Young Guns II (1990)

Yoo hoo, I'll make you famous.

Young Guns II is directed by Geoff Murphy and written by John Fusco. It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, William Petersen, Alan Ruck, Vigo Mortensen and Balthazar Getty. Music is scored by Alan Silvestri, with contributions from Jon Bon Jovi, and cinematography is by Dean Semler.

Brushy Bill Roberts, old and crusty, claims to be Billy The Kid. Which is quite a claim considering the Kid was long thought to have been killed by Patrick Floyd Garrett in 1881. Roberts tells a listening historian that after the break up of the Tunstall Regulators, the remaining members hooked up with Garrett and Arkansas Dave Rudabaugh and still lived the outlaw life...

Young Guns was released in 1988 and became a big enough hit to warrant this sequel two years later. Reuniting gunslingers Billy the Kid (Estevez), Doc Scurlock (Sutherland) and Chavez (Phillips) from the first film, Young Guns II follows the same formula that worked so well two years previously. Billy is still a borderline nut case and his gang, for better or worse, follow him into a number of escapades. This time around, though, we have some added interest in the form of Christian Slater's cocky Rudabaugh, who, as an egotist, wants to run the gang himself. Things are further given a lift when Garrett (a darn fine William Petersen resplendent with major face fuzz) leaves the gang and is persuaded to become a law man. His first job being of course to catch Billy!

Both Young Guns movies are frowned upon by many old school Western purists, which to a degree I understand. They lack any sort of psychological aspects outside of a brat packer like cast shooting and quipping with care free abandon. Character depth is lacking so there is nothing on which to hang your hat on. Here, much like the first film, creative license is used with historical facts but the core basis of story is solid, with many of the events leading up to the documented death of Billy the Kid holding true. Major problem here, though, is that the makers are spinning off from the iffy claim of Brushy Bill Roberts that he was Billy the Kid and did not die at the hands of Pat Garrett. Knowing Billy survives the pursuit and show-down with Garrett at the start of the film kind of dilutes the wonder and impending drama! Film also at times feels like a composite of Little Big Man, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid and of course Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid.

However, both films, and more so with this sequel, have such a sense of fun like homage to them it's not hard to forgive the obvious flaws. Action is plentiful, with much blood shed during the course of the story, while the story always remains intriguing by way of the character dynamics. Semler's photography is more in tune with the Wild West this time around, as is Silvestri's score, the latter of which lifts parts of his "Predator" arrangement to blend with more traditional cowboy harmonies. Great song from Bon Jovi to close the film down as well.

There's a nice link to Peckinpah's movie with an important cameo for James Coburn as John Chisum (Coburn played Pat Garrett in Peckinpah's pic). But most of all it's just great fun to be in the company of Estevez's Billy, it's true enough to say it comes at the expense of the other characters around him, for it's a film owning show, which also dubiously swerves us into cheering for the baby faced "outlaw hero". Yet it plays out as a rollicking good ride in spite of some grey area thematics and a roll call of clichés. And boys, oh boys, Jenny Wright pops in to raise the temperatures considerably with a Lady Godiva moment. If for nothing else, the Young Guns movies got people talking about the Western genre in the MTV age, so that has to be a bonus to the discerning Western fan.

Acknowledge the faults by all means, but viewing them as gun slinging fun wrapped around real Western folklore might just help you enjoy the experience a touch more. 7/10

_**Desperate and reckless young gunmen in New Mexico**_

"Brushy Bill" Roberts is 90 years-old in 1950 and claims to be Billy the Kid, shortly before his death. He narrates the events from 69 years earlier: Pat Garrett (William Petersen) is hired to track down Billy (Emilio Estevez) and his gang, which includes Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), Doc Scurlock (Keifer Sutherland), "Arkansas" Dave Rudabaugh (Christian Slater) and Henry William French (Alan Ruck).

This 1990 sequel to "Young Guns" from two years prior is almost as good and in some ways even better. For one thing, there's more rollicking Western action. Secondly, the 80's pop rock score of the former is replaced by excellent music from Alan Silvestri, which has some moving parts. Speaking of 80's rock, Jon Bon Jovi has a couple of songs on the end credits: "Blaze of Glory" and "Billy Get Your Guns."

The Kid was only 21 when he supposedly died in 1881 and Estevez does a good job of capturing the wild axx punk whereas Chavez and Henry are the most likable characters, not to mention Slater is notable as Arkansas Dave. Meanwhile the Southwest cinematography nicely captures the Old West.

Besides these positives, the highlight for me was Jenny Wright as Jane Greathouse. One of her scenes is topped off by an unexpected "Whoa Mama" moment (repeated as a flashback at the end). Her career unfortunately fell apart shortly after this due to substance abuse, but I heard she's healthy now, albeit no longer acting.

Two iconic Western actors show up, one older and the other younger: James Coburn is on hand as John Chisum; he happened to play Pat Garrett in Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" from 1973. The younger one is Viggo Mortensen, who's on hand as one of Garrett's men.

You don't have to view the first movie to enjoy this one; but it wouldn't hurt. It made about the same amount at the box office and many people favor it.

It runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot in New Mexico and Arizona, around the Santa Fe and Tucson areas respectively

GRADE: B

"Young Guns II" has a very intriguing approach when delivering the all too familiar story detailing Billy the Kid's Mexico run - he is joined in this quest for freedom by some members of his gang after he saves them from certain death at the end of a hangman's rope - following a substancial bounty of $1,000 being placed on his head. This film does offer a measure of ambiguity in relation to Billy's eventual fate and after the tale is finally told the journalist's disputed claims are neither proven nor disproven and we are left to speculate about what the truth of the whole situation could possibly be in this extremely intelligent, interesting, and above all exceptionally well made western.