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Whistle Stopper - Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (Two-Disc Special Edition)
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $11.38
Your Save: $ 8.60 ( 43% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Starring: James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Dylan, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado
Directed By: Sam Peckinpah
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 9780790746005
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 079074600X
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 2
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-01-10
Running Time: 237
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1973
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: An Authentic,Unique Western
Comment: The only difference in the two different film versions or the two disc in this special edition are,the original turner version is seven minutes longer and the directors cut is cut maybe one scene or two which comes down to the conclusion of who really cares anyway,in which the real answer is just issue this classic western on one remastered disc. Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid,1973,is a Peckinpah classic to be seen, starring James Coburn, who is outstanding as sheriff Pat Garrett and Kristofferson is a natural as William Bonney and Bob Dylan plays his usual conspicuous self as "Alias". The story of the film starts from the aftermath of the lincoln county war when Pat Garrett is given a badge and a fistful of dollars to bring in the kid dead or alive. Loaded with Peckinpah trademark action and cinematography, this western delivers a different and unique version of some of the exploits of Henry McCarty,who was virtually unknown during his lifetime. This film features a music score from Bob Dylan.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Perfect Pat Garrett
Comment: This is a classic western which of course takes liberties with the actual history. Kris Kristoffersson ia a good, but old, Billy but the the star is the laconic James Coburn as I would envisage Pat Garrett.
Customer Rating:
Summary: No masterpiece but an interesting film for Peckinpah buffs
Comment: Peckinpah continues his deconstruction of the Western myth via the story of Pat Garrett's pursuit of Billy the Kid. Peckinpah's West is not a place you would really want to be - particularly if you are a women. Peckinpah's women are passive, abused by the male characters, or just readily available for sexual dalliances.
Bob Dylan's music is a major plus but his presence in the movie is gratuitous as his acting abilities are non-existent. The film also suffers because its themes are no longer fresh having appeared in other (better) Peckinpah films. There are moments of great beauty but this is no masterpiece. Peckinpah buffs will appreciate it more than the casual viewer.
Customer Rating:
Summary: AN UNDERAPPRECIATED MASTERPIECE... BUT AN EDITING BLUNDER!
Comment: As a film teacher and Peckinpah scholar, I had put together my own cut of this film in the early 90's compiled from several video versions (and the TV version), and showed it in a special class devoted to the film. As someone who is probably somewhat an expert on this film, I'd like to make a few important points about the two versions included here in this set.
First, the Turner cut (mislabeled "director's cut") seemed to be merely a workprint Peckinpah had assembled at one point but was missing several sequences (including the scene with Garrett's wife), seemingly cut out to include in the television print. I say SEVERAL scenes -- no one, not even the experts (e.g., Seydor, Weddle, Simmons et al) mention the other omitted scenes, not even in their respective studies. One is a short sequence with Billy bringing a blanket to Maria and then wrestling with the kids (as it cuts right into the chickens continuing the kids' movements). It is in NO print of the film released (beyond the early television showing) -- but I do still have a (poorly dubbed) copy of that scene. It must still exist someplace. There are other minor tiny sequences (Poe walking down the hall, etc.) that are still missing from these two versions.
My second point, the newly restored 2005 version has an UNFORGIVABLE editing blunder: a wrong shot is inserted when R.G. Armstrong cocks his gun --!!! What happened??? Some editor obviously tripped up and messed up the shot sequence. This totally destroys this great scene which is so electrifying with Armstrong's dialogue and the shocking cocking of his gun. This NEEDS to be fixed and a newly mastered DVD should replace this edition!
Also, I believe some of the choices the experts made in reediting the film in the 2005 version (which seems to favor the theatrical print over the "Turner" cut) is really debatable. I would tend to favor including some of what they omitted (like Dub Taylor's sequences) even though they play a little clumsy -- after all, they still reflect elements of Peckinpah's conception. I don't like second-guessing what he "might have" cut out later. And, although I do personally prefer the ending to the "2005" version (with the kid throwing stones at Garrett and ending on that shot), even that may be all-too-much "rethinking" the film by others instead of respecting Peckinpah's own vision that I can't help but think to be reflected more accurately in the return to the framing story and Garrett's dying (as in the Turner print). Even if perhaps "less polished", it does seem very much like Peckinpah.
