Bronco Billy

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Clint Eastwood directs. David Worth behind the camera. Ferris Webster cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Made its money back 3.7× over at the box office.
• 246 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
• 3Directed by Clint Eastwood, shot by David Worth. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Editor Ferris Webster shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke and Geoffrey Lewis carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "The most outrageous of 'em all.".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0080472 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography

David Worth

Editing

Ferris Webster

Makeup / hair

Tom Tuttle

Sound

John T. Reitz

Runtime

116 min · 1h 56m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$6,500,000

Box office

$24,300,000

Return

374% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

PG

IMDB

Bronco Billy (1980) ↗

Rotten Tomatoes

75% 🍅 Fresh

Metacritic

66/100

IMDB rating

6.2/10 · 13,006 votes

MPAA

PG

Also by

Clint Eastwood

• 
  Gran Torino

  2008 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Million Dollar Baby

  2004 · ★ 8.0
• 
  Unforgiven

  1992 · ★ 7.9
• 
  Mystic River

  2003 · ★ 7.7
• 
  The Bridges of Madison County

  1995 · ★ 7.7
• 
  Changeling

  2008 · ★ 7.6

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Saloon Brawl

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Theatrical Trailer

  Trailer · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Wuchak2019-12-13
  ★ 8/10

  Amusing Eastwood dramedy about a Wild West Show with a good cast A small, struggling Wild West Show consisting of several misfits travels through Montana & Idaho wherein they stumble upon a haughty heiress (Sondra Locke) whom the honest owner (Clint Eastwood) hires as his assistant in the show. "Bronco Billy" (1980) is an Eastwood dramedy in the manner of “Every Which Way But Loose” (1978), but with maybe less goofiness in the side characters. While not as successful at the box office, it’s every bit as good in its likable, low-key amusing way. The movie’s about redemption and pursuing your dreams, persevering through challenges and acquiring spiritual (true) family. The movie scores pretty well on the female front with Locke, Tessa Richarde (Mitzi Fritts) and Cha Cha Sandoval-McMahon, aka Tanya Russell (Doris Duke). There’s an interesting sequence involving Billy acquiescing to the posturing Sheriff where you have to read between the lines. It was a matter of stroking the Sheriff's ego and letting him believe what he wanted to believe in order to achieve what Billy wanted. Let the cop have his dreamworld, Billy seems to think. This principle is taught in the now-ancient (but still relevant) hit book "How to Win Friends and Influence People": Human beings in general, and especially authority figures, WANT to feel important and respected; it's a basic human desire. When pulled over, too many people needlessly argue with the officer and treat him/her with disrespect, which inevitably lands them an expensive ticket or worse. A little bit of humility & respect (reasonable kowtowing) saves a lot of unnecessary hassles and helps acquire what you want. Sometimes it's wise to eat humble pie; the gains are worth it. The film runs 1 hour, 56 minutes, and was shot in the Boise, Idaho, area, but also Ontario, Oregon. GRADE: A-

  Read full review ↓
• r96sk2022-01-29
  ★ 8/10

  A fairly triumphant circus flick. <em>'Bronco Billy'</em> is enjoyably paced and features good onscreen talent, as we see Clint Eastwood continuing his work with many familiar faces from his other films - including Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis and Bill McKinney; shame about the ill-fitting casting of Dan Vadis and Sierra Pecheur, mind. Naturally it isn't the perfect film, given the aforementioned and the nosedive of Locke's character from being strong-minded to being a cliché dainty love interest, but it succeeds in making its story gain a bit of feeling. It also feels a tiny bit of a different role for Eastwood, given his character is quite caring - as opposed to the usual self-indulged roles, which he does very well of course. It kinda gives me <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/toby-tyler/" rel="nofollow">Toby Tyler</a>'</em> vibes, though this 1980 production is most definitely better than that average 1960 Disney release.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• SE

  Second Street Films

• 

  Warner Bros. Pictures

  US

Key crew

• Second Assistant DirectorRichard Graves
• Construction CoordinatorJerry MacDonald
• Script SupervisorLloyd Nelson
• Unit Production ManagerLarry Powell
• Transportation CoordinatorJohn Reade
• Assistant DirectorTom Joyner
• Sound Effects EditorAlan Robert Murray
• Makeup ArtistTom Tuttle
• Production SecretarySusan Allen
• GafferDon Nygren
• Property MasterSteven Westlund
• Associate ProducerFritz Manes
• Second Assistant DirectorFritz Manes
• Sound Effects EditorBub Asman
• Music EditorDonald Harris
• Second Assistant DirectorStan Zabka
• GripSheldon Ehrlich
• Transportation CaptainBill Miller
• SoundBert Hallberg
• Assistant Art DirectorLynda Paradise
• ConductorSteve Dorff
• Assistant CameraDouglas Olivares
• GripJack Johnson
• Special EffectsJeff Jarvis

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• love
• cowboy
• wild west show

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1980-06-11PG