Summary

• Young Guns played a major role in reviving the Western genre in the 1980s, catering to younger audiences with new talent.
• The success of Young Guns paved the way for a Western revival in the 1990s, with hits like Dances with Wolves and Unforgiven following suit.
• Emilio Estevez's interest in a potential Young Guns 3 suggests the legacy of the franchise and the impact it had on Western cinema is a lasting one.

The Clint Eastwood's Dollars trilogy and the Spaghetti Western subgenre gave Westerns a much-needed boost.

Sadly, the Western genre was all but dead when the 1980s rolled around, with studios shifting focus to effects-driven blockbusters and movie star vehicles. Westerns will never regain the popularity that once held, but that's not to say there haven't been some outstanding entries in the last 30 years either. Unforgiven is Clint Eastwood's greatest Western, Tarantino helmed two great ones back to back with Django Unchained and The Hateful Eight, while Tombstone is an evergreen classic.

The Brat Pack Stacked Young Guns Revived The Western After Heaven's Gate Bombed

Young Guns deserves credit for the 1990s Western revival

1980 saw the arrival of Heaven's Gate, an epic Western that was a ion project for director Michael Cimino. It soon became infamous for stories of Cimino's perfectionism, which saw the budget almost quadruple during filming. Cimino's epic was ultimately a $44 million bomb, with the film being greeted with poor reviews and grossing less than a tenth of its budget back. The aftermath of Heaven's Gate's failure spelled the end of United Artists, while other studios avoided Westerns for much of the 1980s.

Outside of Eastwood making a comeback with the successful Pale Rider in 1985, the rest of the decade was bleak for Westerns. That changed thanks to Young Guns in 1988, which cast Brat Pack stars like Emilio Estevez, Charlie Sheen, and Kiefer Sutherland (The Lost Boys) in key roles. The film cast Estevez as Billy the Kid, who unites his fellow "Regulators" to seek revenge for the unjust killing of their benefactor.

Young Guns was an effort to make a Western for the MTV generation, with the casting of up-and-comers like Sheen and Sutherland designed to make it appeal to younger audiences. It helped that the real story of Billy the Kid and his Regulators called for the casting of younger stars anyway, though the film tips its hats to classic Western numerous times, with John Wayne's son Patrick even making a cameo as Pat Garrett. Despite mixed reviews, Young Guns grossed $45 million worldwide (via Box Office Mojo), and signaled to studios there was still an audience for Westerns.

Tom Cruise has a brief, silent cameo in Young Guns as a henchman who is shot and killed during the final gunfight.

The Success Of Young Guns Predicted The Western Revival Of The 1990s

Young Guns walked so Kevin Costner could Dance with Wolves

The Young Guns movies helped kick off a surprise Western revival during the 1990s, with the decade seeing the arrival of Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves, Eastwood's Unforgiven, Kurt Russell's Tombstone and many more in quick succession.

The film isn't quite a classic, but it's still a fun adventure with a great cast and solid action. Young Guns' ending left room for a direct sequel, with 1990's Young Guns II reuniting the surviving characters from the original with newcomers played by Christian Slater and Alan Ruck. The follow-up was another hit, but more than that, the Young Guns movies helped kick off a Western revival during the 1990s, with the decade seeing the arrival of Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves, Eastwood's Unforgiven, Kurt Russell's Tombstone and many more in quick succession.

With the genre having been dormant on the big screen throughout most of the 1980s, there was seemingly a hunger among audiences for Westerns to make a comeback. The 1990s was a shockingly fruitful period too, which also boasted films like Maverick - itself a remake of a 1950s Western series - Bad Girls and Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead. Sadly, as the decade became increasingly focused on blockbusters following the success of Jurassic Park, Westerns began to fall out of favor once again.

Why Young Guns 3 Could Still Happen

Emilio Estevez wants to drop the "Young" from "Guns" though

By the start of the 2000s, big-budget Westerns became scarce once again, though there were occasional hits like Costner's underrated Open Range. It's also been over three decades since the last entry in the Young Guns franchise, but there's still a good chance another chapter could happen. In 2021, Estevez confirmed a new sequel with the working title Young Guns 3: Alias Billy the Kid was being developed by franchise creator John Fusco. He also revealed during a Yahoo interview that he'd rather drop "Young" from the title and just call it Guns 3 to reflect his character's age.

If the sequel happens, the intention is to bring back co-stars Lou Diamond Phillips and Slater, despite both of their characters seemingly perishing in Young Guns II. That 1990 sequel gave a potential third entry a framework too, implying Billy faked his death at the hands of Pat Garrett and changed his name to Brushy Bill Roberts. Given the resurgence in popularity of the Brat Pack thanks to Andrew McCarthy's nostalgic documentary Brats, Young Guns 3 should add a few more faces from that group to the cast too, like Rob Lowe or Molly Ringwald.

Source: Box Office Mojo, Yahoo Entertainment