Search - Requiem for Billy the Kid on DVD

Give Me Break!!!

R. H. Williams | 11/09/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"As a history buff I get quite aggravated at people that insist on bringing up the "Brushy Bill Roberts" lie and continue questioning whether Billy The Kid was really killed by Pat Garrett. Whether you call him McCarty, Antrim, or Bonney, "The Kid" was definitely and without doubt killed by Pat Garrett on the date and place stated in the true historical record.
It is also proven beyond any doubt that "Brushy Bill Roberts" was an outrageous liar.
For example: There are several published 20th century interviews with people who were at Ft. Sumner when "The Kid" was killed and around six of them prepaired his corpse; and they all knew "The Kid" very well.
Billy The Kid was literate, known from letters he personally penned to Governor Lew Wallace yet "Brushy Bill" could barely write his name.
Modern photo analysis proves "Brushy Bill" a liar. Roberts was poor and I am sure could not afford the orthodontics necessary to fix Billy The Kid's well known buck teeth; if they even had such procedures back then.
And Roberts just doesn't quit. Prior to his Billy The Kid claim, Roberts was bragging that he rode with Jesse James.
With just that small evidence I cited (and there is much more available to anyone with an Internet connection) there is absolutely no doubt Garrett killed "The Kid". It also seems that most "Brushy Bill" fans fail to recognize that "Brushy Bill Roberts" was alive when he was totally discredited by New Mexico Governor Thomas Mabry when Roberts attempted to receive a "pardon" from Mabry. Also, during his interview with Mabry, Roberts could not even remember Pat Garrett's name.
Anyone that gives the the slightest credence to the "Brushy Bill" story does nothing but mislead future generations by furthering a lie which is infecting historical fact.
One must also ask one's self why Pat Garrett would jeopardize his career by lying. A lot of people back then hated Garrett and would have quickly come forward to discredit him, especially at the time he was appointed Customs Agent by the President of The United States.
So, people that believe or even say "maybe" about Roberts would likely believe that John Wilkes Booth died of old age, JFK survived and died many years later in an institution and the Titanic did not founder on April 15th, 1912."

A great ride to the West.

Berlinale | NYC | 11/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is a great ruminative doc on the contrasting myths of the west - romantically as a legend, cinematically as in Kristopherson's incarnation of Billy, and contemporary with the inclusion of Lincoln NM's current cast of characters. Lot's of fun and beautifully shot. Yes - it's a different kind of doc. But that's what makes it all the more appealing."

A Fresh Billy

Caroline A. McCoy | New Mexico | 12/07/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The myth of Billy the Kid lives on and on, yet still underground. This film is unique in its approach comparing the young gangster, Billy the Kid, whose outlaw life lasted a brief six years, to an interesting look-alike, Arthur Rimbaud - a French poet whose world-impacting writing lasted a brief six years. Both Billy and Rimbaud gave up at age 21.

The photography of Lincoln County alone, is worth seeing: exquisite. Was it really Billy who was shot? Or did he live on as Brushy Bill Roberts? Local characters discuss it all from the No Scum Allowed Bar in the old mining town of White Oaks, New Mexico.

The film soundly held my interest throughout. It is no wonder it won awards at the Cannes Film Festival."