Billy the Kid: New Evidence (2015 TV Movie) User Reviews

Sad attempt to manipulate the audience

[shoot07 · 1/10 · 12 February 2016]

"Billy the Kid: New Evidence" follows the journey of a man with dollar signs in his eyes as he attempts to authenticate a photograph with no provenance because he thinks one of the blurry images in it looks like Billy the Kid.The documentary takes a very one sided approach in an attempt to prove the photos authenticity; leaving out most of the vast majority of experts who do not think the photo is of Billy the Kid (or don't think the case is even close to being proved). One of the major pieces of "evidence" was that the photo was supposedly taken at the ranch of John Tunstall, and the filmmakers even claim to have found the location, with the building in the photo still in existence; one problem; the building they claim to be the same one as in the photo wasn't built until the 1930s. Embarrassing that National Geographic would air a show that had the obvious goal of "proving" they found a photograph of Billy the Kid whether the evidence showed that or not. And for the record, the vast majority of experts do not believe the photo is of Billy the Kid and the regulators.

Excellent Look at the Photo

[Michael_Elliott · 2 November 2015]

Billy the Kid: New Evidence (2015)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Kevin Costner produced and narrated this documentary about Randy Guijarro, a man who found a photo in a shop and bought it for $2 but upon closer inspection it turns out that the photo might be of Billy the Kid. Guijarro's $2 purchase might be worth up to five million dollars but before he can cash in he must try and gather some evidence to show that it's legit and that of Billy the Kid.

This film works as two films rolled into one. For starters, it works as a pretty good documentary on the final years of Billy the Kid as Guijarro searches various locations to try and determine where the photo was taken. We learn a lot of Billy the Kid during the 1878 period and we also get some nice re-enactments. The documentary also works as seeing someone blow through their life savings gambling on something they bought is actually a major historical image that is worth millions. Not only does the story of Billy the Kid work but so does the story of the photo finder who travels through four states trying to get proof even after several people tell him the photo isn't real.

BILLY THE KID: NEW EVIDENCE is certainly an entertaining film that manages to keep you in suspense as the mystery unravels.

Documentation of a tintype

[jim-hartman · 9/10 · 19 October 2015]

This documentary explains how Randy Guijarro, a collector of memorabilia, was able to reconstruct the provenance for a tintype he bought for less than $2 and show that it is only the second known photograph of Billy the Kid. According to the Los Angeles Times the photo is worth $5 million.

Mixed in with his quest to authenticate the photo are convincing reenactments of the short life of William Bonney. I thought Jor-el Vaasborg was especially convincing as Billy -- his resemblance to the title character was actually even a little spooky.

A few minor criticisms: I thought the movie was a little vague about exactly what computer technique they used for the first attempt to demonstrate resemblance to known images of the people in the picture. Also since they appear to have found the exact spot where the picture was taken, they could have gone a step further. The sun seems to appear in the image. Since the date it was taken was suspected, they could have gotten an astronomer to testify that the sun would have appeared there then. (I hope this doesn't cost them!)