Young Guns II

The second part of the Billy the Kid story. The film opens in the 1950s. An old man calling himself Brushy Bill Roberts tells a lawyer that he is Billy the Kid and wants the pardon a governor once promised him. The narrative turns back from there. In 1880 Billy is still wanted. The old gang has broken up, some in prison, some dead. He gathers a new group and plans to run for Mexico. The man after him is an old friend: Pat Garrett. The governor makes him sheriff and sets him to stop Billy. The two rode and drank together. The real tension is that relationship rather than the chase: one chooses to become a legend, the other to stay alive. The best known thing about the production is its music. Jon Bon Jovi wrote the songs; the track Blaze of Glory went to number one and was nominated for an Academy Award. Emilio Estevez plays Billy, Kiefer Sutherland plays Doc and Lou Diamond Phillips plays Chavez. Christian Slater and William Petersen are in the cast. Geoff Murphy directed. An enjoyable sequel for anyone who likes the young-cast westerns of the late 1980s. For a viewer expecting a narrative faithful to history, the film prefers the legend to the record.