So it's hard not to come to the conclusion that neither version is completely satisfactory. To me perhaps the most ideal version would be to try to include most of the shot footage as in Turner's version, but to insert the Garrett-Wife scene AND the Billy-bringing-Maria-the-blanket sequences in their proper places (as well as the long prostitute sequence including the Ruthie Lee beginning which is an important sequence). I would also honor Peckinpah's own adamant decision to leave "Knocking on Heaven's Door" OUT of the Baker death scene as he was not ambiguous about his wishes here. (Who cares if the experts like the song?) If I were still teaching the Peckinpah class that would be the version I would prefer to screen for the attendees -- in spite of some of the good arguments the expert scholars make in their commentaries for their own cuts and "rethinkings".
All in all, it must be said, however, that this motion picture, in any version, is one of Peckinpah's greatest triumphs and a masterpiece (albeit truncated). It deserves a wide audience and a future recognition of it as a brilliant classic western for the ages.
(One additional note: The Garrett-and-his-wife sequence, the blanket sequence, the Ruthie Lee segment and the few other short pieces were NOT removed from the Turner "workprint" until the film's national television showing to pad it out in time. These scenes were literally clipped out and never re-inserted -- probably nobody cared to take the trouble. My point is that whenever Peckinpah screened this print for his friends in his home those scenes WERE in the print. There is NO WAY Peckinpah would have accepted a showing of this film, even as a workprint-in-progress, without those scenes. On this point alone the Turner "workprint" cannot be considered a "director's cut" by any standard. It would have been great if Seydor & company had themselves taken the trouble to reinsert these scenes back into the Turner cut before making the DVD master of this DVD. And now, especially with the terrific editing blunder on the 2005 version, fans of the film as I am must STILL wait for a proper release of this Peckinpah masterpiece.)
Customer Rating:
Summary: Sound Problem
Comment: I am giving this movie 5 stars, because the 1988 Turner version is one of the greatest movies ever made. This is disc 2. The new re-recut version has some new merits, but overall isn't as good as the Turner version. The problem with this disc, which is huge, is that there is a flaw on the transfer. During the last few minutes, the sound is totally whacked. The Dylan song used just before, and during the end credits is all askew and warped. I bought this disc and noticed it. Then I rented it and the same problem was there. I don't know when, or if, this problem will ever be addressed or fixed. And I can't seem to find anyone else who mentions it in posts. I'd love feedback on this. The movie is a masterpiece. One of the greatest westerns ever with Once Upon a Time in the West, The Searchers, Rio Bravo -- but this transfer has this huge flaw. It's like if the Mona Lisa had a smashed tomato in the top right corner. Or someone spray painted their gang symbols on it. All this emotion, and drama is built up and at the end the flow is cut and lost. Anyone have any thoughts on this? (The old VHS had perfect sound [but was pan-and-scan, not letterbox], the very old laserdisc [if anyone remembers these] was letterboxed and perfect sound - but laserdiscs are like 8-tracks now.)
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Editorial Reviews:
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Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid may be the most beautiful and ambitious film that Sam Peckinpah ever made. The time is 1881. Powerful interests want New Mexico tamed for their brand of progress, and Sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn) is commissioned to rid the territory of his old gunfighting comrades. He serves fair notice to William Bonney--Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson)--and his Fort Sumter cronies, but it's not in their nature, or his, to go quietly. Peckinpah's theme, more than ever, is the closing of the frontier and the nature of the loss that that entails. But this time his vision takes him beyond genre convention, beyond history and legend, to the bleeding heart of myth--and surely of himself. This is one strange and original movie. In 1973 most American reviewers responded by panning it and deriding its director, whom they saw as having betrayed the promise of Ride the High Country, been swept up in his own cult of violence, and become incoherent as a storyteller. Coherence wasn't helped by MGM's cutting at least a quarter-of-an-hour out of the finished film and removing a bitter, retrospective prelude. Subsequent releases have restored a lot of material, and now there's more widespread appreciation of the depth and power of Peckinpah's achievement. The cast, teeming with fine character actors, is extraordinary, making the gallery of frontier denizens vivid and resonant. Coburn's Garrett, a man who comes to loathe himself for his mission yet cannot abandon it, is the high-water mark of the actor's career. L.Q. Jones, Luke Askew, Harry Dean Stanton, Jack Elam, and Richard Bright create indelible moments, and Slim Pickens becomes the center of an unforgettably moving scene. The presence of Kristofferson (just starting out as an actor) and Bob Dylan (whose enigmatic role is nearly wordless) nudges us toward recognizing Old West outlawry as an early form of rock stardom--flesh-and-blood gods for a primitive society to feed on. --Richard T. Jameson
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