director Cain had previously worked with onThe Stone Boy (1984) andWhere the River Runs Black (1986), was originally hired as the film's composer. His score was rejected however, and was replaced by a new score composed by Brian Banks andAnthony Marinelli shortly before release.[7] Some early promotional materials still list Horner as the composer.
In a June 1990 magazine, New Mexico historianPaul Andrew Hutton regardedYoung Guns as more historically accurate in some ways than earlier cinematic incarnations of the Lincoln County War and Billy the Kid, though he noted some inaccuracies.[10] Author Johnny D. Boggs notes that much of the script was fictionalised with some characters and events changed for dramatic effect. Tunstall was killed on February 18, not on New Year's Day. The Red Sand Creek massacre is fictional. The portrayal of the gunfight at the McSween house, is considered one of the most historically inaccurate portions of the film. Bowdre, Stephens and John Kinney survived. McSween was killed by Murphy-Dolan men, not an Army Gatling gun. Murphy's death also did not collapse the Santa Fe Ring.[11]
The relationship between Tunstall and Murphy was particularly close to the historical reality (as it was inChisum). The killings of Hill and McCloskey are also particularly close to the historical record as well. The portrayals of Josiah Gordon "Doc" Scurlock, Jose Chavez y Chavez, Richard "Dick" Brewer, and Charlie Bowdre, all of whom are not in earlier cinematic versions of the story are regarded as realistic,John Chisum is omitted (the character did appear in thesequel).[citation needed]
Artistic licenses include the age of John Tunstall, who was 24-years old at death, but is played by then-49-year oldTerence Stamp and is depicted as a father figure to the Regulators, when in fact he was only six years older than Billy and was more of a mentor. Doc Scurlock's romance with Yen Sun is completely fictional; the real Scurlock was married to a Hispanic woman named María Antonia Miguela Herrera before the Lincoln County War started,[12] and Murphy was not known to have a Chinese mistress.
The climactic siege at Alexander McSween's property is truncated for the film; the real event lasted five days while the film only shows two days. Lawrence Murphy is shown killed by Billy during the siege, when in fact he was not present for the battle, and died of cancer several months later.
The film cuts down the number of Regulators from the historical eleven to six. TheAFI Catalog notes that characteristics of RegulatorsJohn Middleton andYginio Salazar are absorbed into the film's depictions of Stephens and Chavez.[7]
The film was released on video by Vestron Home Video on January 4, 1989, and on DVD on March 17, 1998, by Artisan Home Entertainment.[13][14]This film was released onUMD forPlayStation Portable on October 10, 2005 .[15]On December 5, 2023, Lionsgate Home Video released the film in 4K in a standard edition as well as a Best Buy exclusive Steelbook. Both the standard and Steelbook releases contain two discs: the 4K Blu-ray, along with a remastered in 4K 1080p Blu-ray.
The movie was a box-office hit,[16][17] and grossed $45.7 million in the US and Canada.[18] Internationally it grossed $11 million for a worldwide total of $56 million.[19]
Young Guns received mixed reviews from critics.[20][21][22] It holds a 43% rating onRotten Tomatoes based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 4.7/10 with the consensus: "Young Guns rounds up a posse of attractive young leads, but this cheerfully shallowBrat Pack western ultimately has too much hat and not enough cattle."[23]Metacritic gave the film a score of 50 based on 13 people, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[24] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A-" on an A+ to F scale.[25] Ian Nathan ofEmpire gave the film two out of five, praising Estevez's performance but felt the cast to be underused, and criticised the lack of depth, ultimately feeling the film to be "badly realised and altogether a bit flat".[26] Alex von Tunzelmann ofThe Guardian gave the film a grade of B, feeling the film to be "good, solid, brainless fun" but criticised its inaccuracies and portrayal of the characters as cartoon characters, feeling the film made history "actually less colourful".[27] Casimir Harlow praised the cast's performances (especially Estevez's portrayal of Billy) and the film's soundtrack, callingYoung Guns a "cracking, wild whirlwind of a ride".[28] Michael Cavender praised the sets, performances but felt Sheen, Palance and Wayne to be underused.[29]
Reviewer Will of silveremulsion.com gave the film one out of four stars, writing, "the film has virtually nothing in the way of character development...Billy the Kid is obvious, and Sutherland’s Doc is easy enough to remember, but everyone else is a total wash." The review concludes, "I hateYoung Guns...I do have to say that I enjoyed the gun battles, especially the final standoff that ends with everyone yelling in slow motion as they blast every last round of ammo at their opponents. It had me howling with laughter, and I was glad that it ended on such a high note, even if that high isn’t realistically all that high."[30]Journalist David Loftus gave the film a negative review praising the performances of the main cast, but was critical of the poor use of Stamp and Palance and the overall script.[31]Mary Ann Johanson criticsed the film as "excruciating", criticizing the lack of depth, themes and felt the characters forgettable.[32]Noor Razzak praised the film's "strong cast and visually captivating cinematography" but was critical of "its departure from historical accuracy, uneven pacing, and unconventional soundtrack".[33]
A sequel, titledYoung Guns II, was released in 1990. The film focuses on Billy and the surviving Regulators time as outlaws between 1879 and his official death in 1881. Principal cast members Estevez, Sutherland, and Phillips returned, as did writer John Fusco.William Petersen replaced Patrick Wayne asPat Garrett. Other new cast members includedChristian Slater,Alan Ruck, andJames Coburn.
In 2025, Estevez announced that a third film, titledYoung Guns III: Dead or Alive, was in development and would begin production in the fall.
