There are some movies that are integral
to your life story and world view. I wrote earlier about how the
movie Krull expanded my perceptions of what we call love.
Another film that resonates deep within
my life is Young Guns (both the first and the second). I
can't tell you how many times I've watched both movies. I used to
walk around with a pair of toy six-shooters in cross-draw holsters,
even to public places like the mall (I was a weird child).
I just finished re-watching them and
even though they are nearly 20 years old, they still hold up
incredibly well.
SPOILERS AHEAD
For those unfamiliar, the first movie
is about Billy the Kid and the Lincoln County Regulators who engaged
in a bloody cattle war in 1878.
John Tunstall (played by General Zod
himself, Terrence Stamp), was an English Immigrant looking to succeed
in the West. He had a soft spot for hard luck cases and took in,
employed and educated the people no one wanted. This is one of the
best aspects of the script because, like the movie Aliens, the action
is intensified because of the well-defined characters and their
relationships.
Richard (Charlie Sheen): The leader of
the Regulators represents responsible, rational civilization. He is
pious, courteous, but he is not a man of action.
Doc (Kiefer Sutherland): A poet who
finds himself ever drawn into more violence
Chavez (Lou Diamond Philips): The last
survivor of his people, only the care of Tunstall saved him from
death
Dirty Steve (Dermont Mulroney): A
tobacco chewing hard-case, who's not that bright, but very loyal.
Charlie (Casey Siemaszko): A short
coward who acts tough to cover his fear.
And of course there is Billy (Emilio
Estevez). A lot of people would be quick to say that he is a
psychopath. He isn't. He can have empathy and friendship, he just
chooses not to.
The script, written by John Fusco, is a
tight narrative that doesn't skimp on character development. By the
time you get to Tunstell's assassination at the end of the first act,
we know all of the main characters and the trajectory of their arcs
(except Chavez who Fusco gives a heart-wrenching soliloquy in the
middle).
John Tunstell is killed because he is
the main competitor with the local cattle king, Lawrence Murphy (the
late Jack Palance). The Regulators are then secretly deputized to
serve 11 warrants and expose the conspiracy. When they come to the
first name, Henry Hill, all of the other Regulators are afraid to
confront him, so they turn to the newcomer Billy. This is where the
great mistake begins. Billy is not interested in doing things
normally. He wants vengeance He shoots Hill, laughing as he places
the warrant in the dead man's mouth saying, “By the way, you're
under arrest.”
Billy then kills on of their group he
thinks is a traitor and gets the others to kill two of their
prisoners. The movie implies that Billy's instincts are correct, but
chaos ensues. At this point, we realize that though Billy is the
main character, he is too far gone too see things from his
perspective. At this point in the film Doc turns out to be the
character for the audience to experience the movie. We stare with
him at the destruction the Regulators have wrought and are shocked,
but resolved.
But it is when Dick is killed that
there is no going back. I remember seeing this in the theater and
being shocked. Charlie Sheen was as famous as his brother Emilio and
I didn't think they'd kill him off first, if at all. But it is also
an important development because any hopes of a civilized end to the
story dies with the most civilized one in the group.
At this point Doc almost runs away,
Chavez decides to head West, taking with him Charlie. Only Billy can
hold them together. And he does so with the by citing the main theme
of the film: friendship. “You've got yourself three or four good
pals, then you got yourself a tribe. There ain't nothing stronger
than that.”
Billy is a killer, but he is bonded by
true friendship to the Regulators and Tunstall. Billy represents
every friend that you've had that has a horrible character flaw, but
can never shake him because of your friendship. Despite everything,
that bond of loyalty is iron clad. You know that Billy would be an
evil enemy. But because of his virtuous loyalty, you want to be on
his side. As he says at the end of Young Guns II “If I truly cared
for someone, there is nothing I would fail to do.”
And the film pushes you against Billy.
