The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)

Thom Hallum is Pat Garrett, sheriff in Lincoln County, New Mexico, and a man haunted by his past.

In particular, he’s haunted by his days hunting buffalo alongside the contankerous W. Skelton Glenn.

When Glenn comes down with fever, Garrett knows it’s both contagious and deadly.

So he shoots Glenn in the head, buries him, then makes up a story about how he died after being gored by a buffalo.

Flash forward to current time and Garrett has a man named Thomas Riley wearing a cavalryman’s uniform locked up in his jail cell.

Riley was caught trespassing and told a wild story about a large Apache uprising under Chief Victorio.

Vowing to hold Riley until his Deputy John Poe can reach Fort Apache and confirm that story, Garrett finds himself fielding a counter offer.

Riley was once saddlemates with Billy the Kid. He realizes how vicious the Kid can be. And he knows where Billy is hiding, in the Fort Sumner area, on the ranch of Lucian Maxwell.

Riley knows Billy needs to be stopped. He witnessed him shooting a bank teller in cold blood. So he offers up that information in exchange for his freedom.

Thom Hallum as Pat Garrett, intrigued by the thought of bringing Billy the Kid to justice in The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)

Paul Grant (aka Paul Addison) as Billy the Kid, threatening to kill a bank teller in The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)

Review:

A retelling of the demise of Billy the Kid that’s different enough to be interesting.

It’s also slow-paced and filled with philosophizing instead of action.

At one point, Pat Garrett is rambling about the circular nature of life, prompting his deputy to proclaim: “That make sense.”

What doesn’t make sense is that the prisoner locked up in Garrett’s cell, fresh off a scrape with the Apaches, would have any idea where to find Billy the Kid, his one-time partner.

And what doesn’t make sense is that Garrett, rather than taking precautions against an Indian uprising, would dispatch a single deputy into the path of the trouble.

Fortunately, the film has a cast that’s comfortable in front of a camera. And director Brett Bentman does a decent job of disguising the film’s low-budget nature by focusing on small scenes in tight confines.

At least until the final scene, when Garrett returns to a town where there doesn’t appear to be a single inhabitant. Except for Riley, who’s sleeping in his jail, hoping to become Garrett’s new deputy.

Andrea Zirlo as Thomas Riley, trying to make a deal that will get him out of a jail cell in The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)

Tom Zembrod as Deputy John Poe, heading off to find out whether Indians are on the warpath in The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)

Directed by:
Brett Bentman

Cast:
Thom Hallum … Pat Garrett
Andrea Zirlo … Thomas Riley
Tom Zembrod … John Poe
Robert Keith … Lucian Maxwell
Brandon Ingram … W. Skelton Glenn
Tiffany McDonald … Lillian Prescott
Derrick Redford … Preacher Hamilton
James Storm … Monty Ward
Gerald Brodin … Bank Teller
Paul Addison … Billy the Kid
as Paul Grant

Runtime: 77 min.

Robert Keith as Lucian Maxwell, the man who owns the ranch where Billy the Kid is hiding in The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)

Derrick Redford as Preacher Hamilton, offering Billy salvation and winding up a robbery victim in The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)

Memorable lines:

Thomas Riley, trying to bargain his way out of a jail cell: “What if I could give you something? Something big?”
Pat Garrett: “You already gave me a headache.”

Thomas Riley, describing Billy the Kid: “He came from nothing. And being hungry for that long will change you. Make you primal.”

Lucian Maxwell, owner of the ranch where Billy is believed to be hiding: “From what I’ve heard here today and what I’ve read in the newspapers, this Billy the Kid kills folks without remorse. It’s like he’s kicking a tin can down the street.”

Pat Garrett, to Lillian, W. Skelton Glenn’s widow: “We all lie Lilly. Some of us just get more comfortable with it than others.”

Pat Garrett to his deputy: “The most dangerous men in the country, Johnny, ain’t the ones that kill. It’s the ones that convince others it’s okay to do so.”

Preacher Hamilton: “I have been leading men to Christ for the majority of my life. I’ve only come across two reasons why a man would be staring up at that cross the way you do now. Shame and hope. So which is it?”
Billy the Kid: “I’ve done a lot more wrong in my life than right. Maybe it’s both.”

Preacher Hamilton: “Psalms 94 tells us that vengeance belongeth to the Lord.”
Pat Garrett: “Yeah, well, sometimes the Lord gets busy.”

Brandon Ingram as the mean-spirited W. Skelton Glenn, a man whose death haunts Pat Garrett in The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)

Tiffany McDonald as Lillian Prescott, learning the truth about the death of a former buffalo-hunting husband in The Killing of Billy the Kid (2023)