MovieChat Forums > Chisum (1970) Discussion > Young Guns

Young Guns

posted 14 years ago by callmeinfo
9 replies | jump to latest

Being a pretty big Western fan in the past couple years I watched Young Guns based on a recommendation from a friend (a friend claiming to be a western fan). I have not been able to fully smile since seeing it. It was by far the worst western I have ever seen and I've seen a lot. Regardless of genre it was still pretty terrible. From the first frame I hated it and knew it was a sorry excuse for a western movie.

Immediately I went to the internet to find other movies involving Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County war to try to get the taste of Young guns out of my mouth. I found Chisum as well as Pat Garret & Billy the Kid and bought both DVDs as fast as I could. I haven't watched PG&BTK yet but I just watched Chisum last night. 10 minutes in and my full smile returned!! Now this is a western!

[–] hollywoodpsychic 14 years ago

But you also picked up Young Guns 2 just to see how Billy the Kid lived to tell the tale, right?

I kid;)

A lot of strange things happen in this world. Things you don't know about in Grand Rapids.

[–] PreciousRoys 14 years ago

Your mistake is that you approached Young Guns as if it were a western. There has not been a true western movie made for decades.

Even good recent western style movies like Unforgiven are not "westerns" in the sense you are thinking of them.

[–] Homer900 14 years ago

The last good western was Silverado. You had clearly defined heroes and villains, strong women, and even a "High Noon" shootout between the bad sheriff and the scoundrel turned good guy. Unforgiven was an intense and well made morality play wrapped in western garb and Young Guns was stupid.

[–] Timberwolf0530 12 years ago

Good westerns after Silverado: Tombstone, Quigley Down Under, Appaloosa, Open Range, 3:10 To Yuma, Deadwood, not a straight up western, but Firefly/Serenity are westerns in space. They don't make nearly as many any more, but the western isn't completely dead.

[–] osopestoso 13 years ago

Young Guns 1 and 2 were a romp. Never tried to be documentaries. Looks like they threw every rumor about BtK in that they had time for. Get over yourselves.

"They sucked his brains out!"

[–] nathan515 12 years ago

So I guess everyone else who loves Young Guns (95% of the world) are morons, huh

[–] spookyrat1 12 years ago

"So I guess everyone else who loves Young Guns (95% of the world) are morons, huh"

I liked Young Guns 1 and 2 and Chisum (apart from the song), so I guess I might be classified as being semi - moronic.

[–] terry_betts 11 years ago

I'm going to defend Young Guns a bit here. Like an earlier poster pointed out, it was a romp, not a documnetary (Niether I might add, was Chisum).

Nonetheless, YG was a fine film. The main actors were at least in the closer in age to the historic characters they played then usual (How many old men have played Tombstone Sheriff Fred White who was in his late 20s when he was shot by Curley Bill...?) In point of fact, the great John Wayne was much older than John Chisum who he played. At least YG attempted to find young actors to play historically young men.

Beyond that, like many movies set in a historical place and time, they got a lot wrong but unlike many other Hollywood movies about the Kid, they got the basics correct. In fact, close than Chisum did actually.

I don't see why you can't like or love both films, it's not a competition...

[–] spookyrat1 11 years ago

And again as you said (as clichéd as it might be) they weren't in the business of making documentaries.