higginslkill I'm not going to say the film is good or even one of the best westerns out there but what I will say is that it's pretty darn entertaining. The plot of the film is Billy the kid and his band of regulators off on a revenge path on the gang that killed Tunstall. It's probably the type of movie people can eat popcorn to and have a good time but also has a lot of heart. I would recommend Young Guns to pretty much anybody, even those who aren't western fans. It's entertaining and that's all a film ever needs to be, right? I think so.

Fluke_Skywalker Revisiting 'Young Guns' I was hoping for nothing more than a little guilty pleasure to while away an Autumn afternoon. 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. But leading the (Brat) pack here is Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid. He plays Billy with the sort of half-hinged gusto as Jack Nicholson's Joker, easily stealing the show. Unfortunately it's not enough to lift this surprisingly flat effort.

talarisw I have not seen a lot of westerns so I don't pretend to be some expert on western movies. However this is without a doubt one of the best westerns of all-time and my favorite western of all-time. I know some people criticize this film for not being historically accurate or a shallow attempt to be a "hip" western. Well, the truth is this film is not 100% accurate with history but what movie is? I liked the idea of this being a hip western staring Hollywood's "brat pack" with rock music playing in the background. I think it fits because this is basically a story about Billy the kid, a outlaw who was under 20 years old so it makes sense to give this one a younger or hipper feel to it. I like the Billy the kid story and I've seen many movies about him but this is the best one for 3 reasons. 1: I liked that they started from the beginning, other films focus on the "later" years when he met Pat Garret. 2: I like that this is more about the gang and not just about Billy. 3: Emilio Estevez is the best Billy the kid. I think the story is very well done, it's the best depiction of the Lincoln county war in New Mexico and the changes made were for the better. Like in real life John Tunstall was only twenty something and their were about a dozen or so "regulaters" not just the 6 shown here but the changes made worked for the better. The film is well directed by Chris Cain with a great balance of action, humor and is appropriately violent. I also like the look of the film, it really makes you feel like their in the wild west during 1878 and not on some sound stage. It also has a great cast! With the great Terrance Stamp who's perfectly cast as John Tunstall, an older English man who takes in six young rebellious men to work at his cattle ranch. The villain is the always great Jack Palance as Murphy, who kills Tunstal, starting the war. The 6 young boys search for justice so they become sheriffs but thanks to Billy killing everyone who they're supposed to arrest, they become outlaws. I LOVE Emillio Estevez as Billy the Kid. I know many would say his interpretation is not historically accurate but I think it's much more the way we would like to imagine the kid. Emillio gives one of his best performances and he was cheated out of an Oscar nomination. I think they did a great job in blending a lot of color to the kid. Billy is a lot of things in this movie, he's cocky, rebellious, trigger-happy, a little crazy, a loyal friend, and charming. Billy is perfectly portrayed as an anti-hero like he should be. Emillio always makes him likable even if we know he's a little crazy. I do like how they make Billy a little crazy as he takes pleasure in killing his enemies. His kills are marked by his unforgettable giggle, I love Emillio's lunatic sounding laugh. Billy is fearless who enjoys the thrill of life or death situations. But despite his wild behavior he's extremely loyal to his friends which gives him a lot of heart. Kiefer Sutherland is great as the more sensitive "Doc", one of my favorite performances of his. I love Lou Diamond Phillips as Chavez Y Chavez, possibly his best role and I love his knife skills. Dermot Mulloney is great as "dirty" Steve and he has a lot of funny moments. Casey Siemasko is great as Charlie, the more scared one of the bunch. I love Charlie Sheen as Dick, the appointed leader of the gang. I like how he fought for leadership of the regulators with his real life brother Emillio as Billy. I like the name of the gang as "the regulators", that's a cool name. The film has non stop action, good humor, good characters and the theme of friendship works well here.I love the rock'n'roll theme music. I like that they show Emillio/Billy take the now famous Billy the kid picture as well. One of my favorite movies of all-time.

Maniac-9 Really good story on the rise of Billy the Kid and his fellow cohorts. 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. Good shootout scenes and Estevez plays the role of his career as Billy. Much better done then any other movie about Billy's life.