Young Billy Young (1969)

Robert Mitchum is Ben Kane, a veteran lawman who accepts a position of deputy sheriff in Lordsburg so he can even the score with an outlaw (John Anderson as Frank Boone) who killed his son years earlier.

Robert Walker Jr. is Billy Young, the young man Kane takes under his wing.

He and a friend just finished a hired killing south of the border. As they fled, Billy was dismounted and his friend left him for dead.

That friend is in Lordsburg, too.

In fact, it turns out that friend is the son of Frank Boone.

When Kane tosses Jesse Boone (David Carradine) in jail and Frank Boone summons his gunmen to get him out, Billy is willing to fight alongside the marshal.

But he isn’t willing to watch Kane murder Boone’s son the way Kane’s own son was killed

Angie Dickinson is Lily Beloit, the dance hall girl convinced no decent man will want her, but currently entangled with John Behan, a friend of the Boones.

Robert Mitchum as Ben Kane, issuing a warning to Billy Young in Young Billy Young (1969)

Robert Walker Jr. as Billy Young, offering Ben Kane his help in Young Billy Young (1969)

Review:

Director Burt Kennedy tosses in some light moments, like when Kane and Billy Young first meet. Billy is on a donkey he rides into the middle of a river; Kane warns him not to water the animal there. Headstrong, Billy does so anyway. “It’s your ass,” says the lawman. Soon, the donkey is neck deep in quicksand and young Billy is swimming for his life.

Unfortunately, those moments aren’t enough to carry a film that just sort of meanders along. Our primary villain, John Anderson as Frank Boone, has a tiny small role. Saloon owner Behan doesn’t come off nearly as vicious as he’s supposed to be. And Dickinson looks lovely as ever, but her immediate interest in Kane seems a little far fetched.

The final scene is stolen straight from “River of No Return,” which also starred Mitchum.

Deana Martin, Dean Martin’s daughter, has a small role as a doctor’s daughter, one of three credited film roles to her credit.

Angie Dickinson as Lily Beloit, convinced her tawdry past will scare off any man in Young Billy Young (1969)

Jack Kelly as John Behan, telling Ben Kane that Lordsburg isn’t ready to settle down in Young Billy Young (1969)

Directed by:
Burt Kennedy

Cast::
Robert Mitchum … Ben Kane
Angie Dickinson … Lily Beloit
Robert Walker Jr. … Billy Young
David Carradine … Jesse Boone
Jack Kelly … John Behan
John Anderson … Frank Boone
Paul Fix … Charlie
Willis Bouchey … Doc Cushman
Deana Martin … Evvie Cushman
Parley Baer .. Bell
Robert Anderson … Gambler
Rodolfo Ascota … Mexican officer

Title tune: “Young Billy Young”
Sung by: Robert Mitchum

Runtime: 89 min.

David Carradine as Jesse Boone, the man who abandoned Billy Young south of the border in Young Billy Young (1969)

John Anderson as Frank Boone, the man who killed Ben Kane’s son in Young Billy Young (1969)

Memorable lines:

Ben Kane, as Billy Young rides into a creek on his donkey: “Hey, sonny, I wouldn’t water my jackass out there if I were you.”
Billy: “You own this stream mister?”
Kane: “Nope.”
Billy: “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll water him any damn where I please.”
Kane: “It’s your ass.”
Whereupon Billy’s donkey starts sinking in quicksand.

Lily Beloit: “Sometimes it comes in handy to know improper ladies, Mr. Kane.”

Ben Kane: “Let me tell you Miss Cushman — something for you and all the other gentle hearts in Lordsburg to think about. I’ve been indicted for murder in every town I’ve worn a badge. Not by the people I’ve hunted, but by the ones I was paid to protect. Like you, Miss Cushman. You’re all alike. You hire a man, then you grab his gun arm and tell him to hold off, let the bad ones shoot first so you can make damn good and sure they’re bad. Even if it means getting a hole blown in that tin star you wear.”
Evie Cushman: “But you don’t work that way.”
Kane: “I’m alive.”

Lily Beloit, as she’s being thrown into a stage in her saloon get-up: “I can’t go like this.”
Ben Kane: “We’ll get you some clothes when we get there.”
Lily: “You figure I’ll have much use for them.”
Kane: “Well, not for a while.”

Robert Mitchum as Ben Kane, putting a young woman in her place in Young Billy Young (1969)

David Carradine as Jesse Boone and Robert Walker Jr. as Billy Young, south-of-the-border assassins in Young Billy Young (1969)

Deana Martin as Evvie Cushman in a disagreement with Ben Kane in Young Billy Young (1969)

Willis Bouchey as Doc Cushman, issuing a warning to Ben Kane in Young Billy Young (1969)

Parley Baer as Bell, the man who convinces Ben Kane to take the job in Lordsburg in Young Billy Young (1969)

Robert Walker Jr. as Billy Young, ready for a showdown over a game of cards in Young Billy Young (1969)

Robert Mitchum as Ben Kane, shooting it out with an old nemesis in Young Billy Young (1969)