As part of its yearlong series of talks, films and performances to celebrate New Mexico’s centennial as a state, the KiMo Theatre in Albuquerque will screen the classic western “Billy the Kid,” produced and directed in 1930 and shot in New Mexico by the legendary King Vidor, at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15.
The black-and-white “talkie” was filmed in an early widescreen process called Realife, a 70mm format, and will be shown on the KiMo’s big screen, according to a KiMo news release.
Starring Johnny Mack Brown (billed as John Mack Brown) as Billy and noted early screen actor Wallace Beery as Pat Garrett, the film was the first of many subsequent movies to explore the relationship of the two friends turned deadly foes, the release said.
Vidor filmed in and around some of William Bonney’s old New Mexico haunts near the former cattle town of Las Vegas, N.M., as well as using locations like the canyons and dramatic desert landscapes around Gallup, the KiMo release said.
According to film legend, the pistols carried by Johnny Mack Brown were the actual pistols that belonged to Billy the Kid, loaned to the studio by early cowboy star William S. Hart, who had the firearms in his private collection.
General admission seats for all screenings in the Centennial Film Series are free.
Concessions will be available on a cash-only basis before and after the screening, according to the release.
