Young Guns

"Six reasons why the west was wild."

1988 1h 47m EN

👍

6.7

SOLID

★6.7TMDB · 1,090

WesternAdventureCrime

Synopsis

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A group of young gunmen, led by Billy the Kid, become deputies to avenge the murder of the rancher who became their benefactor. But when Billy takes their authority too far, they become the hunted.

“Six reasons why the west was wild.”

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Cast

Emilio Estevez
William H. Bonney
Kiefer Sutherland
Doc Scurlock
Lou Diamond Phillips
Chavez y Chavez
Charlie Sheen
Dick Brewer
Dermot Mulroney
Dirty Steve Stephens
Casey Siemaszko
Charley Bowdre
Terence Stamp
John Tunstall
Jack Palance
L. G. Murphy

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Christopher Cain
Writers: John Fusco
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

38 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Young Guns Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Christopher Cain, shot by Dean Semler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Brian Banks. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jack Hofstra shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Six reasons why the west was wild.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Christopher Cain directs. Dean Semler behind the camera. Brian Banks scores. Jack Hofstra cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 3.4× over at the box office.
238 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Part of the "Young Guns Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
4Directed by Christopher Cain, shot by Dean Semler. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Brian Banks. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jack Hofstra shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Phillips carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Six reasons why the west was wild.".
9IMDB entry: tt0096487 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 12 themes, including "sheriff", "bounty hunter", "corruption", "deputy sheriff".
11Released under 10 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Dean Semler
Original score: Brian Banks
Editing: Jack Hofstra
Production design: Jane Musky
Costume design: Richard Hornung
Makeup / hair: Karoly Balazs
Sound: Lon Bender
Stunt coordinator: Everett Creach
Runtime: 107 min · 1h 47m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $13,000,000
Box office: $44,700,000
Return: 344% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Young Guns (1988)

Part of

Young Guns Collection

Young Guns is a retelling of the adventures of Billy the Kid during the Lincoln County War, which took place in New Mexico during 1877–1878

Also by

Christopher Cain

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2020-08-30
★ 8/10
If we're caught, we're gonna hang... But there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip. Young Guns is directed by Christopher Cain and written by John Fusco. It stars Emilio Estevez, Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko, Terry O'Quinn, Jack Palance and Terence Stamp. Music is by Brian Banks and Anthony Marinelli and cinematography is by Dean Semler. Film is a telling of Billy the Kid's part in the Lincoln County War in New Mexico 1878. Plot sees the murder of John Tunstall send Billy and the rest of the Tunstall Regulators on a mission to avenge his murder. It ain't easy having pals. Often derided by Western movie purists as a sort of MTV Western made to showcase the various talents of the then Hollywood Brat Pack of Estevez, Sheen, Sutherland et al, Young Guns is actually a far more entertaining picture than some critical assessments suggest it is. It also has some rock solid Western history footings holding it up, yes it's far from accurate in various scenarios, age of characters and numbers in gangs etc, but the core story of the Lincoln County War is there. A massive success at the box office and spawning an equally successful sequel in 1990, Young Guns zips along at pace, contains high energy action sequences and provides plenty of quotable dialogue. Best of all, though, it doesn't take itself seriously, it wants to be a rooting-tooting Western of fun endeavours, if viewed on those terms it's an absolute winner, especially since the cast are playing it that way. Alex, if you stay they're gonna kill you. And then I'm gonna have to go around and kill all the guys who killed you. That's a lot of killing. Estevez is terrific as The Kid, blending boyish arrogance with fearless rage, a fun and scary character who is easy to get on the saddle with. Elsewhere it's a mixed bag, but apart from the disappointing Sheen, the casting decisions sit well and if you talk to ten different Young Guns fans you will most likely get a number of different answers come back as to who is their favourite Regulator (mine is Dirty Steve played by Mulroney if you are wondering?). O'Quinn is spot on as Alex McSween, Stamp adds classical tones to the ill fated John Tunstall and Palance is a neat fit as villain Lawrence Murphy. Nice to see Brian Keith get a cameo as a larger than life bounty hunter as well. Semler's photography and Cain's filming techniques are a bit too anachronistic at times and the Banks/Marinelli score too modern an accompaniment on occasions. But film rounds out as a nifty bit of Oater play for Gen X and showed that as the 1990s approached there was still love for this greatest of genres. 7.5/10
kevin20192024-06-27
★ 8/10
"Young Guns" has wonderfully authentic production values and costumes which really brings this rugged period to life on the screen. It did seem as though the western was permanently out of fashion with mainstream audiences a couple of years before this film was released and perhaps it might never again return to the prominence it had once enjoyed, but then along came this entry in the genre and the fresh faced young talent involved each have key roles and this fact alone undoubtedly guaranteed plenty of equally fresh faced young audiences would watch. However, this film is also worthwhile for some other reasons as well. The western has always been a consistently popular genre and after watching this film you can immediately understand why. The story is a strong one and best of all the film as a whole is also incredibly well paced and intelligent and informative and these are elements you seldom encounter these days.
Wuchak2025-08-26
★ 8/10
Fairly accurate account of Billy the Kid & his gang doesn't forget to entertain Before Billy the Kid (Emilio Estevez) shot to fame, he's an orphaned teen taken in by English merchant John Tunstall (Terrence Stamp) who mentors him and several other 'young guns' – Richard 'Dick' Brewer (Charlie Sheen), Doc Scurlock (Keifer Sutherland), Chavez (Lou Diamond Phillips), Dirty Steve Stephens (Dermot Malroney) and Charles 'Charley' Bowdre (Casey Siemaszko). When savage injustice strikes, the youths team-up as deputies, but Billy's demand for justice takes them beyond the law where they are hunted as an outlaw gang. "Young Guns" (1988) is an excellent 'modern' Western that sticks pretty close to history. The anachronistic 80's pop rock score wasn't as bad or prevalent as I remembered and, besides, it's mixed with some more traditional Western music, usually "live" stuff performed in the scenes, like banjo, guitar, and so on. The movie is realistic if you can roll with certain things done for dramatic effect. The amazing true-life story is brought to action-packed life by a great cast (also featuring Terence Stamp, Jack Palance, Brian Keith and Patrick Wayne) with excellent performances and potent dramatic scenes, like Chavez's notable venting sequence). Not only are the characters fleshed out, but the flick entertains with one great scene after another. For instance, the way Billy handles a traitor in their midst, not to mention Sheriff Brady and an arrogant bounty hunter at a bar. Then there's the wild Buckshot Roberts sequence, Billy's two encounters with Pat Garrett, and the thrilling showdown at the house. If you have the DVD or Blu-ray, be sure to catch the excellent 30-minute documentary on the real-life Billy the Kid for comparison to the movie and its sequel. Speaking of the sequel, 1990's "Young Guns II" is almost as good and better in some ways (for instance, there's more rollicking action and a superior score, not to mention Jenny Wright as Jane Greathouse). It's mandatory because it shows the rest of the story - the hiring of Pat Garrett to chase down the gang and put an end to it by taking Billy out. It also sticks pretty close to history, but takes some understandable licenses (both Doc and Chavez lived to be old men, 80 and 72 respectively). It runs 1 hour, 47 minutes, and was shot in Santa Fe County, New Mexico, with the town of Los Cerrillos redressed to pass for 1878. GRADE: A-