The legend of Billy the Kid has been told in dime novels, books, plays, songs, poems, and most of all, in film and as I mentioned more than once on this site, no other individual has been portrayed in more films than Billy the Kid. In 1926, Walter Noble Burns wrote a biography on the Kid called The Saga of Billy the Kid, which became a bestseller. Though based mostly on his legend, it was this book that made the Kid popular with moviemakers; there was conspiracy, corruption, romance, and shoot’em up action. What a great plot for screenwriters! Because Billy the Kid is a man of many faces, movies can portray him in any form they desire, but yet at the same time, stay within the spirit of his legend. He could be a villain but also a Robin Hood-like hero, a lover and a killer and of course an underdog -and who doesn't like rooting for the underdog. Billy the Kid movies were popular with both young and old, male and female audiences.

Here is a filmography of Billy the Kid movies and the actors who portrayed him.  All these movies are a far cry of telling the true story of the Kid (most are downright ridiculous). The most amusing thing of all is that most of the actors who played the teenage outlaw were middle age men (or even older) such as Emilio Estevez, Kris Kristofferson, Robert Taylor, Johnny Mack Brown, and others. Below is the list of films that are in order of the release year and it also includes names of the actor that played Billy the Kid.

MOVIES:

Billy the Kid (1911) Directed by Laurence Trimble / Starring Tefft Johnson

Billy the Bandit (1916) Directed by John Steppling / Starring Billy Mason

Billy the Kid (1930) Directed by King Vidor / Starring Johnny Mack Brown

Billy the Kid Returns (1938) Directed by Joseph Kane / Starring Roy Rogers

Billy the Kid Outlawed (1940) Directed by Peter Stewart / Starring Bob Steele

Billy the Kid in Texas (1940) Directed by Peter Stewart / Starring Bob Steele

Billy the Kid’s Gun Justice (1940) Directed by Peter Stewart / Starring Bob Steele

Billy the Kid’s Range War (1941) Directed by Peter Stewart / Starring Bob Steele

Billy the Kid’s Fighting Pals (1941) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Bob Steele

Billy the Kid (1941) Directed by David Miller / Starring Robert Taylor

Billy the Kid in Santa Fe (1941) Directed by Sherman Scot t / Starring Bob Steele

Billy the Kid Wanted (1941) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Buster Crabbe

Billy the Kid’s Round Up (1941) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Buster Crabbe

Billy the Kid Trapped (1942) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Buster Crabbe

Billy the Kid’s Smoking Guns (1942) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Buster Crabbe

Billy the Kid in Law and Order (1942) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Buster Crabbe

Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Buster Crabbe

West of Tombstone (1942) Directed by Howard Bretherton / Starring Gordan Demain

The Mysterious Rider (1942) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Buster Crabbe

The Kid Rides Again (1943) Directed by Sherman Scott / Starring Buster Crabbe

The Outlaw (1943) Directed by Howard Hughes / Starring Jack Beutel

Fugitive of the Plains (1943) Directed by Sam Newfield / Starring Buster Crabbe

Western Cyclone (1943) Directed by Sam Newfield / Starring Buster Crabbe

The Renegade (1943) Directed by Sam Newfield / Starring Buster Crabbe

Cattle Stampede (1943) Directed by Sam Newfield / Starring Buster Crabbe

Blazing Frontier (1943) Directed by Sam Newfield / Starring Buster Crabbe

Alias Billy the Kid (1946) Directed by Thomas Carr / Starring Sunset Carson?

Four Faces West (1948) Directed by Alfred E. Green / Starring Joel McCrea

Son of Billy the Kid (1949) Directed by Ray Taylor / Starring George Baxter

The Kid from Texas (1950) Directed by Kurt Neulmann / Starring Audie Murphy

I Shot Billy the Kid (1950) Directed by William Berke / Starring Don Barry

Captive of Billy the Kid (1952) Directed by Fred C. Bannon / the Kid is only mentioned

The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954) Directed by William Castle / Starring Scott Brady

The Boy from Oklahoma (1954) Directed by Michael Curtiz / Starring Tyler MacDuff

Strange Lady in Town (1955) Directed by Mervyn LeRoy / Starring Nick Adams

Last of the Desperadoes (1956) Directed by Sam Newfield / the Kid is mentioned -film is about Pat Garrett

The Parson and The Outlaw (1957) Directed by Oliver Drake / Starring Anthony Dexter

Badman’s Country (1958) Directed by Fred F. Sears / the Kid is only mentioned

The Left-Handed Gun (1958) Directed by Arthur Penn / Starring Paul Newman

One-Eye Jacks (1961) Directed by and starring Marlon Brando (his character is based on the Kid)

Billy the Kid vs. Dracula (1966) Directed by William Beaudine / Starring Chuck Courtney

Chisum (1970) Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen / Starring Geoffrey Deuel

Dirty Little Billy (1972) Directed by Stan Dragoti / Starring Michael J. Pollard

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) Directed by Sam Peckinpah / Starring Kris Kristofferson

Young Guns (1988) Directed by Christopher Caine / Starring Emilio Estevez

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) Directed by Stephen Herek / Starring Dan Shor

Young Guns II (1990) Directed by Geoff Murphy / Starring Emilio Estevez

TELEVISION:

The Death of Billy the Kid (1955) Directed by Gore Vidal / Starring Paul Newman

Go West, Young Girl (1978) Directed by Alan J. Levi / Starring Richard Jaeckel

Gore Vidal’s Billy the Kid  (1989) Directed by William A. Graham / Starring Val Kilmer  

Purgatory (1999) Directed by Ulrich Edel / Starring Donnie Wahlberg
 

Aside from movies, Billy the Kid was also portrayed in a handful of  TV show series such as Tall Man, Colt .45, Maverick, and others.
 

