The Left Handed Gun ***½ (1958, Paul Newman, Lita Milan, Hurd Hatfield, James Congdon, James Best, John Dehner, John Dierkes) – Classic Movie Review 6413

Gore Vidal’s 1955 American TV play The Death of Billy the Kid starred Paul Newman, and he re-creates his role as Henry McCarty (23 November 1859 – 14 July 1881), who called himself William H Bonney, nicknamed Billy the Kid, in this 1958 movie Western film The Left Handed Gun under the direction of Arthur Penn in his film début.

In the revisionist Western Freudian story, a gay, mix-up Kid seeks to avenge the death of the cattle boss named John Tunstall, known as The Englishman, who befriended and employed him, on the four evil rival cattlemen bad guys responsible.

Newman was attacked at the time for relying too much on the Method school of acting, but it seems an attractive, sympathetic performance and John Dehner is notable in support, making a credible lawman Pat Garrett, Billy’s former friend who sets out to hunt him down. As a commentator on the Kid’s legend, Hurd Hatfield plays Moultrie, the writer who made the Kid a hero but is upset by the killer he finds.

Penn directs sedately and showily, which is fine if you can accept the idea of the Western as art movie. Unsurprisingly, American audiences did not like it, but French film critics did. Penn eventually got to make another Western – Bonnie and Clyde.

Lita Milan was born Iris Menshell in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York.

Also in the cast are Lita Milan (who was born Iris Menshell in 1933 in Brooklyn, New York), James Congdon, James Best, John Dierkes, Colin Keith-Johnston, Bob Anderson, Wally Brown, Ainslie Pryor, Martin Garralaga, Denver Pyle, Paul Smith, Nestor Paiva, Jo Summers, Robert Foulk and Anne Barton.

The Left Handed Gun runs 102 minutes, is released by Warner Bros, is written by Leslie Stevens, based on a teleplay by Gore Vidal, is shot in black and white by J Peverell Marley, produced by Fred Coe, scored by Alexander Courage and designed by Art Loel.

Enhanced photo of Billy the Kid, 1880.

Typically for a revisionist Western, there is little respect for the genre traditions and conventions, or for historical accuracy.

It turns out that the Kid was not left handed after all. In 1986 a reversed image tintype taken in 1880 came to light, which was then reversed to show the Kid as he actually posed, with a Winchester carbine in the left hand and his holstered Colt single-action on his right hip.

It was remade in 1989 as Gore Vidal’s Billy the Kid with Val Kilmer. Vidal recalled in his memoirs that he always felt the studio had butchered the material when his TV play was used as the basis for the movie, so he wanted to return to the story for a more historically accurate rendition.

The main cast are Paul Newman as 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 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, Lane Chandler as Townsman, Jess Franco as Young Gypsy Man, Terry Frost as Angry Townsman, Eve McVeagh as Mrs. McSween, Boyd ‘Red’ Morgan as Soldier and Henry Rowland as Man on Street.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6413

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