The Kid (2019)

Описание: These are brief excerpts from one of 23 films and television series ostensibly about Billy the Kid. Below the analysis of this source are links to clips from and a bit of analysis of other dramas about the outlaw/hero. Less important than any facts or legends that may be found or debunked in these sources is the suggestion that our views of Billy have evolved through the years and that these media may tell us as much or more about the eras in which they were produced than about the historical characters and times portrayed.

Between 1930 and 1990, Hollywood and TV networks produced 20 films or series about Billy the Kid, twice that counting about 20 cheaply made "oaters" made during World War II, an average of one every year and a half. Then, a generation passed before the outlaw-hero returned to the big screen in 2019's "The Kid".

Dane DeHaan as Billy seems alternately taken with and dismissive of the fame/notoriety he has gained. The film's innovation is to introduce the Kid to an actual kid, "Rio", to whose abusive home life Billy can relate. (Rio's first glimpse of the outlaw cleverly has Billy standing in the pose of his famous photo). They form a bond, and we see some of the oft-told stories about the outlaw through the preadolescent's wide eyes. After Ethan Hawke as Pat Garrett remorselessly tracks and kills Billy, Garrett and Rio hunt down Rio's villainous uncle, saving his abducted older sister from the brothel in which she's been trapped. Garrett then gets the uncle to agree to a duel, and the chance to become a legend as Pat Garrett's killer, by explaining that it's not the facts but the stories that are told that matter, but Rio takes a cue from his late mentor by preempting the ten count from the sidelines.

Despite poor to middling reviews, the film seems an accurate reflection our celebrity-obsessed times, in which to be an "influencer" is the ultimate objective of much of today's youth culture.

Billy the Kid (1930)    • Billy the Kid  - 1930  
Billy the Kid Returns (1938)    • Billy the Kid Returns (1938)  
Billy the Kid Outlawed (1940)    • Billy the Kid Outlawed (1940)  
Billy the Kid (1941)    • Billy the Kid (1941)  
Fugitive of the Plains (1943)    • Billy the Kid in Fugitive of the Plains (1...  
The Outlaw (1943)    • The Outlaw (1943)  
I Shot Billy the Kid (1950)    • I Shot Billy the Kid (1950)  
The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954)    • The Law vs  Billy the Kid (1954)  
The Parson and the Outlaw (1957)    • The Parson and the Outlaw (1957)  
The Left Handed Gun (1958)    • The Left Handed Gun (1958)  
The Tall Man (1960-62)    • The Tall Man (1960-62)  
Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)    • Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966)  
Chisum (1970)    • Chisum (1970)  
Dirty Little Billy (1972)    • Dirty Little Billy (1972)  
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)    • Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)  
Lucky Luke vs. Billy the Kid (1984)    • Billy the Kid vs. Lucky Luke (1984)  
Young Guns (1988)    • Young Guns (1988)  
Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)    • Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)  
Gore Vidal’s Billy the Kid (1989)    • Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid (1989)  
Young Guns II (1990)    • Young Guns II (1990)  
The Kid (2019)    • The Kid (2019)  
Old Henry (2021)    • Old Henry (2021)  
Billy the Kid (2022)    • Billy the Kid (2022)