Alicia I love this movie so much

SmugKitZine Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

Spoonatects Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Michael_Elliott The Left handed Gun (1958) ** (out of 4) William Bonney (Paul Newman) is the subject of this Western who seeks revenge for the death of a friend and becomes known as Billy the Kid. As he goes for his revenge the young gun slinger meets Pat Garrett (John Dehner) and the two strike up a friendship.THE LEFT HANDED GUN wasn't one of the first attempts by Hollywood to tell the Billy the Kid story. Countless Westerns had been done on the infamous Bonney but this one here really doesn't work all that well. Of course, if one is interested in history then it's probably best that you really stay away from this as it's yet another sugar-coated version of the story that makes Bonney out to be a troubled but good guy.I personally don't care on how historically accurate the story is. What I care about is the entertainment factor and I think that is quite low here. It's really too bad something better wasn't done with the story because you have some good elements scattered throughout but sadly, in the end, it all adds up to nothing. I thought the B&W cinematography was extremely good and I also thought we got a good score to listen to. Dehner really steals the show as Pat Garrett and I really loved the actor's outburst at the wedding.You'd think that Billy the Kid would be a good role for Newman but he seems a tad bit lost in the setting. He gives a good performance but I think he probably would have been better served in another film. The character just never fully gets explored and the actor is left without too much to do. THE LEFT HANDED GUN will be worth watching if you're a die-hard fan of Newman but others should check out a different version of the story.

AaronCapenBanner Arthur Penn directed this obscure(and umpteenth) filming of the story of Billy The Kid(William Bonny) Paul Newman(utterly miscast) plays Billy as a misunderstood and pensive youth who merely wanted to avenge the death of his employer, an expatriate Englishman and cattle rancher murdered by a corrupt sheriff and his men because they didn't want the competition. Billy hunts down and kills the men responsible, but becomes a wanted criminal as a result. His friend and lawman Pat Garret(played by John Dehner) reluctantly pursues him, as Billy's fame grows... Terrible film is unbearably slow and uninteresting; a real chore to sit through, and misinformed title makes it look even worse!

James Hitchcock The notorious outlaw William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, has been the subject of a number of films. Sam Peckinpah's "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid" and Howard Hughes's "The Outlaw" are among the better-known ones. He also appears, although not as the main character, in Andrew V. McLaglen's "Chisum". Arthur Penn's "The Left Handed Gun" is a lesser- known treatment of the story; the title refers to the belief (probably incorrect) that Billy was left handed. The film starts with Billy's involvement in the Lincoln County War, a range war which took place in New Mexico in 1878. Billy is befriended and taken on as a ranch hand by a kindly cattle boss named Tunstall, who is later murdered by rival cattlemen in league with a corrupt local sheriff. Billy swears revenge and plans to hunt down and kill all the men responsible for his friend's death. His actions, however, jeopardise the territorial amnesty proclaimed by New Mexico governor Lew Wallace, and bring him into conflict with the local population and with his former friend Pat Garrett. A sub-plot involves a journalist named Moultrie who, much to Billy's disgust, sends romanticised and highly exaggerated material back East, leading to the creation of the "Billy the Kid legend". In the film Tunstall is referred to as 'The Englishman', even though he speaks with a Scottish accent and it is stated that he comes from Ayrshire. This is presumably a mistake on the part the characters rather than a goof by the film-makers and the scriptwriter Gore Vidal; like many foreigners, Billy and the other Americans make the common mistake of confusing "English" with "British". In reality John Henry Tunstall actually was an Englishman, from London, and far from being elderly was only 25 at the time of his death. The idea of portraying him as an older father-figure to Billy may have influenced a similar treatment of the character in "Chisum". Penn, who died two years ago, is perhaps best remembered today for his "Bonnie and Clyde", the story of two other notorious outlaws. That film, made in 1967, caught the Zeitgeist of the late sixties, portraying its protagonists as misunderstood young people, essentially as hippies born before their time. Likewise, "The Left Handed Gun" portrays Billy the Kid as a psychologically troubled teenager, a "rebel without a cause" transferred from the 1950s to the 1870s. Indeed, the role was originally intended for James Dean, the original "rebel without a cause", and only went to Paul Newman after Dean's death in a car crash. The film also looks forward to the sixties in another way. It is an early example of a revisionist Western which seeks to get away from the "heroic myth" of the Old West and to present a more morally nuanced view of the period, in the same way as the makers of films noirs were bringing a note of moral ambiguity to modern crime dramas. In many earlier Westerns Billy would have been presented as a heroic avenger, but not here. The men who murder Tunstall may be evil and corrupt, but that does not mean that Billy is justified in taking the law into his own hands to seek revenge. By doing so, he only brings about tragedy for himself and others. Penn may have chosen to make the film in black-and- white, at a time when colour was increasingly the norm in the Western genre, to suggest a link with film noir. (William Wyler's "The Big Country", another Western from 1958, also seeks to blur the once-sharp distinction between heroes and villains, but Wyler's film is in full colour). In one sense, Newman was miscast as Billy; he would have been 33 in 1958, whereas his character was only 18 during the Lincoln County War and died at the age of 21. This was not Newman's best performance of his career- indeed, it was not his best performance of 1958. He gave better ones in two better films made in the same year, "The Long Hot Summer" and "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof". Nevertheless, he shows plenty of the charisma which made him such an exciting new star in the late fifties, despite his inauspicious start to his film career in "The Silver Chalice", and is convincing enough as the troubled young man to make us overlook the discrepancy in age between actor and character. The film was a box-office flop in the United States, which is perhaps not surprising. It is rather dull and downbeat compared to many Westerns of the period, the narrative can at times be difficult to follow and few, if any, of the supporting performances have anything like the intensity of Newman's. It has occasional points of interest, but is not a film in the sane class as "Bonnie and Clyde", and certainly not in the same class as "The Big Country". 5/10

