Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is a 1973 American Revisionist Western film directed by Sam

Peckinpah, written by Rudy Wurlitzer, and starring James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson,
Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills, Barry Sullivan, Jason Robards, Slim Pickens and
Bob Dylan. The film is about an aging Pat Garrett (Coburn), hired as a lawman by a group of
wealthy New Mexico cattle barons to bring down his old friend Billy the Kid (Kristofferson).
[2]

Dylan composed the score and songs for the film, most prominently "Knockin' on Heaven's
Door", which were released on its soundtrack album the same year. It was filmed on location
in Durango, Mexico,[3] and was nominated for two BAFTA Awards for Film Music (Dylan)
and Most Promising Newcomer (Kristofferson). It was also nominated for a Grammy Award
for Album of Best Original Score (Dylan).[4]

The film was noted for behind-the-scenes battles between Peckinpah and the studio, Metro-
Goldwyn-Mayer. Soon after completion, the film was taken away from the director and
substantially re-edited, resulting in a truncated version released to theaters and largely
disowned by cast and crew members. Peckinpah's preview version[Note 1] was released on video
in 1988, leading to a re-evaluation, with many critics hailing it as a mistreated classic and one
of the era's best films. It is ranked 126th on Empire magazine's list of The 500 Greatest
Movies of All Time.

The movie opens in 1909 (though Pat Garrett was killed in 1908), near Las Cruces, New
Mexico. Garrett is riding with men working for the Santa Fe Ring, when he is ambushed and
coldly killed by his associates, including one John W. Poe.

In 1881 in Old Fort Sumner, New Mexico, William H. Bonney, known as Billy the Kid (Kris
Kristofferson), is passing the time with friends shooting chickens for fun. An old friend of
Billy's, Pat Garrett (James Coburn), rides into town with Deputy Sheriff J. W. Bell (Matt
Clark) and joins the diversion. Later, over drinks, Garrett informs Billy that the electorate
want him out of the country, and that in five days, when he becomes Sheriff of Lincoln
County, he will make Billy leave.

Six days later, Garrett and his deputies surround the small farmhouse where Billy and his
gang are holed up. In the ensuing gun battle, Charlie Bowdre (Charles Martin Smith) and
several other men on both sides are killed, and Billy is taken prisoner. As Billy awaits his
execution in the Lincoln County Jail for the killing of Buckshot Roberts, he is taunted and
beaten by self-righteous Deputy Sheriff Bob Olinger (R.G. Armstrong) while the hangman's
gallows are being built nearby. Garrett warns Olinger not to taunt Billy again or he will be
fired and sent back to Texas; then, Garrett leaves town to collect taxes leaving his two
deputies to guard Billy. Olinger again argues with Billy but after J. W. Bell intervenes,
Olinger leaves to get a drink. Billy finds a gun hidden for him in the outhouse and shoots Bell
in the back. He then retrieves Olinger's shotgun loaded with "sixteen thin dimes" and shoots
Olinger dead in the street, saying, "Keep the change, Bob." Billy leaves town.

After Garrett returns to Lincoln and recruits a new deputy sheriff named Alamosa Bill Kermit
(Jack Elam), he rides to Santa Fe to meet with Governor Lew Wallace (Jason Robards), who
introduces him to a pair of powerful men from the Santa Fe Ring. They offer a thousand
dollars for the capture of Billy the Kid, with five hundred dollars upfront. Garrett rejects the
money saying they can pay him in full when Billy is brought in and warns them that he will
be successful as long as another cattle war is not started. Meanwhile, Billy returns to his gang
at Old Fort Sumner, where he decides to lie back for a few days. He is confronted by three
strangers looking to kill him; all three are killed in the subsequent shootout, helped by another
stranger called Alias (Bob Dylan), who kills one of the men with a knife through the neck.
Alias had witnessed Billy's escape from the Lincoln County Jail.

Garrett meets up with Sheriff Colin Baker (Slim Pickens), hoping he can provide information
on Billy's whereabouts. Baker and his wife (Katy Jurado) go with Garrett to arrest some of
Billy's old gang. In a gunfight, the gang members including Black Harris (L. Q. Jones) are
killed and Baker is mortally wounded. Baker's wife comforts the dying lawman as he waits to
die by a river. Later that evening, Garrett watches a barge floating down a river with a man
shooting bottles in the water. Garrett and the two face off briefly from a distance before
lowering their rifles.

Garrett is joined by a glory-seeking John W. Poe (John Beck), who works for the Santa Fe
Ring. The two ride southwest to meet John Chisum (Barry Sullivan), a powerful cattle baron,
who informs them that Billy has been rustling his cattle again and killed some of his men;
Billy once worked for him and claimed that Chisum owes him $500 of back salary.
Anticipating Garrett's arrival in Old Fort Sumner, Billy's friend Paco (Emilio Fernández) and
his family leave for Mexico, soon followed by Billy. Along the way, Billy stops at the Horrell
Trading Post, which is owned by an old friend. By chance, Horrell (Gene Evans) is hosting
Garrett's new deputy, Alamosa Bill. After they finish eating, Billy and Alamosa step outside
for a duel at ten paces, with Billy shooting Alamosa dead. Meanwhile, Garrett and Poe arrive
at a saloon. Garrett tells Poe to ride on without him and that Garrett will pick him up in
Roswell in five or six days. Three members of Billy's gang come into the saloon. After
taunting Holly (Richard Bright) and getting him drunk, Garrett shoots him dead after he pulls
a knife. He tells Alias to give Billy a message that they had "a little drink together".

Garrett rides to Roswell ahead of Poe to gather more clues on Billy's whereabouts. Garrett
beats up a prostitute named Ruthie Lee (Rutanya Alda) and learns from her that Billy is in
Fort Sumner. Poe arrives in Roswell to find Garrett naked and in bed with several prostitutes,
and confirms that Billy is in Fort Sumner. Garrett recruits an old friend he helped become a
sheriff and along with Poe rides to Fort Sumner to find Billy. Later that night Billy and his
girlfriend, the daughter of Pete Maxwell, have sex as Garrett and his two deputies arrive. Billy
goes to get some meat and, after seeing Garrett's deputies (who are both afraid to shoot the
Kid), backs into a bedroom where Garrett shoots him. Garrett angrily hits Poe for attempting
to cut off Billy's trigger finger. He stays on the porch until morning, when the townspeople of
Fort Sumner, having heard the news of his death, gather to see Billy's lifeless body. Garrett
mounts his horse and rides out of town, with a small boy throwing stones at him.