A group of young gunfighters seeks revenge after a powerful rancher
murders their mentor, but soon the law begins to hunt them. WESTERN
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Young Guns (1988)Directed by Christopher Cain
Written by John Fusco Starring Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko, Terry O'Quinn, Terence Stamp, Jack Palance, Alice Carter, Sharon Thomas Cain |
Young Guns is cheesy, 80's fun at its very best. It's not particularly memorable, nor is it a fantastic western, but it's entertaining and contains enough good performances to still be worth talking about all these years later. I had no idea going into this one that it's the origin story of Billy the Kid, played to hammy perfection by Emilio Estevez. That made it even more fun for me, and now I have a reason to want to watch Young Guns II.
Estevez plays William Bonney, who becomes the murderous outlaw Billy the Kid after vicious rancher L.G. Murphy (Jack Palance) has his rival John Tunstall (Terence Stamp) murdered. Tunstall was mentor to Billy and the rest of his gang, the Regulators, so now they all want revenge. But Billy takes it too far and gets them on the wrong side of justice. How far are they now willing to go for vengeance? It's a fun watch that blurs the line between biopic and reimagining, but any western fan will find something to like in this wild film. I enjoyed Young Guns more than I expected, mostly because what I expected was an 80's brat pack trainwreck that should've stayed in the past. However, this was thankfully not the case, and I wound up enjoying myself. Young Guns may just be Emilio's best performance, and it's cool to see the Sheen brothers together for once. |