Young Guns

Plot synopsis:
John Tunstall (Terence Stamp), an educated Englishman and cattle rancher in Lincoln County, New Mexico, hires wayward young gunmen to live and work on his ranch. Tunstall is in heavy competition with a well-connected Irishman named Lawrence Murphy (Jack Palance), who owns a large ranch; their men clash on a regular basis. Tunstall recruits Billy (Emilio Estevez) and advises him to renounce violence saying that "He who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind." Tensions escalate between the two camps, resulting in the murder of Tunstall. Billy, Doc Scurlock (Kiefer Sutherland), Jose Chavez y Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), Richard M. "Dick" Brewer (Charlie Sheen), "Dirty" Steve Stephens (Dermot Mulroney), and Charlie Bowdre (Casey Siemaszko), consult their lawyer friend Alexander McSween (Terry O'Quinn), who manages to get them deputized and given warrants for the arrest of Murphy's murderous henchmen.
Billy quickly challenges Dick's authority as leader, vowing revenge against Murphy and the men responsible for killing Tunstall. The men dub themselves The Regulators and arrest some of the murderers, but hot-headed Billy is unable to wait for justice. He guns down unarmed men and goes on to kill one of his fellow Regulators (later arrival J. McCloskey) in the paranoid (but correct) belief that he was still in league with Murphy. The men are stripped of their badges, which they find out about by reading a newspaper. That same paper also confuses Dick for Billy, showing a picture of Dick labeled Billy the Kid, a nickname to which Billy takes an immediate liking.
While the local authorities begin their hunt for Billy and the boys, the Regulators argue about continuing with their warrants or to go on the run. One of the men on their list of warrants, Buckshot Roberts (Brian Keith), tracks them down, barricades himself in an outhouse, and Dick dies in an intense shootout. Billy appoints himself as the new leader, the gang becomes famous and the U.S. Army is charged with bringing them to justice under Murphy's corrupt political influence.
The gang eludes attention for some time, and Charlie gets married in Mexico. While attending the wedding, Billy meets Pat Garrett (Patrick Wayne) who is not yet a sheriff, but warns Billy of an attempt on Alex's life by Murphy's men that will happen the next day. Thus the gang packs up and heads off to save Alex.
Back in Lincoln, Murphy's men, led by George W. Peppin, surround Alex's house, trapping the Regulators, and a shootout begins. A ceasefire is called for the night. In the morning, accompanied by Murphy, the army comes in and torches the house, but Chavez escapes out the back. While the house is burning, the men come up with an escape plan. They begin throwing Alex's possessions out the windows of the second floor. Billy places himself inside of a large trunk, and when it lands in front of the house, he leaps out and begins to open fire.
Meanwhile, Doc bursts out of the side stairway, followed by Charlie and Steve. Everyone makes it to the lawn, but Billy is shot twice in his arms. Charlie challenges the bounty hunter John Kinney (Allen Keller); Kinney shoots Charlie and Charlie fires back, killing each other.
Chavez comes from behind the army on horseback, and jumps the barricade to get extra horses to the Regulators. Billy jumps on one horse, but Doc is shot trying to get on another. Doc still manages to pick up his girlfriend Yen Sun (Alice Carter), Murphy's Chinese sex-slave, and they ride off. Chavez tries to get Steve on a horse, but is wounded and falls to the ground. Steve helps Chavez on to a horse, but is left alone and unarmed. The Army and Murphy's men shoot and kill Steve.
Alex cheers on the boys as they ride away. The army opens fire on him with a Gatling gun and he is killed. As the remaining men ride away, Murphy hurls threats and curses after them, but is stunned when Billy turns back and shoots Murphy right between the eyes, killing him.
The final scene is a voice-over of Doc explaining what happened afterwards: Alex's widow caused a congressional investigation into the Lincoln County War. Chavez took work at a farm in California. Doc moved east to New York and married Yen Sun, whom he had saved from Murphy. Billy continued to ride until he was found and shot dead by Pat Garrett. Billy was buried next to Charlie Bowdre at Fort Sumner. A stranger went to the grave of Billy the Kid late one night and made a carving in the headstone. The epitaph read only one word: "PALS".

Tags: comedy, murder, violence, cult, humor, revenge, historical, entertaining

Review:
Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Emilo Estevez and Lou Diamond Phillips star in this light weight western, re-telling of the Billy The Kid story.
Charlie Sheen, Keifer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, Lou Diamond Phillips and the other guys all shined in this movie, making it memorable in a landscape of a lost art form.
Emelio Estevez is excellent as the more or less evil Billy the Kid. He and the others (Keifer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips are given a chance to become "good" after straying from the right path.
