Bronco Billy
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| Bronco Billy | |
|---|---|
 Bronco Billy movie poster |
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| Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
| Produced by | Dennis Hackin Neil Dobrofsky |
| Written by | Dennis Hackin |
| Starring | Clint Eastwood Sondra Locke Geoffrey Lewis Scatman Crothers Bill McKinney |
| Music by | Snuff Garrett |
| Cinematography | David Worth |
| Editing by | Joel Cox Ferris Webster |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | June 11, 1980 |
| Running time | 116 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Bronco Billy is a 1980 film directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and written by Dennis Hackin.
[edit] Plot
The film opens with a performance of Bronco Billy's Wild West Show. The show is a travelling circus and takes place in a large tent. It's probably the worst wild west show ever. Doc Lynch is the ringmaster/compere who introduces the acts. First up is Chief Big Eagle accompanied by his squaw Running Water. Big Eagle does a snake dance act. In the opening sequence the snakes bite his lip. Leonard entertains with some rope twirling whilst lit with UV light. Top of the bill is Bronco Billy McCoy the fastest gun in the West. Billy demonstrates his riding skills with his horse Buster (who even for a horse has a very odd face). An assistant dressed as a cow girl is ushered into the arena. Her first duty is to throw plates into the air. Billy shows some skill in being able to shoot the plates with his six shooter. The assistant is pulled up on to Buster behind Billy and rides round the arena with her. The final part of the act begins when the assistant is tied to a revolving wooden disc. Five balloons are attached to the disk. Two either side of the assistants head, two outside her legs, and the fifth between her knees. There is some stilted dialogue and Billy dons a blindfold. The wheel is set in motion and Billy shoots the first four balloons leaving the one between the assistant's knees. Billy produces a knife and throws it at this balloon. In the opening sequence there is a slight problem and the knife nicks the assistant's leg.
A number of things become apparent. Firstly, that the job of assistant is not a permanent post. Billy recruits new assistants as and when necessary. Given the risks associated with the role the turnover of assistants is quite high. Secondly, the show is not making any money, nobody has been paid for months. Billy has to browbeat everyone in the show to continue although he does promise them that when they have money they will buy a ranch and invite city kids out to learn about the way in which cowboys and cowgirls live.
The show moves on to a new town and Billy goes to city hall to get a permit. Coincidentally, while he is at city hall he bumps into Antoinette Lilly and John Arlington who are there to be married. Out of Billy's earshot the dialogue makes it clear that the marriage in one of convenience as Antoinette has to marry before she is thirty in order to inherit a large fortune. She clearly despises Arlington (but perhaps lacks the capacity to like anything or anyone). By another coincidence later that day, their car breaks down at the motel on the opposite of the road from the Wild West Show. The garage attendant tells them that the car cannot be fixed immediately and that they will have to stay the night. Antoinette behaves so badly towards Arlington that he disappears with all her money as soon as the car is fixed next morning. She is left to fend for herself.
Desperate for a dime to phone home, Antoinette encounters Billy. He lends her the dime telling her that he will deduct it from her wages (as an assistant). She is unable to use it successfully in the phone box and asks Billy for a lift to the next town. She is unaware that the Wild West Show intends to travel hundreds of miles to their next port of call. Billy chooses to believe that Antoinette is to become his new assistant Miss Lilly. On the way to the next town they stop off at a convent and Miss Lilly learns something of the charitable nature of Billy's work. She agrees to do one show for him and then leave. The show is quite successful but Billy is annoyed that Miss Lilly does not stick to his script.
As she parts company with the show, Antoinette catches sight of a newspaper. It appears that Arlington has been arrested for her murder (this has been engineered by Antoinette's mother and her scheming lawyer friend, who will gain her inheritance). Seeing this as a chance to get even with Arlington, Antoinette rejoins the Wild West Show as Miss Lilly, rather than let the world know she has not been murdered.
Travelling with the performers Miss Lilly discovers that none of them are real cowboys. They are all ex-cons or alcoholics (or both). It turns out that Billy who was a shoe salesman shot his wife for sleeping with his best friend. Billy has taught all the others how to perform wild west acts. Whilst professing contempt for the show, Miss Lilly begins to warm to what it is trying to do.
Running Water and Big Eagle announce that they are going to have a baby. The crew go to a bar to celebrate. A fight ensues inside and outside Billy saves Miss Lilly from being raped. Everyone bar Leonard decides that this is enough excitement for one night out. All go home leaving Leonard to continue drinking. Next day it turns out that Leonard has got himself arrested and is an army deserter. Billy leaves the crew to start the show without him and goes to meet with the sheriff at a place some distance out of town. Billy uses all the show's savings to bribe the sheriff. He gets Leonard out of jail but by this time the crowd in the tent has got restless and dropped firecrackers in the straw. Billy arrives back just in time to lead the crowd to safety, but the tent burns down.
The show is now without any means of making money and the crew blame Miss Lilly for bringing bad luck. Billy defends her and proposes that they rob a train. They try to do this in the standard Western way (riding alongside and jumping on) but a modern train proves to be resistant to such an approach. Billy has another idea and they travel to a mental institution in which they have previously given free shows. The chief medic who has an obsession for the Wild West agrees to provide them with accommodation and to supply a new tent. As the sole occupation of the inmates is, however, sewing US flags the new tent will be made by sewing flags together. Miss Lilly learns more about what Bronco Billy is about from Running Water and discovers just how attracted to Billy she is. They spend the night together and the next day she is clearly head over heels in love.
Unfortunately, this mental institution turns out to be the one in which Arlington has been placed subsequent to his conviction as Antoinette's murderer (the crooked lawyer has paid him to confess that the balance of his mind was disturbed). Since his incarceration in the institution is not quite what he had been promised, when he sees Antoinette he is anxious to show she is still alive and that he is not a murderer. He spills the beans so Billy and the show go quietly leaving Miss Lilly behind.
Antoinette is now restored to her duplicitous mother with her scheming lawyer friend. The relationship between them is clearly strained. She is ensconced in a luxurious apartment but having experienced the excitement of the Wild West Show she is bored and misses Billy. She takes a jar of pills. Meanwhile Billy is with the show but getting very very drunk. Running Water decides to phone Antoinette. Her phone call comes just in time and Antoinette is able to spit out a mouthful of pills.
It is show night. Billy has not found an assistant and believes that Lefty will be standing in. He is surprised but clearly delighted when Miss Lilly steps out from the curtain. He goes through his act and everything goes well with Miss Lilly clearly enjoying every moment. The show concludes with a message to all the "little pardners". The camera draws back and we see the tent constructed from flags in the field as the happy audience leaves to go home.