He kills people for fun. The Regulators are as scared of him as they
are enamored of him. More and more they turn to him because he will
act, whereas they are paralyzed by indecision. They follow him into
the final trap at the McSween house. When Charlie has a breakdown
from mortal terror, Billy has to talk him out of it the only way he
knows how: by turning Charlie insane. Charlie literally goes crazy
and becomes a violent savage before our eyes. And Billy laughs his
boysterous laugh as they shoot wildly at their enemies. It is at
that moment I understood Billy. He was someone who embraced violence
as a way to overcome fear.
When they make their break, Billy
daringly gets pushed out a top floor window in a chest, only to
emerge shooting. This scene always gives me chills because of its
sheer audacity. Charlie holds on just long enough to kill is
greatest enemy and dies with a smile. It always makes me sad that by
the time to story comes to an end Charlie's one comfort is taking the
life of another. Dirty Steve, who is on his horse and can flee,
jumps off and gives Chavez his horse, saving his life. Steve lived
out his bond of friendship and died for his pal. Doc escapes with
the girl he loves.
The closing voice over is Doc telling
us what happened to the survivors. He talks about how Billy is
eventually killed. That line is said not with great melodrama but
with an understated matter-of-factness that makes it all the sadder.
It describes how on his chiseled something on his tombstone. This
leads to what might be the best final line of any movie:
“The epitaph read only one word:
'Pals.'”
This movie is ultimately about
friendship. Despite all of the trouble that Billy causes, I can't
help but be moved by the bonds formed there. After Charlie gets
married, the other Regulators try to talk him out of helping save
McSween. Charlie silently leaves his wife mounts his horse and says
simply. “It ain't easy havin' pals.”
This movie captures that reality.
Friendships aren't simple. They're often incredibly messy. But at
rock bottom you have a brotherhood that you can base rest your life
upon. It's the comfort that you know that someone has your back, and
this loyalty is not predicated on affection or money or fear, but on
friendship.
When I got married, I got each of my
groomsmen a pocket watch. I then individually inscribed inside each
watch the word “Pals.” They and a few others are brothers to me.
I could ask any one of them to drop everything they're doing at this
exact moment and I know that they would come to my aid if I needed
it. And I'd do the same for them. Young Guns shows us this loyalty
in the context of a wild west shoot 'em up, hut it hits upon the deep
human truth of the specialness of being a friend.
And as good as Young Guns is,
Young Guns II is better.
The sequel is deeper and darker than
the first. John Fusco wrote this script as well, it and it shows.
He understands the relationships between the the survivors of the
first film and he respects the audience's attachment to them. And it
really addresses the evil that was wrought from the first film. As
important as friendship is, it does not absolve you from wrongdoing.
If I murder someone to help a friends, I am still a murderer.
This movie begins in 1950. An old,
dying man named Brushy Bill Roberts talks to a lawyer asking to go
before the Governor to receive a promised pardon. The man claims to
be Billy the Kid. The lawyer asks if he has any way to prove it like
scars. This then leads Billy to tell his story.
Young Guns II is filmed much more like
a traditional Western. It loses the heavy electric guitar from the
first and instead has Alan Silvestri compose something out of Sergio
Leone movie. The plot revolves around Billy's growing legend and
popularity among the people and the confrontation that leads with the
rich and powerful.
At the beginning, he is with Arkansas
Dave Rudabaugh (Christian Slater) and the man destined to be his
enemy Pat Garret (William Peterson). I know that a lot of people did
not care for the character of Dave (who I once dressed up as for a
history project), but he adds something very important to the story.
He is blood-thirsty, like Billy. And he is vain, like Billy. But he
doesn't know anything about real friendship. He almost shoots Chavez
and has no problem with a local Sheriff hanging him. Even after
Chavez saves his life, Dave abandons him to certain death. Dave is
the dark side of Billy. He is what Billy would be if he didn't have
pals. Billy has some hope of salvation because he actually loves
others, whereas Dave does not.