Its easy to pass off Young Guns as an eager to please piece of throwaway rock video style entertainment aimed at the younger demographic but that would be unfair.The thing is,it knows what it wants to be and it does it very well.The young cast all perform with great fun and energy thus enriching the film immeasurably.They are well supported by Jack Palance and Terrence Stamp who bring weight to proceedings, particularly Palance who seems to revel in his hammy role.Emilio Estevez's interpretation of Billy The Kid is a great watch too,his realisation of the character may be a million miles from the reality but when there's this much fun being had on screen,who cares!?
This leads to a final shootout on the streets of Lincoln, and very few of the original Regulators escape, which leads to the sequel of "Young Guns," appropriately called "Young Guns II." The cast of young and upcoming Hollywood stars include Emilio Estevez as Billy, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Casey Siemaszko, and Dermot Mulroney.One final note: the DVD includes as part of its special features section a Trivia Track, which flashes western facts and information about the stars or the characters being portrayed on screen without detracting from the viewing of the film.
These deeds are the following: Billy(Emilio Estevez) became a cowboy in Lincoln County(New Mexico)for cattleman Tunstall(Terence Stamp) along with a young group(Kiefer Sutherland,Charlie Sheen,Lou Diamond Phillips,Dermot Mulroney,Casey Siemaszko).
Here though several young actors some of whom were labeled the Brat Pack and who were coming up roughly around the same time in the Middle Eighties got an opportunity to play some real life western characters.
The names of the characters these guys play are real even though the story is highly fictionalized to the extent that not all of them died during the period both films show.One reason I do like Young Guns is that it does show what is probably the most realistic portrayal of Billy the Kid. Forget Robert Taylor, Johnny Mack Brown, Paul Newman, when you see Emilio Estevez on the screen you are seeing the real Billy, basically a punk who was skilled enough to back up his brag.Estevez rides with Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko, and brother Charlie Sheen.
On the DVD they keep going on about how cool the cast is, and back in 1988 they were, problem is nowadays they aren't really still at that elite level.Charlie Sheen- Is now a sleazy laughing stockEmilio Estevez- Never did anything of note really after this, except "Young Guns 2"Lou Diamond Phillips- Also no longer cool, except when he appeared in "24" last seasonKiefer Sutherland- Still cool, but he was wussy in this movie and shattered my Jack Bauer image that he's worked so hard onIf you don't know, the movie is the story of "Billy The Kid", a renegade who went on a killing spree in the old west to avenge the death of a man who took him in and looked after him.
Young Guns was the brat pack western starring some of the brat packers of the late 1980s, well a few were deemed to be seen as rising stars such as Dermot Mulroney and Casey Siemaszko.The rest are more bona fide brat packers such as Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland accompanied by a rock score.
However there is also room for western veterans like Jack Palance and Brian Keith.Estevez is the hot headed Billy the Kid who became regulators when their boss (Terence Stamp) is murdered by Palance's gang.Now when the film came out some critics were rather sniffy about the film and you have to applaud the movie for shaking the genre up a bit.
Maybe they needed a reason to write Charlie Sheen out of the movie a third of the way through as he was in demand as an actor at the time.There is also the silly scene where the characters get high which now looks laughable.
In short, this is a western from the 1980s that stays there.**** Young Guns (8/10/88) Christopher Cain ~ Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen.
In an attempt to bring about justice Tunstall's cowherds are deputised and soon they start bringing about their own bloody version of justice...After years I managed to return to the densely star-populated "Young Guns" (Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Jack Palance as well as Terry O'Quinn of "Lost" fame).
When Billy goes on a killing spree of the murderers, the boys are on the run from the law themselves.The great effect of this film is how it mixes exciting Western action with comedy and boyish charm.
It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko, Terry O'Quinn, Jack Palance and Terence Stamp.
Plot sees the murder of John Tunstall send Billy and the rest of the Tunstall Regulators on a mission to avenge his murder.It ain't easy having pals.Often derided by Western movie purists as a sort of MTV Western made to showcase the various talents of the then Hollywood Brat Pack of Estevez, Sheen, Sutherland et al, Young Guns is actually a far more entertaining picture than some critical assessments suggest it is.
Keifer Sutherland does a great job in one of the few roles as a good guy that he plays, and he has some of the funniest lines directed at Emilio Estevez that I've heard in a movie.
Released in 1988 and directed by Christopher Cain, "Young Guns" stars Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid, an orphaned teen taken in by English merchant John Tunstall (Terrence Stamp) who mentors him and several other 'young guns' – Richard 'Dick' Brewer (Charlie Sheen), Doc Scurlock (Keifer Sutherland), Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), Dirty Steve Stephens (Dermot Malroney) and Charles 'Charley' Bowdre (Casey Siemaszko).
