The Left Handed Gun

Synopsis: William Bonney - Billy the Kid - gets a job with a cattleman known as 'The Englishman,' and is befriended by the peaceful, religious man. But when a crooked sheriff and his men murder the Englishman because he plans to supply the local Army fort with his beef, Billy decides to avenge the death by killing the four men responsible, throwing the lives of everyone around him - Tom and Charlie, two hands he worked with; Pat Garrett, who is about to be married; and the kindly Mexican couple who take him in when he's in trouble - into turmoil, and endangering the General Amnesty set up by Governor Wallace to bring peace to the New Mexico Territory.
Genre: Western
Director(s): Arthur Penn
Production: Warner Bros. Pictures
  1 win.
 
IMDB:
6.5
Rotten Tomatoes:
88%
APPROVED
Year:
1958
102 min
121 Views


Come here.

Mr. Tunstall!

Put that down, Tom. Put down your gun.

Now, lad, put down your hands.

Put them down.

Do you belong to Mr. Morton?

Are you one of Morton's men?

What's your name?

Say your name, boy.

- The name's William Bonney.

- What happened to your horse?

Sickness.

Where are you from?

- Up north.

- From Lincoln?

- Denver?

- Kansas City.

You're a long way from home.

What do you want?

- Work.

- Are you hungry?

I can do with a man.

I pay a dollar a day and meals.

- Give him the blue mare, Tom.

- The blue mare?

Mr. Tunstall...

...how do we know he

ain't one of Morton's?

He said no.

How do we know he ain't a liar?

Mr. McSween?

Well, he says he wants work.

He's with us till he

shows he's against us.

Tom will take you to the men...

...give you a canteen and

assign you to a quarter boss.

- See that he gets the blue mare, Tom.

- Yes, sir.

We'll make camp here.

Her name's Buster.

Ain't much of a name for a female

but it's all we could think up.

Hey, Charley.

Charley, this here is...

What did you call yourself?

- William Bonney.

- William Bonney.

This is Charley Boudre,

and I'm Thomas Folliard.

- Yo, William.

- We best call you Billy for short.

Well, make up your mind.

I just got myself all

set to call him William.

- My name's Tom.

- Tom?

Ain't that a dumb name.

You old blue-lady dog, you.

She aims to turn around and bite

you in the fat part of your leg...

...so you gotta kick her in

the jaw some, make her mind.

I'll say one thing, she don't

take sass from them bonehead bulls.

You feed her and give her

a kiss every now and then...

...she'll love you for life.

He don't exactly talk your head off.

Hey, Charley, did you notice

the way he strapped his gun?

Low?

Yeah. Ties her down too.

That don't mean he's a bandit.

Well, it don't mean

he's a preacher neither.

You like him?

William.

Yes, sir. I know him from El Paso.

His pa run off and

deserted the kid and his ma.

Kid got himself in

some real bad trouble.

Street drunk said a word against

his ma, and the kid stabbed him.

Killed him.

- Killed him?

- Yes, sir.

Of course, it was a long time back.

Folks talked a lot about the kid...

...being an 11 -years-old

child and committing a murder.

Well, he says he's from Kansas City.

No, sir. El Paso. William Bonney.

Tom.

That Mr. Tunstall,

is he an Englishman?

That's what they say.

I can't hardly understand

the way he talks.

He hails from Ayrshire.

From Ayrshire?

Sure come a long way to push beef.

He's the only small

rancher hardheaded enough...

...to push a herd into Lincoln.

- He expect trouble?

- Maybe.

He sure don't think

much of a gun, does he?

No, he's funny about that.

He thinks the only way to avoid

gun trouble is to go without.

The Englishman is bringing

his herd into Lincoln.

He undercuts our price to the Army...

...every stockman with six

cows will come driving in.

Well, we'll stop him.

Drive his heard along the

hills and join onto ours.

This Englishman don't stop easy.

You got a badge, Sheriff Brady.

- Arrest him?

- Unauthorized trespass.

Lock him up. Confiscate his herd.

- Right, Hill?

- You got the right to arrest him.

- But he's a long ways out.

- Well, meet him.

When he gets to Valley

Pass, you'll arrest him.

Hey, Hill.

