Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid · reception & legacy
1973 · Sam Peckinpah
How Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid has been received, argued over, and remembered.
The arc
Butchered by MGM and dumped into theatres in 1973 to mixed reviews, it was reborn when a longer preview cut surfaced in 1988 — now widely regarded as Peckinpah's last great western and one of the era's supreme elegies.
What's debated
The eternal fan debate isn't whether it's great but which version is: the 1973 theatrical, the 1988 preview cut, or the 2005 special edition each have their partisans.
Its footprint
Bob Dylan wrote 'Knockin' on Heaven's Door' for this film — the soundtrack has arguably outlived the movie in the wider culture, covered by everyone from Clapton to Guns N' Roses.
Where it stands
A canon climber turned cinephile touchstone — the 'studio-mutilated masterpiece' par excellence, and a fixture of revisionist-western lists.