The movie is realistic with an amazing true-life story brought to action-packed life by a great cast with excellent performances and potent dramatic scenes (like, for instance, Chavez's notable venting sequence).Be sure to catch the excellent 30-minute documentary on the real-life Billy the Kid on the DVD for comparison to the events in "Young Guns" and the sequel.Speaking of which, 1990's "Young Guns II" is almost as good and is mandatory because it shows the rest of the story – the hiring of Pat Garrett to chase down the gang and put an end to it by taking Billy out.
Turns out it doesn't even offer up that.The historical merit of 'Young Guns' is, at best, dubious, but having subsequently watched the included documentary on Billy the Kid, I can say that it at least does cover many of the beats of the so-called Lincoln County War.The cast is solid, with the young actors flashing their star power in a true ensemble effort.
Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney and Casey Siemazko play real life gunslingers: Billy the Kid, Doc Scurlock, Chavez Chavez, Dick Brewer, Steve Stephens, and Charley Bowdre.
When crooked Murphy (Palance) murders Tunstall, the Regulators want revenge and justice to be done, but Billy the Kid's insanity causes a massive manhunt where the young men may not survive.Our leading actors may not be mean-looking, but they do provide a sense of brutality and great acting.
Emilio Estevez looks like a child, but he delivers an Oscar-worthy role as the crazy Kid. Kiefer Sutherland plays a rare good guy who also does a great job.
The movie does reminds sometimes a music video (the opening credits , the final shootout) and the rock guitar solos work really well as the soundtrack.Emilio Estevez ("Stakeout") , Charlie Sheen ("Major league") , Kiefer Sutherland ("The Lost boys") and Lou Diamond Philips ("Stand and deliver") all give nice performances.
Emilio Estevez is very good as Billy, and also Kiefer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen as his friends.Young Guns suffers from the fact that the action scenes are kind of confusing, because of the camera work that tries to be original.
"Young Guns" is one of those movies that works not because it has solid directing or a particularly good script, but because the characters are formatted into three-dimensional human beings not from well-written dialogue, but from incredibly enthusiastic and charismatic performances by the cast.
But the six main characters, particularly Billy the Kid, are played so well and with such energy and charm by the cast, that it strangely enough makes the whole movie work.For those unfamiliar with the movie, "Young Guns" is yet another retelling of the story of Billy the Kid, the infamous Old West outlaw rumored to have killed twenty-one men within twenty-one years.
Supporting him are his real-life brother Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland, Dermot Mulroney, and Casey Siemaszko, all of whom are very young here and very good in their roles.With a less enthusiastic cast, "Young Guns" might not have been anything special because again, its screenplay is highly imperfect.
Secondly, it has a whole bunch of actors worth watching, even if they don't do a great job of acting.After Murphey's (Jack Palance) gang guns down the boy's guardian (Terence Stamp), they set out to arrest the perps.Once Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez) starts the killing, the rest of the gang have no choice but to go along.
i found this western,starring a lot of hot young actors of the time,disappointing.it was entertaining,but i didn't like it much as a lot of other modern and even older westerns.i found it slow and boring at times,and less action than i expected.it's another interpretation of Billy The Kid,and the gang he rides with.apparently this interpretation is as close to the actual historical record.i guess that's something.as for the acting,i did think the casting of Terrance Stamp and Jack Palance was inspired,but the rest of the acting was OK, although i didn't find it great.all in all,a pretty disappointing affair.for me,Young Guns is a 5.5/10.
YOUNG GUNS follows the early career of outlaw Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez), who seeks revenge after his mentor John Tunstall (Terence Stamp) is killed by a powerful business competitor (Jack Palance) and his cronies.
It's a good entertainment with interesting interpretations of the famous names of Old West, brought on the big screen by some famous names of the new, such as Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and Jack Palance.
Christopher Cain directed this surprisingly good western starring Emilio Estevez as Billy The Kid(William Bonney) who, along with other "young guns"(played by Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Philips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, and Casey Siemaszko) are taken under the wing of British rancher John Tunstall, who educates and helps them, but is brutally gunned down by a rival rancher(played by Jack Palance) forcing Billy and his new gang to avenge his death by killing the men responsible, thus becoming wanted outlaws themselves, and passing into legend...
The historical accuracy of the movie probably isn't perfect but if you're not looking for a history channel version of his story then the story is perfectly fine and still hits on a lot of the major points in Billy the Kid and his problems with the Murphy gang.The cast consists of a who's who of young actors in the late '80s with Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips.If you're looking for a fun western then this is a movie for you.
