Billy the Kid

Director: David Miller David Miller

Overview

The famous outlaw rides again in this fictionalized western that chronicles Billy's turn from criminal to fine upstanding citizen. The film received an Oscar nomination for its color cinematography.

Product Details

Release Date:	05/05/2009
UPC:	0883316164624
Original Release:	1941
Rating:	NR
Source:	Warner Archives
Presentation:	[Full Frame]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:35:00
Sales rank:	41,026

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Robert Taylor	Billy Bonney
Brian Donlevy	Jim Sherwood
Mary Howard	Edith Keating
Gene Lockhart	Dan Hickey
Lon Chaney Jr.	Spike Hudson
Henry O'Neill	Tim Ward
Guinn "Big Boy" Williams	Ed Bronson
Cy Kendall	Cass McAndrews, Sheriff
Ted Adams	Buzz Cobb
Frank Conlan	Judge Blake
Frank Puglia	Pedro Gonzales
Mitchell Lewis	Bart Hodges
Dick Curtis	Kirby Claxton
Grant Withers	Ed Shanahan
Joe Yule	Milton
Earl Gunn	Jessie Martin
Eddie Dunn	Pat Shanahan
Carl Pitti	Bat Smithers
Kermit Maynard	Thad Decker
Ethel Griffies	Mrs. Hanky
Chill Wills	Tom Patterson
Olive Blakeney	Mrs. Patterson
Ian Hunter	Eric Keating
Creighton Chaney	Spike Hudson
David Snell	Composer
Ormand Ruthven	Composer
Albert Mannheimer	Composer

Technical Credits

Gene Fowler

Bradbury Foote

Howard Rogers

David Miller	Director
Gene Fowler	Screenwriter
Irving Asher	Producer
Bradbury Foote	Screenwriter
Howard Rogers	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

MGM, in its heyday, never liked westerns much and when the studio made an attempt the results were almost always overproduced. None more so than Billy the Kid, which in addition to a change of leading man certainly could have used a bit of fresh air. Although Frank Borzage had filmed second unit footage at Tucson, AZ, and at Utah's Monument Valley, most of Billy the Kid was lensed indoors on so-called "green sets," a grave mistake but typical of Metro in the 1940s. Johnny Mack Brown had played the notorious albeit whitewashed outlaw back in 1930 and even he had been considered almost "too pretty." Enter Robert Taylor, Metro's glamour boy number one, who looked even less like a gunman and who in any case was too old for the role. The supporting cast is typically fine, especially Brian Donlevy's Pat Garrett-alike Sheriff Sherwood, but not even the addition of Technicolor can do much against the miscasting of Taylor and a rather lumbering screenplay.

All Movie Guide - Hans J. Wollstein