Ilpo Hirvonen Arthur Penn's directional debut is a revolutionist vision of the legend of Billy the Kid. In it he first approached a theme that would characterize all of his subsequent films: an alienated outsider who meets a hostile environment. The film is loosely based on the classical play by Gore Vidal and ethnologically it is extremely accurate but in the name of thematics and narrative Penn was very provocative. Paul Newman's performance, which he effortlessly achieved, lifted the film to a new level of emotional scales. He made it possible for the young people of the 1950's to identify themselves with the protagonist which was extremely important because as a historical film The Left Handed Gun is a portrayal of two times -- intentionally or unintentionally -- the time it takes place in and especially the time it was made in.It was a time of changes. The new generation was fed up with their parents' believes and their morality was constantly being questioned. In the 1950's history was observed differently, protests and revolutions took place, new sex symbols were born and plenty of new stars rose to fame, such as Elvis Presley, James Dean and Paul Newman. To this moment of transition Penn's film fits in more than well because it is also about change of habitat and life, alienation and trying to fit in.Already during the opening credits the protagonist is introduced to us. He's lost and alone, without a home or a goal. What is important is that he is not a murderer. He is a protector of family and friendship. He embraces the very same ideals the rest of us do. He has been driven to the life of crime and murder when he avenged his mother's death at the age of eleven -- his father died before he was born. Now seven years ago, in the story we follow, he avenges the death of his new 'father figure' an English drover. From him Billy picks up two lessons of life: firstly, a naive vision of good and evil, revenge and shame, secondly; the consciousness of the mysteries of life which are seen "through a glass darkly". However, Billy chooses the first and builds his upcoming life on it.The second alternative is a reference to the Bible: "For now we see 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." (The First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, verse 12) The passage refers to the encounter with God when all the obstacles collapse. It refers to death —- the moment of perfection —- when man merges into his God. From this we are allowed to presume that this is how Billy sees the world. Although, he isn't aware of it; he lives his life by following the rules of the jungle. However, he actually sees the world as looking through a glass darkly. The murder of the English drover is a dark mystery and he refuses to see it as it is.The Left Handed Gun could be seen as a western edition of Rebel without a Cause since the protagonist thinks he is doing the right thing. What is the right thing to do is left ambiguous, and open for interpretation. Just as in East of Eden or Rebel without a Cause in this the morality of the elders is being questioned. But surely Billy's vision of morality isn't perfect. One can't observe life through dogmatism and absolute answers. There is no such thing as absolute morality and truth. In addition, just like other 'teenage' films of the 1950's so does this truly speak about isolation, anxiety and alienation. It's not just a story about the wild west but more of a story about the frustration and emotional lives of the youth of the 1950's.Having realized that the film is about teenage anxiety and alienation, we see how it ruthlessly breaks down the myth of the wild west from all its idealistic form -- and this is probably why it was received so badly when it first came to the theaters. The halo of heroism is torn apart as the heroic character of the wild west is truly nothing but a depressed lonely kid. All the brilliant scenes are characterized by ultimate fear of death. The scenes were Paul Newman cries, kneels down and begs are full of charge and lift the genre to a new level.The thesis of the film could simply be that: the society pushes those away who are most eager to achieve the sense of community it has to offer. So in reality Billy's alienation is born from his need for civilization which is constantly being taken away from him. The contradiction between an individual and the society is violent but not irreconcilable because the individual's move is towards the sense of community from alienation, not away from the society. However, Billy is not isolated just because of being and orphan and his inability to read but also because of his homosexuality which can be seen in all of his friendships and, it culminates in the end. This theme of homosexuality is from the play by Gore Vidal who, by the way, was openly a homosexual.The Left Handed Gun was extremely provocative and revolutionist. It's truly an unique film about social alienation and its consequences, anxiety and how it is the only "real" emotion (according to Freud), and how the world is always seen as through a glass darkly. Penn's world view is dark but realistic. Sure the film is not a masterpiece but, to my mind, it deserves more attention. Of course we can see the experimental and, at times, unstable direction of Arthur Penn but extraordinarily brilliant is the way how he was able to merge his thoughts, ideals and emotions into this particular story.