Young Guns and Young Guns II "Blaze Of Glory"

[Guest Steve J. Rogers]

Of all time.

 

There a topic starter, that ought to get some love for Billy and his crew.

 

Come to think, they might be the ONLY movies that feature the story of William H. Bonney "YOU...ARE NOT A GOD! Why don't you pull the trigger and we'll find out." Sorry, couldn't resist.

 

Come to think of it, they should be considered up there with Shane, High Noon, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, and many of the other great westerns through the years, certaintly they are ten times better than any of the crap that was released during the times when westerns were the "in" genre (Spaghetti Westerns come to mind, also the days of the "Singing Cowboys" like Autry and Rogers (no relation but I'd be glad to sing a little Happy Trails) )

 

But they really don't get reconition probably because they feature so many "Brat Pack" members right at the time that that crop of young actors were starting to fade into oblivion, granted Sheen, Slater and Sutherland would reach more peaks in mainstream noterity (of course more so for offscreen stuff) and Estevez would have a horrid turn as the Walter Matthau of The Mighty Ducks, but for the most part the "Brat Pack" days were over by the time the films came out and were regarded as junk aimed just for the 18-30 demo.

 

Same with Mobsters, also with Slater about a year or so after YGII, also done the same year as Warren Beatty's Bugsy, and even though it was a good film, and a very historical setting, ala the hugely successfull Goodfellas.

 

Basically the rise of Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky in the New York mob and the start of "Murder Inc." and the 5 families, really the start of Costra Nostra in American Society, while "Bugsy" was years after the events in "Mobsters" and just dealt with Bugsy's building of Las Vegas though Beatty took some major liberties with the telling of Bugsy's vision and was more of a Bugsy Segal love fest than anything. But guess which film was critically lauded and therefore a mainstream (and award) success, or guess which film is more remembered today? (and not for uniting Beatty with Annette Benning)

 

I mean I could name 20-30 movies about mafia/gangs/Costra Nostra/ect that are better than Bugsy, and Mobsters would be on that list BTW

 

Anyway, that is basically the point I guess I'm trying to make, granted there isn't a western film made around the same time that I can point to as being inferior to YG yet was greeted with more critical and mainstream success like I can with Mobsters (which was called "Young Tommy-Guns" though) and Bugsy

 

Steve

[Guest Youth N Asia]

Modern Westerns are looked on in the kind of bastard step child kind of way...I love the Young Guns movies and Tombstone, but when the "greats" are mentioned they always get left out cause they're recient, in my opinion anyway.

 

Anyone ever see the "My Name Is Trinity" movies...GREAT comedy westerns

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

I love Young Guns and Young Guns II. I swear I have seen the first one at least 30 times. Mobsters was fun as well. Where the hell is the DVD for that movie?

[Guest Youth N Asia]

I know I've seen both Young Guns over a dozen times each...just one of those movies you can pop in at any time and be in the mood for it.

 

I however did not like Mobsters

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

"I love the Young Guns movies and Tombstone, but when the "greats" are mentioned they always get left out cause they're recient, in my opinion anyway."

 

Agreed. But Unforgiven is the exception to that rule...

[Guest MrRant]

Unforgiven OWNZ

[Guest Steve J. Rogers]

Well don't forget Unforgiven is the only one of the bunch that has awards to its name,

 

Plus its director and star was some big name, I think he did some small time westerns in the past, can't think of his name off hand, something Westwood or someother...

 

But seriously though, it was heralded as a defining moment in Clint's career (ala Warren Beatty's Bugsy BTW)

 

Steve

[Guest gthureson]

Thats because 'Unforgiven' owns most movies in so many ways you can't keep track of them.

 

There are no clear-cut good guys. Or bad guys. The worst of them of all is William Muney, and he is the protaganist. Yes, he may be trying to mend his ways, but you see how far that gets him in the end.

 

Little Bill is, down deep, not a bad man. He is a brutal man, but he has very good reasons for everything he does. He doesn't kill English Bob. He just beats the crap out of him and sends him out on a rail. Ned only gets killed after they ambush their marks and kill one of them. Yes, he displayed him, but he was executed as an assasin. Fair enough. You might like Morgan Freeman, but Little Bill was in the right there.

 

The whores aren't really good people either. Nobody ended up dead from the attack on Alice. Yet they wanted two deaths in return. Their need for vengance was understandable, but even if you believe in 'eye for an eye', the attack didn't justify a bounty put on the two ranchers.

 

Every scene of violence is brutal and short. There are no gunfights at the OK Corral that are glorified for fifteen or twenty minutes. They are no quick-draw scenes. Just men ambushing each other when they go out to take a shit. No glory in any of it.

 

And in the end, though he gets the money to raise his children, William Muney is worse off than when he started. His best friend is dead, and ten or fifteen years of trying to change is right down the drain.

 

Young Guns and Young Guns II are merely action flicks set in the Old West. They try far too hard to make people out to be 'heroes' and 'villains'. And in the end, they are deep as a wading pool.

 

They are good for 90 minutes of entertainment or so, but they are quickly forgotten about soon after.

 

Tombstone is another good one. I've only watched that one once or twice, and while I do think it probably sands alot of rough edges of Wyatt Earp for the story it wants to tell, it had alot of solid characters in it.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Modern Westerns are looked on in the kind of bastard step child kind of way...I love the Young Guns movies and Tombstone, but when the "greats" are mentioned they always get left out cause they're recient, in my opinion anyway.

 

Anyone ever see the "My Name Is Trinity" movies...GREAT comedy westerns

I disagree. Young Guns isn't a bad movie but the reason they aren't mentioned amongst the great is because they don't hold a candle to High Noon and the other classics.

[Guest HellSpawn]

I also love both Young Guns movies.

 

F'n Billy rules, and F'you Garret !!!

[Guest ArkhamGlobe]

I like the Young Guns films, but I don't think they hold a candle to films like "Once Upon a Time in America" or "The Outlaw Josey Wales".

 

And yes, the Trinity films are hilarious.