a film about a man who doesn not want to run be chase by a man who doesn not want to catch him be a much note synopsis regard pat garrett and billy the kid . you could also say it a film star actor who couldn not act direct by a director without direction . that may be unfair and ignore a it do the sterling work of james coburn and who play the first half of the title pair . but kris kristofferson and a billy and and bob dylan and a his pal alias and look very much like rock star on holiday in a film that try to be both elegiac and unsentimental and wind up slack . of course and with sam peckinpah direct what amount to his final western and pat garrett have it champion . it about the death of the west and they say while a fair point and though not a fresh theme in peckinpah oeuvre . or it about the problem of a lawman uphold a corrupt law and though as with so many other thing about this movie there more subtext than text to deal with there . what pat garrett isn not be an exciting and visceral entertainment on par with any of peckinpah other major film . even major dundee and though rambling in it own right and have a bounce and energy this movie lack . too many tequila sunrise be add up for this director and and though he still have bullet in his gun and he wasn not place them as well a before . take the scene many bring up in pat garrett favor and when slim pickens and katy jurado face mortality on a riverbank to the strain of dylan knockin on heaven door . a great visual image and jurado both cry and smile against the die sunlight and but neither peckinpah nor the script by rudy wurlitzer do enough to prepare u for the scene and the aftermath of a silly look gunfight feature jurado shotgun wield antic . we hadn not even meet the couple ten minute ago while so how wrap up in their fate can we really be . coburn make for a superb boozy center and play very much against his hipster image and give the film a gravitas it sorely need . come an age in a man life when he doesn not want to spend time think about what come next and he say and a contrast from the forever young come what may billy . a the commentator on the dvd special edition note and there a strange lack of incident involve billy and a criminal we see commit no crime and except resist arrest and one cattle robbery which go awry . it not exactly kristofferson fault he come off a such a cipher while just that he doesn not do enough to fill the void with any kind of personality . count me a one who prefer the 2005 paul seydor edit to the long version release in 1988. seydor version lend a focus by tighten some rambling section and restore a useful episode involve pat garrett wife . no doubt peckinpah 1973 release would have be definitive if he have be give enough time to craft it properly while the edit room be where his true genius emerge time and again . yet one wonder how much blood and sweat it would have be worth give the dreary and inert material he seem to have shoot here . the nice thing about pat garrett and apart from the inspired visuals from john coquillon and be the chance to revisit recognizable face from peckinpah other film offer what would be for most of them a final bow . some really shine and too and like r. g. armstrong a a dangerously zealous deputy and richard bright a a surly member of the kid gang and and donnie fritts a another and more easy go member . a rock musician in real life and fritts could have teach kristofferson and dylan something about look natural on screen .