The Left Handed Gun
The Left Handed Gun | |
---|---|
J. Peverell Marley | |
Edited by | Folmar Blangsted |
Music by | Alexander Courage |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Left Handed Gun is a 1958 American
The screenplay was written by
Plot
Drifter William Bonney, known as "Billy the Kid", befriends a cattle boss named John Tunstall, who is known as "The Englishman". Tunstall is murdered by corrupt rival cattlemen led by the local sheriff in the Lincoln County War. Bonney plans to avenge the crime by hunting down those responsible and killing them in provoked gunfights. His violent actions endanger his surviving friends and the territorial amnesty proclaimed by New Mexico Territory governor Lew Wallace. Billy's former friend, Pat Garrett, becomes a sheriff and sets out to hunt him down.
Billy's worshipful companion, Moultrie, lionizes Billy's actions, fueling a series of dime novels that transform Bonney into a legend. Billy is disgusted with his fictionalization, and he rejects Moultrie. Embittered, Moultrie betrays Bonney to Garrett. In a final showdown, Garrett ambushes and kills the exhausted Bonney, who faces his nemesis unarmed in the hopes of ending his own life.[2]
Cast
- Billy The Kid
- Lita Milan as Celsa
- John Dehner as Pat Garrett
- Hurd Hatfield as Moultrie
- James Congdon as Charlie Bowdre
- James Best as Tom Folliard
- Colin Keith-Johnston as John Tunstall
- John Dierkes as Alexander McSween
- Robert Anderson (credited as Bob Anderson) as Hill
- Wally Brown as Deputy Moon
- Ainslie Pryor as Joe Grant
- Martin Garralaga as Saval
- Denver Pyle as Ollinger
- Paul Smith as Smith
- Nestor Paiva as Pete Maxwell
- Jo Summers as Bride
- Robert Foulk as Sheriff Brady
- Anne Barton as Mrs. Hill
- George Bell as Deputy
- Joe Bell as Peddler
- Orlando Beltran as Mexican Farmer
- George Berkeley
- Lane Chandler as Townsman on Street with Mason
- Mary Lou Clifford as Gypsy woman
- Stephen Coit as Alexander Ganz, Photographer
- Cecil Combs as Deputy
- Jess Francoas Young Gypsy Man
- Terry Frost as Angry Townsman
- Robert Griffin as Morton
- Norman Leavitt as General Store Clerk
- Eve McVeagh as Mrs. McSween
- Tina Menard as Mexican Woman
- Boyd 'Red' Morgan as Soldier
- Tessie Murray as Gypsy Woman
- Joseph V. Perry as Clerk
- Stephanie Pond-Smith
- Henry Rowland as Man on Street with Deputy
- Oreste Seragnoli as Priest
- Morgan Shaan as Man in Crowd
- Dan Sheridan as Bucky
- Fred Sherman as Clerk
- Jorge Treviño as Ramírez
- Glen Turnbull as Sergeant
- Ernesto Zambrano as Old Gypsy Man
Reception
The film was a flop in the United States, but was praised by French film critics for its bold experimentation with the stereotyped American Western genre. In 1961 it won the prestigious Grand Prix of the Belgian Film Critics Association.[3]
Comic book adaptation
- Dell Four Color #913 (July 1958)[4][5]
See also
References
- ISBN 978-0-389-20408-4.
- ISBN 978-1-57607-151-9.
The Left Handed Gun marks the evolution of the Kid's character from one of either evil or romantic extremes to that of an illiterate victim of circumstance.
- ^ Denis, Fernand (November 23, 2014). "Cinematek fête les critiques". La Libre Belgique (in French).
- ^ "Dell Four Color #913". Grand Comics Database.
- ^ Dell Four Color #913 at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)