THE MAN WHO KILLED BILLY THE KID is a mildly tedious spaghetti western version of the famous story which was done better in the Hollywood flick by Sam Peckinpah. Here, a bunch of familir actors go through the motions in a story which follows the rise and fall of Billy the Kid and his friendship with the equally infamous Pat Garrett. Peter Lee Lawrence was an interesting presence in Italian genre cinema around this time but fails to make much impact in an underwritten role here and the film as a whole is a bit too slow and a bit too long to really work.

This above-average Tortilla Western packs thrills , action , brawls , crossfire and drags at times , balancing in ups and downs ; though resulting to be pretty entertaining . This interesting as well revisionist Chorizo Western titled "I'll Kill Him and Return Alone" (USA title) is partially based on real events , it blends true events along with fictitious , the plot is developed on the following way : At the beginning Billy (Peter Lee Lawrence) lives happily with his widow mother (Gloria Milland) . Then Billy's mother is raped by Tom McGregor (Antonio Molino Rojo) and the young gunfighter kills to him . Billy is pursued by Peter McGregor (Miguel Palenzuela) and hoodlums (Luis Barboo) and takes place a gundown . Billy flees and he early becomes a cowboy in Lincoln County, New Mexico , for cattleman Tunstall (Luis Prendes). But in 1878 Tunstall was killed by a rival cattle outfit (Antonio Pica , Alfonso De La Vega, Jose Canalejas) led by Murphy (Carlos Casaravilla) and this began the Lincoln County War, in which Billy played a leading part and was one of the group that shot dead Sheriff Brady . Billy seeks revenge for his death and he converted an outlaw and nasty gunfighter with a price on his head . Bonney and his gang pull off a hot pursuit against the enemies . At that time the Lincoln County War was in progress ,a range war between rival cattle interests, the Kid was a leading gunman for one faction but Pat Garrett , a former friend of Billy , stayed out of the fighting . When Billy became a rustler, the big ranch owners, especially John Chisum , wanted him out of the way and the man they chose to do the job was Pat Garrett . Billy, his band (Enrique Avila, Luis Rivera , among others) were besieged but he went out firing his gun and made his escape . Then Pat Garrett (Fausto Tozzi) was elected sheriff of Lincoln County and set out to capture the young outlaw . The Kid was caught and convicted of killing but he managed to escape . Garrett went after him again and on 15 July 1881 tracked him to the home of Pete Maxwell at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, where Billy was along with his band and there Billy was dead by surprise . Legend says that Billy killed twenty-one men in his twenty-one years of life, the exact figure is not known but is thought to be much less .This is an intense and moving Western about a known gunslinger, the most famous outlaw-gunfighter of the South-west . However , some moments is slow moving and contains a few flaws and gaps. This is a revisionist look about the known story of the West's greatest bandit. Contemporary-style Spaghetti Western with nice performances and fine direction by Julio Buchs who creates some good action scenes and exciting set pieces . The notorious Spaghetti actor , Peter Lee Lawrence is good in his usual tough role , here playing the known and very young bandit . The Kid is well performed , he plays as an avenger , violent young and favourite with girls , this time with Dyanik Zurakowska as Helen . Blond German youth Peter Lee Lawrence, who made his uncredited debut in Sergio Leone "For A Few Dollars More" (1965), was the hero in many Spaghetti Westerns. His short cinematographic history can be enclosed in nine years of Italo-Spain co-productions such as "More Dollars for the MacGregors" , ¨Winchester justice¨,"Pistol for a Hundred Coffins", ¨The man who killed Billy the Kid¨ , ¨Fury of Johnny Kid¨ and several others . Furthermore , a largely secondary cast plenty with Spanish secondaries , all of them ordinary in Chorizo western as Antonio Pica , Jose Canalejas , Alfonso Rojas , Alvaro De Luna , Simon Arriaga , Luis Barboo , Rafael Hernandez , Francisco Sanz , Milo Quesada , Frank Braña , Enrique Avila , Luis Induni , Luis Prendes and many others . Adequate photography by Miguel Fernandez Mila , being necessary a right remastering because of the film copy is washed out , filmed on location in Las Rozas , Manzanares Del Real , La Pedriza , , and of course , Almeria . The movie was produced in enough budget by Ricardo Sanz and being accompanied by a rousing musical score by Gianni Ferrio , including enjoyable songs . The motion picture was well directed by Julio Buchs . Julio Buchs was an expert on thriller as he proved in ¨Salario De Crimen¨, ¨Alta tension¨ and ¨Trumpets of Apocalypse¨ and Spaghetti such as ¨Los Desesperados¨ or ¨A bullet for Sandoval¨ , ¨I'll kill him and return alone¨ also titled ¨El Hombre Mató Billy Kid¨ and ¨Mestizo¨ or ¨Django does not forgive¨ . ¨El Hombre Mato a Billy Kid¨ along with ¨A bullet for Sandoval¨ , are considered two of the best Spaghettis ; the Buchs's best film was ¨Encrucijada Una Monja¨ with Rosanna Schiaffino playing a similar character to ¨Audrey Hepburn's The nun's story¨ ; all of them were well directed by Julio until his early death at 46 years old .

When i was a child back in Cuba in the late 60s and early 70s only Alain Delon was a bigger star than Peter Lee Lawrence, he was handsome and sexy and his movie were a big attraction special in those days of political change, this movie as well some of his others movie were big hit in Cuba you have to wait on line for hours to see this great western in those days in Cuba no American movies were show thank god because i watched many great European movies with many big stars , in this one he look amazing i fall in love with him and for years i been searching for him until i discovered he die very young in the early 70s, please watch his movie. many are very good and he was always very nice to watch he was sexy too