Le kid du Texas

During the 1930s-50s, there were tons of westerns which brought actual living characters from the old west to the big screen. The problem, however, is that about 90% of what you see in these films has very little to do with the real life exploits of these minor characters. In many cases, sociopathic jerks like Jesse James, Butch Cassidy and Billy the Kid are elevated to almost heroic status...while in real life they were simply murderers and thieves...the type you really want in prison, not marrying your sister!

This film is Audie Murphy's chance to play one of these highly fictionalized real life people. He was not a bad choice, as Murphy was still young and short...and so playing a guy dubbed 'the Kid' was a good fit. He's good in it and the movie is entertaining.

The story follows the events, somewhat, from the so-called 'Lincoln County War'...a series of fights between wealthy ranchers in the New Mexico Territory. Mostly, it was one thug shooting another...no glory and if they could shoot you in the back, so much the better. But because they want to make Billy more likeable, the shooting unarmed folks and the like are eliminated and each of the MANY murders he commits seems reasonably justified.

Overall, a decent film but one you'd best see as fiction and not the real old west in any way. And, oddly, if you want to see Billy the Kid's grave, there are TWO of them in New Mexico today...something that confuses me!

Audie Murphy's first western for Universal is a blank-faced version of the story of Billy the Kid that white-washes almost everyone. The script tries to push a few romantic notes into the narrative, with him and Gale Storm obviously falling in love instantly, but neither of them doing anything about it, because she's married to Albert Dekker. Dekker himself has the best role as a guy wh wants to do the right thing, but is too weak-willed to stand up for anything under pressure.

I don't know if it was that way in the script, but Murphy's playing of Bnney, the lack of explanations or, indeed, many lines works well. I imagine director Kurt Neuman cut his lines and told him to under-react. The result is a simple, effective portrayal of someone wh feigns passivity, when what he really wants to do is kill.

With this film Audie Murphy achieved another distinction besides being our most decorated war hero. Having played young Jesse James in Kansas Raiders, Murphy then played the second great outlaw name of the old west Billy The Kid in The Kid From Texas. Among many of the other inaccuracies of this film is the fact that Billy The Kid was not from Texas. He was born Henry McCarty in New York City and went west and became William H. Bonney. And as his outlaw reputation grew he became Billy The Kid.

Next to Robert Taylor's Billy The Kid this may yet be the most inaccurate retelling of the Kid's life. In fact the story is so confusing that there's no doubt Murphy is one dangerous young man, but he's so appealing that we don't know what to think. Whether by accident or design that left me quite confused.

Only three people's names were left as they were in life. Billy The Kid, Pat Garrett played here by Frank Wilcox who is really a peripheral character to the main drama and Governor Lew Wallace of New Mexico territory played by Robert Barrat. Everyone else you've seen in such films as Pat Garrett&Billy The Kid, Chisum, The Left Handed Gun or the Young Guns films has had his and her name changed.

Sheppard Strudwick, Albert Dekker, Ray Teal, Paul Ford, Will Geer, and William Talman all are in this. You'll note Talman who is a particularly vicious outlaw who gets a personal vendetta against Murphy going and pays in the end.

As to why Billy just didn't clear out of the territory once it got hot for him, just think of those last lines of King Kong and you'll know why.

I have a lot of respect for Audie Murphy, the most decorated US solder of WW II. However I have to admit that what I find most memorable about him are his acting roles, particularly in Westerns. He always played a deceptively young-looking gunfighter and had the real-life moves to back him up on camera. One excellent example is early in the film Duel at Silver Springs where he shoots the gun out of Lee Marvin's hand while sitting at a saloon card table - he was lightning fast on the draw.

I like Murphy here as Billy the Kid because he's still young-looking enough to be reasonably convincing. There is another movie called Billy the Kid from 1941 with Robert Taylor in the title role and he doesn't look anything like a kid - shortly after I started watching that one I switched it off. Taylor was over 30 years old and looked possibly even older than that. (On the other hand the opening scenes of To Hell and Back have Murphy at age 31 playing himself as a military inductee of 18, and to me, that also did not work.) Here, Murphy at 25 or so still looks young enough to pull off the role of a "kid".

Anyhow, back to this movie, it's one of the versions of Billy the Kid I enjoy watching because Murphy plays his part convincingly. And it has the added bonus of having been shot in Technicolor, making it easy on the eyes too.

An excellent but non-too-accurate story, given strong production, and featuring Audie Murphy, in his first starring role. Murphy's a bit wooden, but he delivers. Entertaining.