Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid was born 'William Henry McCarty' on November 23, 1859, in New York City. Little is known about the early life of William McCarty (also known as Henry Antrim and William Bonney, an alias), but it is believed that his father died or left the family when Billy was very young, and he was orphaned at 15 when his mother died of tuberculosis. Shortly after, he and his brother got involved in petty theft.

McCarty had a slim physique, sandy blond hair and blue eyes, he could be charming and polite one moment, then outraged and violent the next. According to legend, he killed 21 men during his days as an outlaw, one for each year of his life, though he likely killed far fewer than that number.

On the run from the authorities, McCarty moved to Arizona briefly before joining up with a gang of gunfighters called The Boys to fight in the Lincoln County War. Known as "The Kid," McCarty switched to the opposition to fight with John Tunstall under the name "the Regulators." Barely escaping with his life, McCarty became an outlaw and a fugitive. He stole horse and cattle until his arrest in 1880 for the killing of Sheriff Brady during the Lincoln County War. After being sentenced to death, he killed his two guards and escaped in 1881.

Billy the Kid was just 21 years old when he was hunted down and shot dead by Sheriff Pat Garrett on July 14, 1881 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. Shortly after the shooting, Sheriff Garrett wrote a biography of McCarty, the hugely sensationalized "The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid". The book was the first of many accounts that would turn the young outlaw into a legend of the American frontier. (Biography.com)

John Mack Brown

John Mack Brown as Billy the Kid (1930) directed by King Vidor. The film is noteworthy for being simultaneously shot in an early 70mm widescreen process and in standard 35mm, though only the standard format version has since survived.

 

Bob Steele played Billy the Kid in six B-Westerns for poverty row studio PRC starting with Billy the Kid Outlawed (1940), the others were - Billy the Kid in Texas (1940), Billy the Kid's Gun Justice (1940), Billy the Kid's Range War (1941), Billy the Kid's Fighting Pals (1941) and Billy the Kid in Santa Fe (1941).

Billy the Kid Wanted (1941) was the first of 13 Billy the Kid films starring Buster Crabbe for poverty row studio PRC. The others were - Billy the Kid's Round-Up (1941), Billy the Kid Trapped (1942), Billy the Kid's Smoking Guns (1942), Law and Order (1942), Sheriff of Sage Valley (1942), The Mysterious Rider (1942), The Kid Rides Again (1943), Fugitive of the Plains (1943), Western Cyclone (1943), Cattle Stampede (1943), The Renegade (1943) and Blazing Frontier (1943)

Robert Taylor

Billy the Kid (1941) starring Robert Taylor and directed by David Miller, was the first big budget Billy the Kid movie and also the first in Technicolor. A remake of the 1930 King Vidor film of the same name, also starring Brian Donlevy, Ian Hunter, Mary Hunter and Lon Chaney Jr. Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography.

The Outlaw (1943) became famous for sexy Jane Russell appearing in her first movie. Directed by Howard Hughes and starring Jack Buetel as Billy the Kid, the film was completed in 1941 run into censorship problems was eventually premiered in 1943 pulled out of circulation after just one week and finally went into wide release in 1946 after the Hollywood Production Code decided it was safe viewing for the movie going public.

Baby-faced war hero-cum-actor Audie Murphy played Billy in The Kid from Texas (1950). 
Directed by Kurt Neumann and also starring Gale Storm, Albert Dekker, Will Geer and Frank Wilcox as Pat Garrett.

The Law vs Billy the Kid (1954) Italian poster

The Law vs Billy the Kid (1954) directed by William Castle and starring Scott Brady as William Bonney, also starring Betta St. John, Alan Hale Jr and James Griffith as Pat Garrett.

Robert Vaughn played Billy in the episode "Billy the Kid" (1957) from the western TV series Tales of Wells Fargo (1957-1962). 
 

Paul Newman played the Kid in The Left Handed Gun (1958) directed by Arthur Penn and also starring Lita Milan, James Best and John Dehner as Pat Garrett. The belief that Billy was left-handed may be due to the publication of a reversed photograph taken of the kid.

