Young Guns
Published 2015-01-11
Film info
- Title Young Guns
- Director Christopher Cain
- Year 1988
- Run time 1hr 47m
- Genres Crime, Action, Adventure, Western
- Tagline Six reasons why the west was wild
- Cast Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Terence Stamp
In 1878 New Mexico, rancher John Tunstall hires young gunmen to work on his property while teaching them to read and civilise themselves. When men working for rival rancher Lawrence Murphy shoot and kill Tunstall, the young gunmen take the law into their hands and soon earn monikers such as 'Billy the Kid'.
Live blog
| Time | Comment |
|---|---|
| 1:15 | Yay for brothers being in the same film. |
| 8:32 | Jeez, it's like the most awkward dinner party ever. |
| 14:37 | Why would you go from London to the Wild West? |
| 16:32 | Ha, that guy playing the spoons. |
| 21:52 | Definitely not the time for grammar pedantry, right before a fight. |
| 23:01 | Crikey, and I thought New Year's fireworks were bad. Gunshots are OTT! |
| 29:10 | Manure, I hate manure moment there. |
| 35:11 | I think Billy has officially gone rogue. |
| 37:33 | "Papers can't get nothing right." Nothing changes! |
| 43:50 | Very dangerous to be intoxicated in charge of a gun. |
| 47:41 | They did dares in the old west? |
| 49:55 | He's definitely not winning in this one. |
| 59:47 | Being called necessary doesn't sound like a compliment but it actually really is. |
| 1:06:37 | Billy isn't really a very good leader. |
| 1:08:17 | Where do they get their money from? They don't stick around long enough to rob the men they kill. |
| 1:14:07 | Loving the 80s music, weird juxtaposition with the wild west sequence. |
| 1:17:48 | "I'm really not liking him." |
| 1:24:20 | "They'll kill you, then I'll have to kill all the guys that killed you. And that's a lot of killing." |
| 1:27:22 | These horses are like local police. Just doing their job and coming off worse. |
| 1:31:53 | It's the cavalry. |
Thoughts
I wasn't really aware of this one other than casually browsing past it on Netflix occasionally. When Mr C suggested we watch it, I suddenly realised just how many famous faces are in there, baby faces of course, but hey, who doesn't love a young Kiefer Sutherland?
It was actually a pretty good Western, although oddly, didn't age very well. You either want something modern or something echoing the old west, but Young Guns managed to have great Western scenery with some pretty hideous 80s music. It didn't age well, in that regard, which is an odd thing to say about such an historical piece.
Still, I thought they all did a great job, good acting under those conditions, good wrangling of horses and guns and suchlike, and an interesting story. I'm afraid to say my Billy the Kid knowledge was lacking before this as well, but it's sparked my interest somewhat!
Rating: 4 / 5