| Bronco Billy | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
| Written by | Dennis Hackin |
| Produced by |
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| Starring |
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| Cinematography | David Worth |
| Edited by | |
| Music by | Snuff Garrett |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 116 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $6.5 million[1][2] |
| Box office | $24.3 million (domestic)[3] |
Bronco Billy is a 1980 AmericanWesterncomedy-drama film starringClint Eastwood andSondra Locke. It was directed by Eastwood and written by Dennis Hackin. The film focuses on "Bronco" Billy McCoy, the financially struggling owner of a traditionalWild West show and his new assistant Antoinette Lily.
"Bronco" Billy McCoy is an aging trick-shooter performing to meager crowds in "Bronco Billy's Wild West Show", a rundown travelingcircus reminiscent ofBuffalo Bill'sWild West, of which he is the owner and operator. For the show's finale, a blindfolded Bronco Billy shoots balloons around female assistant Mitzi Fritts strapped onto a revolving wooden disc. The last balloon is with a knife, but Mitzi moves her leg and is injured, so then quits.
Due to poor show attendance, Bronco Billy has been unable to pay his crew for the last six months, though they stick with him. At the next town, Bronco Billy goes to thecity hall to obtain a permit. Also there are heiress Antoinette Lily and John Arlington, who haveeloped. Antoinette despises Arlington, but she must marry before turning 30 to inherit a large fortune. Their car breaks down at the motel opposite the Wild West show. The next morning, Arlington steals Antoinette's money, luggage, and the repaired car. Left stranded, Antoinette asks Bronco Billy for help. He hires her as his new assistant under the alias Miss Lily though she agrees to only one show. Antoinette ad libs her lines, entertaining the audience, but irritating Bronco Billy.
Antoinette discovers that Arlington has been arrested for her murder, framed by her stepmother Irene and her scheming lawyer friend Edgar Lipton, who stand to gain the inheritance. Seizing an opportunity for revenge, Antoinette rejoins the Wild West show to remain incognito. She gradually learns that Bronco Billy's performers are not actually cowboys, but largely ex-convicts, alcoholics or both, and have remade their lives into what they want to be. Bronco Billy is a failed shoe salesman from New Jersey, who shot his wife in the leg for sleeping with his best friend. Nevertheless, Antoinette begins to warm to the troupe.
Performers Lorraine Running Water and Chief Big Eagle announce they are expecting a baby together. The crew celebrates at a bar, though a fight breaks out. When Antoinette is nearly sexually assaulted, Billy and the crew come to her rescue. After, youngest member Leonard James is arrested after being recognized as anArmy deserter. Bronco Billy uses the show's meager savings to bribe Sheriff Dix into releasing him, enduring Dix's verbal taunts. When the circus tent burns down, everyone blames Antoinette for their bad luck, but Bronco Billy defends her. He proposes robbing a train to raise money for a replacement. They attempt the heist in the antiquated Western way, driving alongside in a car and Billy on horseback attempting to jump on, but a modern train derails their effort.
The troupe arrives at amental institution, where they annually performpro bono. The director, Dr. Canterbury, provides them with accommodations and the inmates make a new circus tent sewn together with American flags. Antoinette and Bronco Billy spend the night together. By chance, one inmate is Arlington. The crooked Edgar persuaded him to plead insanity after he supposedly "murdered" Antoinette. When Arlington sees her, proving Antoinette is alive, he is released. Bronco Billy and the show depart without Antoinette.
Antoinette returns to her luxurious life but she is bored and misses Billy, who drowns his loneliness with alcohol. During a performance, Bronco Billy is about to introduce his new assistant "Miss Lily" who is actually fellow performer "Lefty" LeBow dressed as a woman. The real Miss Lily appears, instead. The show, now a raving success, runs smoothly. Bronco Billy ends it with a positive message for the children in the audience.
Clint Eastwood receivedDennis Hackin and Neal Dobrofsky's script and decided to make the film with longtime companionSondra Locke.[5] The film was shot in two months in theBoise metropolitan area in the fall of 1979.[6] Additional filming took place inEastern Oregon andManhattan.[5] Filmed on a low budget of $5 million, it finished two to four weeks ahead of schedule.[7]
The soundtrack album, released onElektra Records and headlined byMerle Haggard andRonnie Milsap, also featured singing by Eastwood himself. Haggard's "Misery and Gin" was a number onecountry hit, followed by "Bar Room Buddies", a duet with Clint Eastwood, which reached number 3 on theBillboardHot Country Songs chart.[8][9]
Eastwood has citedBronco Billy as being one of the most affable shoots of his career, and biographerRichard Schickel has argued that the character of Bronco Billy McCoy is his most self-referential work.[10][11] The film was a modest commercial hit,[12] but was appreciated by critics.Janet Maslin ofThe New York Times believed the film was "the best and funniest Clint Eastwood movie in quite a while," praising Eastwood's directing and the way he intricately juxtaposes the old West and the new.[13]
Although the film grossed four to five times its cost (some $25 million) during its United States theatrical release, Eastwood considered it insufficient.[14]
A stage musical adaptation premiered inLos Angeles in 2019 with a book by Hackin, with music and lyrics byChip Rosenbloom andJohn Torres, and additional lyrics byMichele Brourman.[15] It premiered inLondon in 2024.[16][17]
She has starred in four of his films, the latest of which, 'Bronco Billy,' proved a box office disappointment. The story is that each is blaming the other for their mutual failure.
