The Left Handed Gun (1958)

The Left Handed Gun is a 1958 American Western film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Paul Newman and John Dehner as Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, respectively. Leslie Stevens adapted the script from a teleplay by Gore Vidal for the Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse episode "The Death of Billy the Kid" from 1955, in which Newman also starred as the main character. For the 1989 television film Billy the Kid, Vidal reviewed and reworked the material.

William Bonney (Paul Newman), a drifter known as "Billy the Kid," befriends John Tunstall, a cattle boss known as "The Englishman." During the Lincoln County War, Tunstall is assassinated by unscrupulous rival cattlemen headed by the local sheriff. Bonney intends to revenge the tragedy by tracking down the perpetrators and killing them in a series of staged gunfights. His heinous deeds jeopardize his surviving pals as well as New Mexico Territory governor Lew Wallace's territorial amnesty. Pat Garrett, a longtime buddy of Billy's, becomes a sheriff and sets out to find him.

Billy's adoring buddy, Moultrie, extols Billy's deeds, resulting in a series of dime novels that elevate Bonney to mythical status. Billy is repulsed by his fictionalization and dismisses Moultrie. Moultrie, enraged, betrays Bonney to Garrett. Garrett ambushes and murders Bonney, who confronts his enemy unarmed in the hopes of terminating his own life, in a final fight.

Detailed information:

Directed by: Arthur Penn

Release date: May 7, 1958

Link to watch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051849