Where to watch Young Guns
2 1/2 Stars
1878 in New Mexico: John Tunstall picks up young gun men from the road to have them work on his ranch, but also to teach them reading and to civilize them. However he’s a thorn in the side of the rich rancher Murphy, as he’s a competitor in selling cattle. One day he’s shot by Murphy’s men. Judge Wilson can’t do anything, since Sheriff Brady is one of Murphy’s men. But attorney Alex persuades him to constitute Tunstall’s young friends to Deputies and give them warrants of arrest for the murderers. Instead of arresting them, William Bonney just shoots them down. Soon the 5 guys become famous and William gets the name “Billy the Kid” – but they’re also chased by dozens of Murphy’s men and the army. The people however honor him as fighter for justice.
Young Guns is a guilty pleasure Cold War-era western. Six of the decade’s hottest actors comprise the cast, some of whom were part of the infamous “brat pack” grouping, who portray an outlaw gang out for revenge. Emilio Estevez, arguably in his signature role, is Billy “the kid,” and his wise-ass, impatient, often cackling representation of the famed fugitive is the best thing in Young Guns.
If Top Gun is guilty of 1980s kitsch by trivializing war and turning it into a music video, then Young Guns is equally as condemnable of exploiting the Johnson County War and turning it into the equivalent of a cinematic teen pin-up magazine. It may be appealing to gaze at, but after a while, the experience becomes an exercise in matinée idol worshipping. I do like the inclusion of scenes like the peyote sequence and the dinner table scene where the boys chide Billy, but the movie is lightweight, and its cast feels like posers in the genre. The theme music is fantastic, and Estevez aptly conveys the reckless nature of Billy’s youthful vigor, but the flatness of the film in visual compositions, production design, and pacing eventually overtakes the movie’s few good qualities.
Directed by: Christopher Cain
Written by: John Fusco
Starring: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips