Young Guns
September 1st 2008 06:53
There were four we'd heard of - Brat Packian brothers Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen, and Lou Diamond Phillips and Kiefer Sutherland - and two we hadn't - Casey Siemaszko and Dermot Mulroney.
The movie took those viewers stoking St Elmo's Fire and dining out with The Breakfast Club into the Old West. A desolute setting thought dried up forever with the 1985 shambles of Silverado, starring the two Kevin's, Costner and Kline.
Estevez was the undisputed star of the show, the storyline centering around his character William H. Bonney, aka the infamous Billy the Kid, as he leads a band of Regulators out to avenge the murder of their employer John Tunstall (Terrence Stamp).
They were young and they had guns. Hence the extremely creative (not) title, Young Guns.
While his work in the film was never going to win him an Academy Award, Estevez has so much fun with the role of the gun-toting cocky Kid it's 'intoxicating' (sorry, a Star Wars: Attack of the Clones joke there).
"He ain't all there is he?", says `Dirty Steve' (Mulroney) early on of the Kid.
Well, he was all there, and a bit more.
The character comes into his sadistic own after the law turns against the deputised group of misfits and they go on a killing spree.
The Kid is at his awesome best when he's gunning for a punchline.
Remember the scene when he's at the bar winding up the ladies' man bounty hunter who doesn't actually realise he's talking to the guy he's aiming to capture.
After the bounty hunter threatens to put him over his knee if he doesn't watch his mouth, The Kid plays the older man right into the palm of his hand, lieterally, when he says, "You know, Sir, I do admire you, and I sure would like to touch the gun that's gonna kill Billy the Kid". Classic.
Later, after finding brief sanctuary in Mexico, The Kid, having a bath, mind you, dictates a letter of surrender to `Doc' (Sutherland), addressed to the Governer Axtell, which ends 'Your obedient servant, William H. Bonney. P.S. I changed my mind. Kiss my ass". Classic.
There's so many great scenes, truly funny stuff.
Here's one more. It's right before the big climatic ending. The shoot-out, when guns are ablazin'.
The Kid and the gang are holed up in a house, the army, among others surrounding them, closing in on their capture, or execution.
The Kid feels a need to lighten the mood a little, so screams out "Hey, Peppin. I see you got Charley Crawford down there with you".
Peppin replies, "Yeah, that's right, Bonney. We got a whole ...", before the Kid quickly jumps in front of the window and shoots dead the unfortunate Crawford. He then adds, "Hey, Peppin. Charley Crawford's not with you anymore".
Boom. Boom.
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