The grand total is 51 movies, not including T.V. series
 

Billy the Kid goes Hollywood

Click here to read an archive article I wrote for my Billy the Kid Bulletin Board on the history of Billy the Kid in film.

The Best and the Worst of Billy the Kid movies

As we have just seen, there were a heck of a lot of movies made about Billy the Kid.  Here is my list of favorites and least favorites. I judged these movies by entertainment first and then accuracy (but honestly, all the movies fall short of accuracy).

     My favorites:

  1) Young Guns  Lots of action along with humor. The film mixed the facts and myths together rather well and it was this movie that sparked  Billy the Kid fever for  a new generation. Although, I didn't care how the movie portrayed Billy the Kid as a killer who laughed heartily every time he shot someone and being extremely cocky and pushy with his friends (not exactly the true qualities of the real Kid), which gives a rather unfavorable impression of Billy the Kid to the general public. But I do admit it's probably the best film made on Billy the Kid to date. For more, check out my web page History vs. Young Guns.

  2) Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid  Not the most exciting, but out of all the Billy the Kid movies, it's the most accurate. Val Kilmer's portrayal of Billy the Kid was very reserved and a bit dull, but at least he didn't portray him as a lunatic. Thumbs up to him though for his portrayal of Doc Holiday in "Tombstone."  The movie stuck within the facts fairly well, but would occasionally go off on the myth trail. All in all, it was a decent movie.

  3) Young Guns 2  Not as good as the first and less accurate. Worse of all, it brought much publicity to the Brushy Bill Roberts debate and converted many "believers."

  4) The Kid from Texas  Short on the facts, but it does portray Billy the Kid as a youth struggling to go straight.

  5) Billy the Kid  A little corny, but it's an okay movie. Johnny Mack Brown plays Billy the Kid in this film based on the Walter Noble Burns book, The Saga of Billy the Kid.

       Now for my least favorites:

   1) Dirty Little Billy  By far the worst ever!! It has nothing to do with Billy the Kid, fact or myth, if anything this film is insulting to the legend. In this movie Billy the Kid is portrayed as a total moronic wimp and coward, who looks to a pimp as a role model. The depiction of the Kid was so disturbing and awful that I couldn't even see the movie for its entertainment value. Stay away from this one!

   2) Billy the Kid  The real Billy the Kid was called "Kid" because of his youth and boyish appearance, but in this film he is portrayed by a very rough-looking worn out Robert Taylor (although almost 30 years old at the time of making this film, he looked 50!). For me this movie was boring and the storyline dragged that I kept dozing off watching it, I also found myself forgetting it was a Billy the Kid movie. Maybe it's worth watching once.

   3) Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid  This one seems to be a popular one for the older generation, but for me, I didn't like it at all. Not only does it have another unattractive middle age man playing the teenage outlaw, but the movie begins with the capture of Billy the Kid at Stinking Springs. The film completely leaves out the Lincoln County War and the why's and how's of Billy the Kid. The movie is mainly about Pat Garrett hunting down the cold-blooded Billy the Kid after his escape from the courthouse in Lincoln, and in this movie the Kid is so unlikable that you're not sorry to see him get killed in the end. The only thing I found amusing in this whole movie was Bob Dylan's character.

   4) The Left-Handed Gun  I loved him as Butch Cassidy, but Paul Newman's portrayal of Billy the Kid was short of the real man. In this film the Kid is a schizophrenic childish madman, attributes opposite and somewhat insulting to the genuine Billy the Kid. For a film that boasted its accuracy, it was disappointing, but as a western it was a good movie.

   5) Chisum  An okay western, but like the rest, it's off track concerning Billy the Kid. Once again the Kid is portrayed as a trigger-happy nut who is the sole killer for the Tunstall side in the Lincoln County War. To add insult to injury, John Chisum (played by John Wayne) and Pat Garrett come to the rescue during the big battle at Tunstall's store ( it was really at McSween's house) and saves the Regulators. The movie ends with the Kid getting the drop on Jesse Evans and killing him, and then rides out of town chasing after Sheriff Nodeen (Sheriff George Peppin's character) who hightailed it out of town. Pat Garrett is then appointed new county sheriff and is last seen in the movie at the Chisum ranch washing dishes with Billy's gal, Sally Chisum. It's funny- Pat Garrett and John Chisum, who had nothing to do with the battle at McSween's house or fighting along side the Regulators in real life, come out the heroes in the film and the Kid as the unreasonable, crazed killer.

  

REFERENCES

Tuska, Jon   Billy the Kid: His Life and Legend  University of New Mexico Press,    
                   Albuquerque 1994     

Bell Boze, Bob  The Illustrated Life and Times of Billy the Kid  Second Edition,      
                         Tri-Star- Boze Production, Inc. 1996