Probably camp down there tonight.

Early in the morning,

that English fellow...

...come through the pass

on the way to Lincoln.

We'll sit here and wait for him.

Yes, sir, they'll be strung

out down there for a mile.

- It's Gitanos.

- What?

It's Gitanos. That's the

Mexican word for "Gypsy."

Well, Gypsy comes from Arabia, Egypt.

Well, they come from Mexico.

Mexico, Spain, Hungary.

All over the world.

Mexico.

Mexico.

Do you speak Spanish?

I picked it up.

Not in Kansas City?

No, I lived south.

Them Gypsies, they's on

their way down to Madero.

- For Pascuas.

- Pascuas?

Yeah, it's a religious week.

The Mexican people build

a man out of straw...

...and then they set fire

to him, they burn him up.

All those ashes blow away.

Why do they do that?

Well, do you want something?

- You reading in that book?

- Aye.

Do you know this book?

Well, it ain't the Bible.

When you read you don't

speak out the words.

Either way.

Are you interested in reading?

Oh, why, it's not so hard.

I could teach you to read.

Hey, see here.

Now, you see this black print here?

"Through a glass darkly."

Through a glass darkly?

That's a quote from the Bible.

Can't get away from the Bible.

Do you know the Bible well?

- My ma.

- Your mother read it to you?

Well, she knew parts of it.

See, now what does that mean?

I mean, for sure.

Through a glass darkly?

You might say it's the

way some people see things.

Like looking through a

piece of colored glass.

All dark and twisted up.

- Like a whiskey bottle?

- Aye.

Or it might mean a mystery.

Or something you see that

you can't quite make out.

- An enemy.

- Or a friend.

You can take this book if you like.

I have to ride on into

Lincoln in the morning...

...so I won't be needing it.

Do you want a rider to come with you?

No, I don't want an

armed man, William.

Why don't you take the book.

I might look over some words.

- Everything all right, William?

- You gonna ride in, Mr. Tunstall?

Aye, I have to set a price

for the Army quartermaster...

...before we bring in the herd.

- I thought I heard something.

- Where?

I don't know. Out there.

I have to ride in, Billy.

I'll go with you. You need a gun.

No, I don't want you.

Front and back.

Guess we should take him into Lincoln.

His horse is dead.

Put him over my horse.

No.

Mine.

It's past midnight.

Billy can stay in the side room.

I'll stay here.

He liked you, Billy.

Said you had a good mind.

Said you were quick.

Asked good questions.

He gave me this. See?

"Corinthians."

I can't read.

Lord God...

...this was a quiet man.

He lived the way a man ought to live.

He did not lie.

He did not hurt.

He listened to any

man who spoke to him.

I told him.

I told him I heard something.

He had to go to Lincoln.

Mr. McSween, I gotta do something.

You'll find work.

No, not work. Something...

It's not your place.

I got to...

You're not his kin.

- You didn't know him.

- I knew him.

Nobody did.

Not close. Not even me.

- I knew him.

- He was a man to himself.

Billy.

Billy, you can stay with me.

I'll be bringing in the herds.

Listen, Billy.

Listen to me.

The other way is against God.

When I was a child,

I spoke as a child.

I understood as a child.

I thought as a child.

But when I became a man,

I put away childish things.

For now, he sees

through a glass darkly...

...but then, face to

face, now I know in part...

...but then shall I know

even as also I am known.

Go! Get up there!

Get up there!

- Sir, yes, sir.

- Got no sorrows!

Your worked for Mr. Tunstall.

- No sorrows.

- Nice funeral.

There, keep it coming. One for

the machine and one for a drink.

One there, one here.

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Leslie Stevens

For the editor of the United Kingdom Dictionary of National Biography and father of Virginia Woolf, see Sir Leslie Stephen.Leslie Clark Stevens IV (February 3, 1924 – April 24, 1998) was an American producer, writer, and director. He created two television series for the ABC network. The Outer Limits (1963–1965) and Stoney Burke (1962–63) and Search (1972–73) for NBC. Stevens was the director of the horror film Incubus (1966), which stars William Shatner, and was the second film to use the Esperanto language. He wrote an early work of New Age philosophy, est: The Steersman Handbook (1970). more…

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