Young Guns

The idea here was to tell the Billy the Kid story with the young stars of the 1980s, and the cast comes straight off the Brat Pack list: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney and Casey Siemaszko. The events are real. In 1877-78 in New Mexico came the conflict known as the Lincoln County War. John Tunstall, an English rancher, took in wayward young gunmen, gave them work on his ranch and taught them to read; the group was known as the Regulators. When a rival faction killed him, the boys were legally deputised and went after his killers. Among them was William H. Bonney, Billy the Kid. John Fusco, who would later write Thunderheart, wrote the screenplay, and Terence Stamp plays Tunstall. What works is that the film presents them not as legend but as a group losing control. Setting out with legal authority, they turn into outlaws within weeks. Christopher Cain directed. It opened at number one, taking $45.7m against an eleven-million-dollar budget, and was followed by Young Guns II in 1990. Who it is for: viewers who like the 1980s attempt to revive the western and genre films with young casts. Who it is not for: anyone after historical accuracy. The film compresses events, merges characters, and draws Billy far more likeable than he has any right to be.