Dead or Alive: Billy the Kid at the Movies
Few figures from the American West have captured the imagination of filmmakers like Billy the Kid. The outlaw’s short, violent life has been reimagined across nearly a century of cinema—reflecting not only the myths of the frontier but also changing ideas about youth, rebellion, justice, and the price of violence. This series, screened in conjunction with Western Spirit’s exhibition The Resurrection of Billy the Kid, traces the Kid’s cinematic journey across ten distinctive films. From early Hollywood to modern reinterpretations, each version reveals as much about its own era as it does about the legendary desperado.