Clu Gulager in The Tall Man (1960-1961)

Clu Gulager played Billy in 75 episodes of the TV series The Tall Man (1960-1961), Barry Sullivan starred as Pat Garrett. The series lasted two seasons.

Billy the Kid vs Dracula (1966) starred John Carradine as Count Dracula and Chuck Courtney as William 'Billy the Kid' Bonney. The Western-Horror was filmed in 8 days and was released on a double bill with Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter.

Geoffrey Deuel in Chisum (1970)

Chisum (1970) was set during the Lincoln County War of 1878 and starred John Wayne as John Chisum, Forrest Tucker, Ben Johnson, Christopher George, Patrick Knowles, Bruce Cabot, Glenn Corbett as Pat Garrett and Geoffrey Deuel as Billy the Kid. Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen.

Dirty Little Billy (1972) was directed by Stan Dragoti and starred Michael J. Pollard as Billy Bonney, Richard Evans and Lee Purcell. The film was Nick Nolte's movie debut (uncredited).

Kris Kristofferson with Bob Dylan

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring James Coburn as Garrett and Kris Kristofferson as the Kid, with Richard Jaeckal, Katy Jurado, Bob Dylan, Barry Sullivan as John Chisum and Jason Robards as Governer Lew Wallace. 106mins (122mins)

Sam Peckinpah and the studio fought over the film, it was eventually taken out of Peckinpah's hands and substantially re-edited. It would be more than 10 years before Peckinpah's version was released to video and to critical acclaim.

Probably the most historically accurate Billy the Kid movie to date, Young Guns (1988) was directed by Christopher Cain and starred Emilio Estevez as William Bonney alias Billy the Kid, with Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Charlie Sheen, Dermot Mulroney, Casey Siemaszko, Terence Stamp, Jack Palance and Patrick Wayne as Pat Garrett.

The film cost $11m and grossed $45m in North America. A sequel was released in 1990.

Dan Shor played Billy the Kid in the time-travelling comedy Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989) starring Keanu Reeves as Ted 'Theodore' Logan and Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston. Directed by Stephen Herek.

Billy the Kid as Val Kilmer.

Val Kilmer as William Bonney in the TV movie Billy the Kid (1989) directed by William A. Graham and also starring Rene Auberjonois, Wilford Brimley, Julie Carmen and Duncan Regehr as Pat Garrett. Screenplay by Gore Vidal.

"I'll make you famous." Emilio Estevez as Billy the Kid.

Young Guns II (1990) directed by Geoff Murphy and starring Emilio Estevez as William 'Billy the Kid' Bonney, with Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Christian Slater, Viggo Mortensen, William Peterson as Pat Garrett and James Coburn as John Chisum. Oscar nomination for Best Song - "Blaze of Glory" Jon Bon Jovi.

Young Guns II cost $20m to produce and has grossed $44m in North America.

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), commonly known as "Jack" or by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from January 1961 until he was assassinated in November 1963.

After military service as commander of Motor Torpedo Boats PT-109 and PT-59 during World War II in the South Pacific, Kennedy represented Massachusetts' 11th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1953 as a Democrat. Thereafter, he served in the U.S. Senate from 1953 until 1960. Kennedy defeated Vice President and Republican candidate Richard Nixon in the 1960 U.S. presidential election. At age 43, he was the youngest to have been elected to the office, the second-youngest president (after Theodore Roosevelt), the first person born in the 20th century to serve as president, and was the only president to have won a Pulitzer Prize.

Events during his presidency included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Space Race—by initiating Project Apollo (which would culminate in the moon landing), the building of the Berlin Wall, the African-American Civil Rights Movement, and early stages of the Vietnam War.

Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Lee Harvey Oswald was accused of the crime and arrested that evening, but Jack Ruby shot and killed him two days later, before a trial could take place. The FBI and the Warren Commission officially concluded that Oswald was the lone assassin. However, the United States House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) concluded that those investigations were flawed and that Kennedy was probably assassinated as the result of a conspiracy. (Wikipedia)

Cliff Robertson was the first actor to play John Kennedy on film, PT 109 (1963) recounts Kennedy's war time experiences. Directed by Leslie H. Martinson and also starring Ty Hardin, Robert Culp and James Gregory. 140mins.

The Missiles of October (1974) starred William Devane as John Kennedy and was directed by Anthony Page.  The film centered on the Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962. Martin Sheen co-starred as Robert Kennedy.150mins.

James Franciscus played the president in the TV movie Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy (1981) directed by Steve Gethers. 'Charlie's Angel' Jaclyn Smith received a Golden Globe nomination as Jackie Kennedy.150mins.

Kennedy (1983) was an acclaimed 5-hour TV mini-series starring Martin Sheen as JFK and Blair Brown as Jackie, directed by Jim Goddard. Sheen won a BAFTA TV award for Best Actor. 282mins.

Stephen Collins and Roma Downey as John and Jackie Kennedy in the TV mini-series A Woman Named Jackie (1991). Directed by Larry Peerce and also starring William Devane, Joss Ackland as Aristotle Onassis and Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teenage Jacqueline Bouvier. 246mins.

Oliver Stone's JFK (1991) details the actions of New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison (played by Kevin Costner), who takes it upon himself to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in Dallas, Texas, in 1963. Also starring Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Kevin Bacon and Gary Oldman as Lee Harvey Oswald. JFK won Oscars for Editing and Cinematography and was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Oliver Stone) and Best Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones). 189mins (206mins Dir.Cut)

JFK: Reckless Youth  (1993) a TV movie starring Patrick Dempsey as young John Kennedy, directed by Harry Winer and also starring Terry Kinney, Loren Dean and Claire Forlani. 183mins.

Tom Hanks in his Oscar-Winning role as Forrest Gump (1994) meets JFK thanks to some clever movie magic, Gump also encounters Richard Nixon. Directed by Robert Zemeckis. 142mins.

William Peterson appeared as John Kennedy in the TV movie The Rat Pack (1998) directed by Rob Cohen and starring Ray Liotta as Frank Sinatra, Joe Mantegna as Dean Martin and Don Cheadle as Sammy Davis Jr. 120mins.

Tim Matheson as JFK and Joanne Whalley as Jackie in the TV movie Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (2000) directed by David Burton Morris and also starring Tom Skerritt and Philip Baker Hall as Aristotle Onassis. 95mins.

The Cuban Missile Crisis gets reenacted again in Thirteen Days (2000) directed by Roger Donaldson and starring Kevin Costner, Bruce Greenwood as John Kennedy and Steven Culp as Robert Kennedy. Culp had played RFK before in the TV movie Norma Jean & Marilyn (1996). 145mins.

Watchmen (2009) based on the critically acclaimed graphic novel by Alan Moore and directed by Zack Snyder. Set in an alternate timeline, Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) shakes hands with President Kennedy (Brett Stimely).162mins (186mins Dir.Cut)

The Kennedys (2011) an 8-part Emmy-award winning mini-series starring Greg Kinnear as JFK, Barry Pepper as RFK and Katie Holmes as Jackie Kennedy.

Brett Stimely's second turn as President Kennedy in Michael Bay's Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) starring Shia LaBeouf , Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley and John Turturro. Brett Stimely would play JFK in two more films, Kill the Dictator (2013) and Parkland (2013). 154mins.

James Marsden as John F. Kennedy in Lee Daniels' The Butler (2013) starring Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Mariah Carey and Terrence Howard.  Matthew McConaughey was cast as JFK but had to drop out. 132mins.

Killing Kennedy (2013) TV movie directed by Nelson McCormick and starring Rob Lowe as JFK. Based on the book by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard about the 1963 Kennedy assassination and it's aftermath. Also starring Ginnifer Goodwin as Jackie Kennedy, Jack Noseworthy as Bobby Kennedy and Will Rothhaar as Lee Harvey Oswald.