University of Virginia Library

'Young Billy Young'
Stereotype Western

By Steve Wells
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

Titles can often be misleading.
Witness, for example, the classic
case of the maiden aunt who went
to see "The Fox" thinking it was an
animal story. Or the nice old lady
who bought a ticket to "The Boys
In The Band" expecting to see a
biography of Guy Lombardo and
His Royal Canadians.

The title "Young Billy Young"
is likewise deceiving inasmuch as
this "new" western is not about
young Billy Young. He's in the
film, but he can hardly be considered
the protagonist. That honor
(or rather, dishonor) belongs to a
fat-fisted, stone-faced gunman
named Kane. Also present are a
saloon girl named Lily, an outlaw
named Boone, and almost every
other stereotyped character imaginable.
They all combine to form,
you guessed it, a stereotyped
western.

We can point both barrels of our
critical shotgun at writer-director
Burt Kennedy. He has made no
attempt at originality. The plot
predictable and the dialogue is full
of cliches. The result is that bullets
fly and bodies drop and, because
we've seen it all a thousand times
before, we can't help but be bored.

Robert Mitchum is strong as
Kane; this he proves by continually
hitting poor Young Billy on the
head with his gun. Ange Dickinson
is pretty but miscast as the
well-known saloon girl who Kane
eventually marries. Robert Walker
plays the kid with the lumps on his
head with a youthful arrogance and
stubborness. As for the others in
the cast, well, they do the best they
can considering the caliber of the
script.

But back to the title. If the
movie is about Kane, then why
didn't Mr. Kennedy forget the
existing label and call it "Kane?"
Or better yet, why didn't he forget
the entire project and call it quits?

(Now at the Cinema)