Billy the Kid
About Billy the Kid
After land baron William Donovan's men kill his boss, Billy shoots the killers. His friend, Sheriff Pat Garrett, hunts him down and takes him in. Billy escapes and heads for Mexico. Garrett catches him again and has to choose between bringing him back and letting him go.
Cast & crew
More about Billy the Kid
King Vidor directed for MGM, with Irving Thalberg producing. Wanda Tuchock wrote the screenplay. The picture was shot in Realife, a 70mm widescreen process, and a standard-width version was filmed at the same time. Hugh Wynn edited. Johnny Mack Brown, billed as John Mack Brown, plays Billy. Wallace Beery plays Garrett.
Themes
Background
MGM released it in 1930, the same season as The Big Trail, another widescreen Western whose wide prints few houses could run.
Making
Vidor made a talking Western in the first years of sound, when wide-film processes were being tried and then dropped because most theaters could not project them.
Technique
It was photographed in 70mm Realife and, at the same time, in a standard width. Only the standard version is known to survive.
Preservation
The 70mm Realife version is not known to survive. A standard-width negative, shot at the same time, is what remains.
Notes
- Kay Johnson plays Claire. Karl Dane, Wyndham Standing, and Russell Simpson are also billed.
- Realife was a 70mm system close to the Grandeur process Fox used the same year on The Big Trail.
- No Realife print is known to survive. What circulates is the standard-width version shot alongside it.
- In February 2020 it was shown at the Berlin Film Festival in a King Vidor retrospective.
- Brown was billed as John Mack Brown for this part of his career.
Scenes
- Billy kills Donovan's men after they kill his boss.
- Garrett captures him, and Billy gets away toward Mexico.
- Garrett has him again and has to decide whether to take him in.
