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Young Guns
EMAILPRINTArtisan Entertainment

Mixed or average reviews
Based on 13 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Action | Crime | Drama | Suspense/Thriller | Western
Written by: John Fusco
Directed by: Christopher Cain
Release Date:
Theatrical: August 12, 1988
DVD: April 22, 2003
Running Time: 102 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: Rated R for profanity, violence and nudity
Starring Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Terence Stamp, Dermot Mulroney, Terry O'Quinn, and Jack Palance
When his mentor is gunned down in cold blood, William Bonney sees fit to avenge him. With his friends backing him up, William delivers his own personal brand of justice, acting as judge, jury and executioner all with one pull of the trigger. News of his notorious actions spreads wide and far and soon the name of "Billie the Kid" becomes legendary.
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The New York Times Janet Maslin
Young Guns is best watched in the playful, none-too-serious spirit in which it was made. Though the film concentrates reverentially on its young stars, it also includes good performances from a few grown-ups, notably Terry O'Quinn as a lawyer and Jack Palance as the story's wild-eyed villain.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Llyod Sachs
Considering how tidy and self-aware most such Hollywood projects are, any movie that can give Phillips' Mexican-Indian a monologue in which he painfully recounts the massacre only he survived and then blithely rejoices in idiot gunfire is a movie you have to respect. [12 Aug 1988, p.35]
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Jay Scott
The movie blows through the Brat Pack smoke screen - it is superior to Colors in that regard - to reveal the troubled, lonely and sometimes crazy males behind the macho, misogynist posturing of men in groups. You couldn't find a nicer bunch of killers. [12 Aug 1988, p.C3]
Los Angeles Times Michael Wilmington
To say Young Guns is one of the best big Westerns of the '80s doesn't mean much: Westerns have been almost moribund since 1976. But it does hint at this movie's surprising vitality, bloody ebullience and violent impetuosity-qualities it shares with crazy little Billy. [12 Aug 1988, p.11]
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
Young Guns is really a modern action movie in the revenge mode, disguised as a western. But with all its faults, it more or less works. Palance is a great heavy, Estevez makes an off-the-wall hero, and there's usually enough happening on screen to keep you interested. [12 Aug 1988, p.E3]
USA Today Donna Britt
The surprisingly entertaining Young Guns isn't really so young. The cast is uniformly convincing, especially Estevez as a deranged Billy the Kid and Kiefer Sutherland, playing against type as the gang's calm center. [12 Aug 1988, p.7D]
Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr
Billy's burning, self-destructive energy is about all Young Guns has going for it-the suicidal kicks James Dean found in chickie races are here transposed to six-gun shoot-outs, filmed in a slow-motion process that strives vainly to evoke Sam Peckinpah. [12 Aug 1988, p.H]
TV Guide Staff (Not Credited)
YOUNG GUNS is simply not a very good movie--western or otherwise. Fusco's script provides little character development and muddies the narrative with some unlikely supporting characters. Still, it proved to be popular enough to lead to a television spinoff and a sequel in 1990.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Fusco's script undercuts whatever freshness it may have brought to its view of Billy the Kid with a steady stream of howlers, most of which involve Kiefer Sutherland, as the sensitive member of the gang. [12 Aug 1988, p.24]
Washington Post Hal Hinson
The movie is showy without having any noticeably coherent style. Indeed, it might have been possible to enjoy Young Guns as a larky spree if the photogenic stars didn't carry themselves with such a smug, self-congratulatory air. But they behave as if our adoration were their birthright.
Read Full Review >Empire Ian Nathan
Good idea to cast the brat pack in a Western but this was badly realised and altogether a bit flat.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
The film is basically a drag, and not helped by Christopher Cain's stand- around direction. And one's thirst for the clear, cool taste of traditional narrative -- motivated movement, defined antagonists, building suspense -- soon reaches maddening levels. A grownup could die in this wasteland. [5 Sept 1988, p.63]
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Full of odd notions and interludes, the movie never really comes together, but fitfully suggests a cross between Boys Town and Greaser's Palace.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Edgar C gave it a7:
A smattering of horse-chases and shooting scenes, meshed in with some talking, old time dancing, and some more shooting. The movie makes sense as they first start out as a bunch of mostly innocent boys taking revenge on their mentor's death, and ultimately turning into a criminal rampage rife with killing. The movie is good over all, with the only exception being Estevez's pretty lame drawl.
