The Law vs. Billy the Kid

The most memorable features of this Sam Katzman quickie is the gravitas James Griffith brings to the role of Pat Garrett and the appearance of the author of 'Ben Hur' as one of the characters.

Scott Brady is far too old and too hefty as The Kid, but at least it's half the length of the Peckinpah version.

There are occasions when the the title does tell all as in the case of The Law vs. Billy The Kid. There've been so many versions of Billy Bonney's story, just about everyone knows it and every western fans should.

Scott Brady and James Griffith play Billy and Pat Garrettnin this film. Billy's fleeing to New Mexico territory away from a murder charge and Garrett's his pal from a ranch the two had been working on. John Tunstall, played here by Paul Cavanaugh, takes the two of them in and isn't long before the two are hip deep in the Lincoln County range war of western lore.

Billy gets a love interest here, the fictional niece of Tunstall played by Betta St. John. As Brady plays him Billy's a kid with a quick temper who likes to do things his way which usually involves violence. Not terribly different from many of the screen's William Bonneys.

For those who remember the jolly but exasperated Skipper of Gilligan's Island the revelation will be Alan Hale, Jr. playing a sadistic deputy sheriff who is Brady's tormentor. The Law vs. Billy The Kid is yet another account of an oft told tale.

Another historical(???) piece brought to us by the same bunch that foisted "Jesse James vs. the Daltons" on us. This one has a slightly better cast. Title tells all.

Law vs. Billy the Kid, The (1954)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

William Castle is best known for his horror films but he did mangle in the western genre for the majority of his career. This Columbia "C" picture has Billy the Kid (Scott Brady) and his buddy Pat Garrett (James Griffith) finding work on a farm but when the owner is killed by a bad sheriff, the kid decides to seek revenge, which will have all the law looking for him. I'm still not too familiar with Castle's western era even though I did sit through Jesse James vs. the Daltons. This film here isn't nearly as entertaining and for the most part this comes off very flat with very little life, action or energy. The biggest problem is that the screenplay is all over the map in what it's trying to do. We see Billy as a good kid and then we see him as a jerk. The film starts off with the relationship between Billy and Pat but then goes off into different directions. I'm really not sure what the point of the movie was but perhaps they were just trying to throw as much stuff they could into a 72-minute movie. Brady is pretty poor as Billy the Kid as he brings no life or energy to the role. Griffith isn't much better as Garrett and Alan Hale, Jr. of the Skipper fame doesn't fare any better. I doubt western fans will find anything worth watching this for so it'll probably have to be seen by those wanting to know what Castle did before making a name for himself with Vincent Price.

Every movie buff knows that Sam Katzman was to western and action movies what Mc Donald chain of restaurants is to gastronomy. It is cheap, quickly done, destined to the largest audiences, it may be an agreeable time waster but also very quickly forgotten. If you wish to watch good films about Billy The Kid and Pat Garrett, watch PAT GARRET AND BILLY THE KID, from the great Sam Peckinpah or of course Arthur Penn's LEFT HANDED GUN. This is not pure crap and concerning one of the youngest killer ever, I also have seen worse, many westerns even very very far from the actual events. This one, however seems rather close, not so far from history. Scott Brady is rather OK, doing his best.