"Young Guns" with its youthful cast introduced by one my all-time favorite intros: Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Philips, Charlie Sheen, Casey Siemaczko and Dermot Mulroney, looks closer to the typical 80's film marketed for teenage audiences than a mature film meant to be taken seriously, on the surface only  because if you watch it, and decide to appreciate the film regardless of your personal tastes  well, I defy anyone not to be captivated by theses 100 minutes of pure entertainment.Yes, even the dark "Pale Rider" pales in comparison with "Young Guns", because the latter doesn't overdo the archetypes of the genre, it has its load of thrills, of chases, shootouts, parties, romances, discussions BUT with something more that lacks even in the most acclaimed masterpieces of the genre : it has characters, a wonderful gallery of characters, who carry their personalities less than stereotypes than true human flows, with their motives, actions and reactions, and within the plot of the film, there are different arcs involving each of these characters, handled with such a confidence, that nothing ever feels forced or cliché, and at the end, each of them would ultimately change, making "Young Guns" more than a Western but also a sort of coming-of-age story, a genre cherished during the 80's.
And the rest didn't disappoint me."Young Guns" is a movie whose rooting process is slow but efficient, you definitely get into the story when the tutor, John Tunstall, remarkably played by Terrence Stamp, is killed by men who belongs to the cattle owner and biggest competitor, the evil Murphy, Jack Palance whose evil smirk hasn't lost its touch either.
And talking of the shootout, it's certainly one of my all-time favorite climactic sequences because I never saw the way it started coming and the amount of thrills is so great that at the end, me and my Dad, sorry, my Dad and me  could only wow, and I knew I had just watched one of the greatest films ever.Yes, "Young Guns" became one of my all-time favorite films because of so many things, the extraordinary performance of Emilio Estevez, the difference between the characters and my rooting for each of them, the amazing shootout, the coming-of-age story and beyond everything, the emotional core of the film: a great message about solidarity and friendship, as mentioned by the concluding line of the film : "Pals", before followed by one hell of an amazing soundtrack.So say what you want, it may not be the best Western ever made, it didn't get any Oscar nominations, but for some reason, it will forever have a special place in my heart..
YOUNG GUNS is a nifty film to watch, not so much for the historical accuracy of the legend of Billy the Kid that it blatantly avoids, but for the obvious good time this cast of then young bucks had in working together.
Young Guns (1988), directed by Christopher Cain, managed to squander the talents of four fine young actors--Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and Lou Diamond Phillips.
However Young Guns sealed the deal Emilio Estevev is astounding as Billy the Kid. Jack Palance is nasty as the films villain and Keifer Sutherland is superb as the gentle poet turned gunfighter named Doc. Charlie Sheen did a able job and in fact some of the best moments in this movie come from the interaction between Sheen and Estevev.
Young Guns (1988) is a brat pack western starring Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, LDP,Kiefer Sutherland, Casey Siemaszko and Dermont Mulroney as the Young Guns.
Young Guns has taken the legend of Billy the Kid to another level.This film is the most historically accurate to the Lincoln County War, and has the ages of the characters right!
Charlie Sheen is killed off to early, however jack palance makes a great bad guy in this action packed western.
Mentor of band of young cowboys gets killed, the cowboys go after the murderers, cue many shootouts.Main cast consists of some of the brightest young stars of the time: Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Dermot Mulroney.
The first time I saw young guns, I was stunned by the great acting of Kiefer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen.
The reason for this is probably the way the characters are shown; though they are tough acting pistoleros, they are quite innocent, lovable guys behind this facade.Emilio Estevez played an excellent Billy the Kid in this movie; this is probably his best role yet.
I suppose it could have been for the actors, and "Young Guns" boasts a so-so cast of them: Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, Lou Diamond Phillips, Kiefer Sutherland, Dermot Mulroney and Casey Siemaszko.
The main selling-points of Young Guns are the incredibly compelling story of Billy the Kid and its very talented cast- actors like Kiefer Sutherland, Terrence Stamp and Jack Palance promises a lot.
I thought that Young Guns was an absolutely amazing movie and a lot of great and talented actors such as Emilio Estevez.
..."Young Guns" is about Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez) and his gang of regulators' ride for revenge of the killing of their father-figure (Terence Stamp).
Emilio Estevez plays a great role as Billy the Kid and he has done other great movies like Breakfast Club,Judgment Night and Young Guns II.
The performances from Sheen and Lou Diamond Phillips are great it worked so good with the Emilio character.
Emilio Estevez does an excellent job as Billy the kid and you also find many other famous actors like Emilio's brother Charlie Sheen,Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips.This movie is not like other western stories because this one you can see that is made for teenagers because of the cast and the story.This is possible the best western I have seen and I will recommend it to everyone even though they don't like ordinary western movies.Also not miss Young Guns 2 even though this one is better..
"Young Guns" is the somewhat true story of Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez).