Anthony Dexter plays a back-from-the-grave Billy the Kid in this odd western about a greedy landowner (slick Robert Lowery) and his right hand man (Sunny Tufts, bravely trying to disguise his New England accent) trying to maintain control over their fiefdom by denying the locals the chance to be annexed by Texas. Billy has had good buddy Pat Garrett pretend to kill him, and has hung up his guns to retire to his old homestead, which--you guessed it--is stuck plum in the middle of this land war.
There's nothing deadlier than a western that fails to come alive.Maybe it's the pedestrian script, the sluggish direction, the actors who all look bored with their roles--but THE PARSON AND THE OUTLAW never comes alive despite some rough and tumble moments and some shootouts between Billy the Kid (ANTHONY DEXTER) and the henchmen of badman ROBERT LOWERY involved in some kind of land dispute.
This is a workmanlike Western that imagines what might have happened if the famous outlaw Billy the Kid faked his (most likely) real death, with the aid of Sheriff Pat Garret, and tried to live a normal life. Naturally, there wouldn't be much of a story if things indeed turned out normally, so these are the "new" adventures of Billy the Kid.
Fans of the historical Billy the Kid who want to believe he didn't die at the hands of Sheriff Pat Garret might find this movie interesting but for anyone else it's a bit of a chore to sit through. The acting, especially that of Anthony Dexter in the role of Billy, is invariably stilted and wooden, and calls to mind what early talking movies were like when characters were just learning to speak naturally on screen.