Garret plays the Judas and turns on
Billy not for 30 pieces of silver but for $1000. Pat is as
responsible for the death that follows as Billy is, but he has made
the calculation that he either kills Billy or he dies himself. That
is why Pat is the enemy, because he breaks the bonds of loyalty.
The movie revolves around Gov. Lou
Wallace gathering all the participants of the Lincoln County War
together for trial, including Chavez and Doc. Wallace promises Billy
a pardon for testifying against his enemies. But Billy is soon
betrayed by Wallace. So the Kid rescues his pals and forms another
gang to make a run for the border on a trail called the Mexican
Blackbird.
Joining the crew are Hendry William
French, a widower and farmer who has nothing to live for. And also
joining them is a 14-year-old orphan named Tommy, who idolizes Billy.
Together they all head closer to Old Mexico with Garret in pursuit.
Doc, who was the audiences vehicle in
the last movie, hates Billy. He hates his past and tries to leave
all the death of New Mexico behind. But Billy won't let him. Doc
follows him, rides with him, he even kills for him despite his anger
at him. This also gets at a great lived truth about friendship. We
sometimes hate the bonds we have because of the pain it causes. We
think of a friend who has left us or abandoned us and how it sears us
to the heart. And yet we hate the fact that we know deep down that
we would still do anything for them should they ask. Doc is in that
situation too.
But it is only when young Tommy is
killed that we learn the truth. There is no trail to Old Mexico.
Billy selfishly has been forcing his friends to stay with him. This
is where we realize that while friendship is Billy's only saving
grace, he has twisted it for his own selfish ends. He really does
care about his pals. He just cares about himself more.
In the end, Doc lays down his life for
Billy and the others because he can. He is shot out of the blue by
Garret. I remember seeing this and being even more shocked than when
I saw Dick get killed in the first movie. It would never have
occurred to me that they would kill Doc, even after they shot Tommy.
And at that point, no one in the film is safe.
Chavez takes a fatal shot and Dave runs
away. Hendry saves Chavez and they meet up with Billy at Old Fort
Sumner. Billy acts like nothing's changed but when Chavez reveals
he's dying, Billy's world collapses. It's telling that his
distinctive laugh is never heard again (until right before the end
credits). It is only then that Billy realizes what he has done. He
looks at Chavez and says, “It shouldn't be you sittin' there. It
should be me.” And he's right. If Billy had only brought them to
Old Mexico like he promised, his pals would not have died.
This reminds us of the responsibility
of friendship. As much at it fills our lives we cannot make it about
ourselves. A friend must always look to the good of the other
friend. If we look at our friends as a means to something else
rather than an end, that friendship will die in some way.
The final confrontation with Garret
reminds us of this. If Billy had only not bought into his own hype
and had not tried to force his friends to stay with him, the whole
tragedy would have been averted. Young Guns I and II is
essentially a 2 part tragedy. All hope of a happy ending goes away
when Billy refuses to let go.
And Billy is condemned to live out a
long, long life tortured by the memory of the friends he lost along
the way. His escaping Garrett in the end is not a mercy, but a
punishment. He has to spend every day thinking of Doc, Chavez, Dick,
Charlie, Steve, Tunstall, McSween, Tommy, Hendry, and Pat. “You
asked me if I have my scars,” Billy concludes, “Yes sir. I have
my scars.”
And yet here is the craziest thing:
there is still something cathartic about these movies. There is
value in these friendships. It seems to ask the question “if you
knew that your friendship would end in tragedy, would you keep it?”
The answer I think many of us would give is yes. Friendships may
give us great happiness, but the don't promise it to us. They will
cause us pain and loss and leave scars on our lives. But we'd still
hold on fiercely to our friends. Or at least I would.
It ain't easy havin' pals.
…
By the way, if you're on Twitter, I'm
going to be sharing some of the great lines from the movie. You can
follow me @CatholicSkywalk or look for #younggunswisdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment