There have been forty-six
feature films made about the life of Henry McCarty, alias William H. Bonner,
alias Billy the Kid. All movies mix fact and fiction to a greater or lesser
degree but one of the few sympathetic portraits of the young outlaw is
Arthur Penn's 1958 film The Left-Handed Gun starring Paul Newman.
Newman's Billy is a confused, emotionally unstable personality rather than
a cold-blooded killer, and Penn would have us believe that Billy killed
because he was forced to defend himself and his honour, not just for the
thrill of it. Based on the teleplay, The Death of Billy the Kid
by Gore Vidal, The Left-Handed Gun is a very entertaining film but
feels more like a star vehicle for Newman than a film that strives to be
challenging or complex. Newman captures Billy's humour and sense of fun
but is too old (33) for the role and his cynical swagger seems inappropriate
for the slow-witted teenager.
Billy the Kid grew up
among settlers of the new towns in the American Southwest made up of cattle
thieves, gamblers, and murderers. He was an illiterate drifter until John
Tunstall (Keith Johnston), a friendly English rancher, took him under his
wing and became a father figure. In the film, Billy becomes devoted to
Tunstall (in reality Tunstall was only 24) and when the rancher is killed
by a deputy and three others sent to take Tunstall's cattle and property
because of his partnership with McSween in the mercantile business in Lincoln,
Billy vows revenge. Together with his buddies, Tom Folliard (James Best)
and Charlie Boudre (James Congdon), they track down the killers one by
one until Billy is arrested and jailed by lawman Pat Garrett (John Dehner)
after the last of the foursome is murdered on Garrett's wedding night.
When Billy escapes from jail, killing his guards in the process, Garrett
tracks him to the Chihuahuan Desert where the story of Billy the Kid's
life ends and the myth begins.