In the year 1881, a recently arrested prisoner named Thomas Riley (Andrea Zirio) attempts to gain his freedom by offering to inform Sheriff Pat Garrett (Thom Hallum) about the location of a man calling himself Henry McCarty.  At first Garrett asks why he should care about a man named McCarty but, when Riley reveals that McCarty is actually the infamous Billy the Kid, Garrett becomes much more interested.

The Killing of Billy The Kid is a straight-forward account of the events leading up to the death of Billy the Kid (played here by Paul Addison).  While there are flashbacks to the pasts of both Billy and Garrett, the majority of the film is Garrett heading out to the location where Billy is hiding.  With a few notable exceptions, it sticks to the general accepted facts about the death of Billy the Kid.  Paul Addison plays Billy as being a cocky punk and probably comes closer to capturing Billy’s actual personality than a lot of other actors have.

The budget was obviously low (the imdb says it was made for only $30,000) but the film still looks good and it’s version of the old west feels duty and isolated enough to be passable.  I have seen the film listed as having a 90-minute runtime on some sites.  Every streaming version that I’ve found clocks in at 77 minutes and, when I watched the film, it didn’t seem like there were any parts of the story missing.  Addison and Hallum are convincing in their roles, looking authentic whether riding a horse or shooting a gun.  For western fans, there’s much to appreciate about The Killing of Billy The Kid.