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Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Licensor Information
Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Directed by: Sam Peckinpah
Featuring: James Coburn, Kris Kristofferson, Richard Jaeckel, Katy Jurado, Chill Wills, Barry Sullivan, Jason Robards, Bob Dylan, R.G. Armstrong, Luke Askew, John Beck, Jack Dodson, Emilio Fernandez, L. Q. Jones, Slim Pickens, Charles Martin Smith, Harry Dean Stanton, Rutanya Alda, Rudy Wurlitzer, Elisha Cook, Jr., Bruce Dern, Sam Peckinpah
Sam Peckinpah’s cycle of genre-redefining westerns came to a close with this blood- and dust-caked elegy for the American West, which marries his renegade style with a fatalistic sense of finality. As newly minted lawman Pat Garrett (James Coburn) stalks the outlaw Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) across the plains, their old friendship is twisted into rivalry, and mythic ideals of freedom come up against an emerging ruling-class order—all to the strains of a haunting soundtrack by Bob Dylan (who also appears as the mercurial Alias). Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid—presented here for the first time in three separate versions—stands as perhaps the maverick auteur’s richest, most mature work, a world-weary ballad that bears the solemn weight of history passing into legend.
Details by Film
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Theatrical CutYear: 1973
Time: 106
Aspect Ratios
2.35:1
Audio
English PCM Mono 1.0
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
50th Anniversary CutYear: 1973
Time: 117
Aspect Ratios
2.35:1
Audio
English PCM Mono 1.0
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Preview CutYear: 1973
Time: 122
Aspect Ratios
2.35:1
Audio
English PCM Mono 1.0
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Format:
Blu-ray
Discs:
BD-50 (2 Discs)
Total: 2 Discs
Regions:
A (Blu-ray)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35:1
Audio Options:
English PCM Mono 1.0
Resolution:
1080p/24
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Audio Commentary, Alternate Version, Interview, Documentary, Theatrical Trailer, TV Spot, Insert
- Audio commentary for the 50th Anniversary Release featuring Paul Seydor, Roger Spottiswoode, and critic Michael Sragow
- New 2K digital master of director Sam Peckinpah’s Final Preview Cut, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- Dylan in Durango, a new interview with author Clinton Heylin about the film’s soundtrack
- Passion & Poetry: Peckinpah's Last Western, a new documentary by Mike Siegel about the making of the film
- Archival interview with actor James Coburn
- Trailer
- TV spots
- An essay by author Steve Erickson
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Film
Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Restoration Information
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid
Restoration by:
The Criterion Collection
Year: 2023
Scanned at: 4K Digital
Restored at: 4K Digital
Sources:
35mm Original camera negative
Release Notes on Restoration
50th Anniversary Release
Supervised and approved by editor and author Paul Seydor and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid coeditor and colorist Roger Spottiswoode, the new 4K master was created from the 35 mm original camera negative and a 35 mm color reversal intermediate. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the two-inch DME magnetic track. This cut represents a continuation of work begun by Seydor for the special edition released on DVD by Warner Bros. in 2005. That version restored most of the scenes removed from the film's theatrical release, and featured additional tightening by Spottiswoode and fellow Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid editor Robert L. Wolfe, both frequent collaborators of Peckinpah's. The 50th Anniversary Release corrects the earlier version's color grading and sound mix, and includes "further changes we felt were necessary in order to come closer to what Peckinpah himself wanted," according to Seydor and Spottiswoode. Those include the reinstatement of "the scene in the script called 'Tuckerman's Hotel,' and a few lines of additional dialogue in other scenes. The only scene the anniversary release does not retain from the 2005 version is the "prostitute montage," which followed Garrett forcing Ruthie Lee to reveal where the Kid is. (The montage--which Spottisewoode and Katy Haber, Peckinpah's personal assistant, believe the director would have eventually removed had his work on the film continued--can be seen in the Final Preview Cut.)
Original Theatrical Release
The new 4K master was created from the 35 mm original camera negative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm DME magnetic track. After Peckinpah stopped working on the film, Spottiswoode and Wolfe took charge in editing, reluctantly removing scenes to bring the film down to the studio's desired length, while nonetheless hewing as closely as possible to Peckinpah's vision. The cut of the film that resulted, released in theaters in 1973, is available here for the first time since its release on VHS.
Final Preview Cut
The Final Preview Cut represents the last version of the film on which Peckinpah worked directly. This new 2K master was created from the 35 mm print from the collection of the Academy Film Archive. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm magnetic track. Two preview cuts of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid were shown within days of each other in May 1973, and the Final Preview Cut, released here for the first time, represents the second of those. Both preview versions were works in progress, with scenes missing and color grading and sound mixing incomplete, but the second one includes material missing from the first and an endnote authored and initiated by Peckinpah. "Following the second preview, MGM for commercial reasons demanded that the film be shortened considerably," according to Seydor and Spottiswoode. "Peckinpah refused to
Supervised and approved by editor and author Paul Seydor and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid coeditor and colorist Roger Spottiswoode, the new 4K master was created from the 35 mm original camera negative and a 35 mm color reversal intermediate. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the two-inch DME magnetic track. This cut represents a continuation of work begun by Seydor for the special edition released on DVD by Warner Bros. in 2005. That version restored most of the scenes removed from the film's theatrical release, and featured additional tightening by Spottiswoode and fellow Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid editor Robert L. Wolfe, both frequent collaborators of Peckinpah's. The 50th Anniversary Release corrects the earlier version's color grading and sound mix, and includes "further changes we felt were necessary in order to come closer to what Peckinpah himself wanted," according to Seydor and Spottiswoode. Those include the reinstatement of "the scene in the script called 'Tuckerman's Hotel,' and a few lines of additional dialogue in other scenes. The only scene the anniversary release does not retain from the 2005 version is the "prostitute montage," which followed Garrett forcing Ruthie Lee to reveal where the Kid is. (The montage--which Spottisewoode and Katy Haber, Peckinpah's personal assistant, believe the director would have eventually removed had his work on the film continued--can be seen in the Final Preview Cut.)
Original Theatrical Release
The new 4K master was created from the 35 mm original camera negative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm DME magnetic track. After Peckinpah stopped working on the film, Spottiswoode and Wolfe took charge in editing, reluctantly removing scenes to bring the film down to the studio's desired length, while nonetheless hewing as closely as possible to Peckinpah's vision. The cut of the film that resulted, released in theaters in 1973, is available here for the first time since its release on VHS.
Final Preview Cut
The Final Preview Cut represents the last version of the film on which Peckinpah worked directly. This new 2K master was created from the 35 mm print from the collection of the Academy Film Archive. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm magnetic track. Two preview cuts of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid were shown within days of each other in May 1973, and the Final Preview Cut, released here for the first time, represents the second of those. Both preview versions were works in progress, with scenes missing and color grading and sound mixing incomplete, but the second one includes material missing from the first and an endnote authored and initiated by Peckinpah. "Following the second preview, MGM for commercial reasons demanded that the film be shortened considerably," according to Seydor and Spottiswoode. "Peckinpah refused to