Surprisingly, in light of countless movieversions of the Billy the Kid legend (the lastest being this year's only Hollywood western, Young Guns),Vidor's 1930 sound film was the very first. It rehabilitated a trigger-happy historical figure whoseless-than-justified killings made him unappealing through the silent era. But this was the Al Capone era, andVidor's multi-ethnic Billy the Kid rode advance guard for an urban gangster film cycle. It's something of ananti-Little Caesar in its demonstration of the historical context in which smooth and grinning killings are nocause for qualms of conscience. Originally filmed in 70mm and released in MGM's brief widescreen"Realife" format, it survives today only in the standard aperture. Even in this reduction, spectacularevidence remains of the New Mexico locations and authentic reconstructions. The deep compromises came inthe casting, with Wallace Beery as Sheriff Pat Garrett and the Alabama-accented football hero Johnny MackBrown in the title role. All in all, the film stumbles sideways through comedy and patriotism into itsfascinating exploration of justified violence. Its challenge is this: to link an archaic William S. Hart plotlinewith modern violence, to set western-film innocence against gangster morality. Scott Simmon