The Left Handed Gun

"I don't run. I don't hide. I go where I want. I do what I want."

1958 1h 42m EN

😐

6.0

MID

★6.0TMDB · 122

Western

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

When a crooked sheriff murders his employer, William "Billy the Kid" Bonney decides to avenge the death by killing the man responsible, throwing the lives of everyone around him into turmoil, and endangering the General Amnesty set up by Governor Wallace to bring peace to the New Mexico Territory.

“I don't run. I don't hide. I go where I want. I do what I want.”

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Cast

Paul Newman
Billy The Kid
Lita Milan
Celsa
John Dehner
Pat Garrett
Hurd Hatfield
Moultrie
James Congdon
Charlie Boudre
James Best
Tom Folliard
Colin Keith-Johnston
John Tunstall
John Dierkes
Alexander McSween

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Arthur Penn
Writers: Leslie Stevens
Languages: English, Spanish
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

68 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Arthur Penn, shot by J. Peverell Marley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Alexander Courage. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Folmar Blangsted shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Paul Newman and Lita Milan and John Dehner carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "I don't run. I don't hide. I go where I want. I do what I want.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Arthur Penn directs. J. Peverell Marley behind the camera. Alexander Courage scores. Folmar Blangsted cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English, Spanish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.7M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
268 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Dialogue crosses 2 languages: English, Spanish.
4Directed by Arthur Penn, shot by J. Peverell Marley. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Alexander Courage. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Folmar Blangsted shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Paul Newman and Lita Milan and John Dehner carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "I don't run. I don't hide. I go where I want. I do what I want.".
9IMDB entry: tt0051849 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

The technical file

Cinematography: J. Peverell Marley
Original score: Alexander Courage
Editing: Folmar Blangsted
Costume design: Marjorie Best
Makeup / hair: Gordon Bau
Runtime: 102 min · 1h 42m
Status: Released
Budget: $700,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Left Handed Gun (1958)

Also by

Arthur Penn

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2014-08-28
★ 7/10
The demythologised account of Billy The Kid. Billy Bonney is taken in by kindly rancher John Tunstall, he starts to learn respect and education, but then Tunstall is cruelly murdered. Bonney having been robbed of the one man he respected, shows his darker side and vows to seek revenge on Tunstall's killers. This was director Arthur Penn's debut feature film, and all the traits that were to mark his name in future pictures can be found in this very good, and troubling psychological western. Based upon a teleplay by Gore Vidal entitled The Death Of Billy The Kid, Penn ensures that any notions of William Bonney being a hero are well and truly vanquished with this damning portrayal of the legendary outlaw. That this point is rammed home is down to a quite wonderful performance from Paul Newman as Bonney, boyish ignorance and sadistic tendencies making odd bed fellows as Newman plays it weirdly perfect (the role had been earmarked for James Dean until his untimely death curtailed that happening). Backing Newman up is a fine performance from John Dehner as eventual nemesis of Bonney, Pat Garrett, showing nice touches of emotion from both sides of the coin. The rest of the cast do OK and nobody either harms or enhances the picture. This really is about its director and its leading man, both would go on to greater things, but this is a fine point of reference in their respective careers, a picture that both men can be rightly proud of. 7/10
CinemaSerf2026-02-19
★ 6/10
There is something of the original Chisum story to this western as William Bonney - aka “Billy the Kid” (Paul Newman) is hired by the decent Tunstall (Colin Keith-Johnson) to herd his cattle to Lincoln where it is to be used to feed the troops. The sheriff “Brady” (Robert Foulk) and three of his deputies have other plans and so they kill the unarmed Briton and steal his cows. When he finds out, Bonney is livid and swears vengeance on the murderers. To that end, he must cross his friend Pat Garrett (John Dehner) and with his pals Tom (James Best) and Charlie (James Congdon) sets about killing the sheriff and thereby causing no end of trouble for just about everyone. After a shoot-out and ensuing conflagration, everyone assumes he has been roasted but we know that he has fled to Mexico where he is awaiting the right time to strike against the surviving deputies. Bonney is no brute though, he carefully sets up his scenarios so that his targets have an opportunity to draw before he outclasses them - but do two wrongs really make a right? To be honest, I found this all a bit hit and miss. Newman has moments when his confidence simply overwhelms the vulnerability that this attempts to characterise Bonney with, and there’s a great deal of dialogue that does render this a bit sluggish at times, especially at the start. There is a solid supporting cast from the likes of Hurd Hatfield - whose storyline comes with it’s own particular sub-plot; Lita Milan plays adequately as his latter-day love interest “Celisa” and Denver Pyle, but this cross-over between the psychological and the traditional just didn’t catch fire for me. It is worth a watch, but it isn’t quite the sum of it’s parts.