Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Abraham Polonsky |
| Written by | Abraham Polonsky |
| Starring | Robert Redford Katharine Ross Robert Blake |
| Release date(s) | December 18, 1969 |
| Running time | 98 min. |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here is a movie released in 1969 written and directed by the once black-listed Abraham Polonsky. Because of his blacklisting, he had not directed a film since Force of Evil 21 years earlier in 1948. Source material for the film is Harry W. Lawton's 1960 book, Willie Boy: A Desert Manhunt.
Set in 1909 California, the story revolves around a Paiute Indian outlaw Willie Boy (Robert Blake) who escapes with his lover Lola (Katharine Ross) after killing her father in self defense. According to tribal custom Willie can then claim Lola as his wife, but Sheriff Cooper (Robert Redford) is forced to charge him with murder.
They are then hunted by a posse led by Cooper for several days, and Willie even manages to repel the bounty hunters' advance when he ambushes them from the top of Ruby Mountain. He only tries to shoot their horses, but ends up accidentally killing a bounty hunter, resulting in another murder charge.
They manage to evade the bounty hunters for several days until it's obvious that they are catching up to them. As the posse closes in, Lola dies by a gunshot wound to the chest. It is left deliberately ambiguous whether Lola shot herself in order to slow down the posse's advance or whether Willie killed her to keep her out of the posse's hands. Cooper is inclined to believe the latter and then goes off alone to bring in Willie dead or alive, before the main posse catches up to him.
As soon as Cooper catches up, he comes under fire from Willie who is positioned at the top of Ruby Mountain. Cooper narrowly avoids being shot on several occasions.
In the film's climax, Cooper maneuvers behind Willie and tells him he can turn around if he wants to, which he does. Willie then attempts to gun down Cooper, who beats him to the draw and shoots him in the chest with his Winchester. Willie tumbles down the hillside and Cooper picks up his gun. At the bottom of the hill, Redford pulls the trigger on his gun and realizes that it wasn't even loaded, making it apparent that Willie committed suicide by cop to avoid capture. Shocked and ashamed, Cooper carries the slain outlaw down Ruby Mountain and delivers it to other Paiutes, who carry the corpse away and burn the outlaw's remains.
Later confronted by a fellow bounty hunter, Cooper is told that the burning of Willie's body will ruin the people's chance to see Willie in the now-dead flesh ("The people have got to see something"), Cooper retorts: "Tell them we're all out of souvenirs."
[edit] Trivia
 |
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones. |
Was one of two Westerns made in 1969 to co-star Robert Redford and Katharine Ross, the other being, more famously, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Willy Boy's grave monument was erected at the exact location where he was shot, died and buried and is located at the following coordinates using the WGS-84 datum: N 34° 17.501 W 116° 32.243
Several pictures of the monument and a map to the monument location can be found here.
