{ "id": "epcs5tvqqg", "slug": "the-left-handed-gun", "title": "The Left Handed Gun", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s", "label": "Drama films 1950s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical", "label": "Drama and biographical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Left Handed Gun is Arthur Penn's 1958 Western debut, starring Paul Newman as a psychologically troubled Billy the Kid, adapted from Gore Vidal's 1955 teleplay The Death of Billy the Kid; the title's left-handed premise is a myth from a reversed photograph.", "snippet": "The Left Handed Gun is Arthur Penn's 1958 Western debut, starring Paul Newman as a psychologically troubled Billy the Kid, adapted from Gore Vidal's 1955 teleplay The Death of Billy the Kid; the title's left-handed premise is a myth from a reversed photograph.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.drama-biographical.drama-films-1950s", "markdown": "# The Left Handed Gun\n\n**The Left Handed Gun** is a 1958 American black-and-white Western directed by [Arthur Penn](https://www.edgepedia.org/arthur-penn), starring [Paul Newman](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-newman) as [Billy the Kid](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-the-kid), and based on Gore Vidal's teleplay *The Death of Billy the Kid*. It was Penn's first feature film and it treats William Bonney as a troubled, illiterate young man whose vengeance after his employer's murder turns him into a myth he cannot live up to.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) • [2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88464/the-left-handed-gun)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | 17 May 1958; New York opening 7 May 1958; black and white, 102 or 105 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) |\n| Director / producer | Arthur Penn (first feature); Fred Coe, who had also produced the 1955 teleplay[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) |\n| Screenplay | Leslie Stevens, based on Gore Vidal's teleplay *The Death of Billy the Kid* (Philco Playhouse, NBC, 24 July 1955); onscreen credits wrongly read \"based on a novel by Gore Vidal\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) |\n| Cast | Paul Newman (William Bonney), Lita Milan (Celsa), John Dehner (Pat Garrett), Hurd Hatfield (Moultrie), James Best (Tom Folliard), James Congdon (Charlie Boudre), Colin Keith-Johnston (Tunstall)[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88464/the-left-handed-gun) |\n| Crew | Cinematography J. Peverell Marley; music Alexander Courage; production design Art Loel; a Haroll Productions film distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) |\n| The title | Refers to the popular belief that Billy the Kid was left-handed; historical evidence confirms he was right-handed, and the belief traces to the only known photograph of him printed in reverse[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) • [3](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-left-handed-gun-2025-09) |\n| Symbolism | Early in the film Tunstall reads the \"through a glass darkly\" passage from 1 Corinthians 13:11–12; Penn said Billy was \"spiritually and psychologically\" left-handed[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nThe film follows William Bonney in the late 1870s in Lincoln County, New Mexico. A taciturn drifter, he is hired by the British-born rancher [John Tunstall](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-tunstall), a kind, well-read man who dislikes guns and becomes a father figure to him. When men working for a rival rancher and Sheriff Brady kill the unarmed Tunstall, Billy, with friends Tom Folliard and Charlie Boudre, goes on a vengeful spree that destroys the general amnesty Governor Lew Wallace has issued to bring peace to the [New Mexico Territory](https://www.edgepedia.org/new-mexico-territory).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) • [5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-left-handed-gun)\n\n[Pat Garrett](https://www.edgepedia.org/pat-garrett), Billy's friend and protector, tries to coax him toward a peaceful life, but when Billy's crusade threatens the community, Garrett takes up arms against him. Trailing Billy is an Eastern writer, Moultrie, whose published tales inflate Bonney's exploits to mythic status; the film ends with Billy, unarmed and moving his hand as if drawing, shot dead by Garrett, who then sees the hand was empty.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88464/the-left-handed-gun) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN)\n\n## Origin on television\n\n[Gore Vidal](https://www.edgepedia.org/gore-vidal) was fascinated by Billy the Kid and in 1955 wrote a television play, *The Death of Billy the Kid*, for NBC's Philco Playhouse. Arthur Penn directed it, Fred Coe produced it, and Paul Newman played Billy. Warner Brothers picked it up for the big screen, kept Newman in the central role, and retitled the film *The Left Handed Gun*.[3](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-left-handed-gun-2025-09) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN)\n\nThe production ran from late June to late July 1957, with portions shot at the Conejo Ranch in Los Angeles and in [Santa Fe, New Mexico](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-fe-new-mexico).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) Writer Leslie Stevens made numerous changes to Vidal's script, and neither Penn nor Vidal were entirely pleased with the results.[3](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-left-handed-gun-2025-09) Penn lamented that Warners took much of the control away from him, not allowing him to edit the picture and handing that job to Folmar Blangsted.[4](https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2021/09/the-left-handed-gun-wb-1958/)\n\n## The title and the handedness myth\n\nThe title refers to a long-held belief that Billy the Kid was left-handed, but evidence and modern historical research confirm he was right-handed.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) The belief arose from the celebrated full-length photograph of the Kid, rifle in one hand and pistol near his left; because the only known picture was printed in reverse until 1936, numerous articles, books, and motion pictures depicted him as left-handed.[6](https://npshistory.com/newsletters/the-american-west/v18n4.pdf) • [3](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-left-handed-gun-2025-09)\n\nPenn did not take a stand on whether Billy was physically left-handed. In an interview printed just after principal photography he said, \"We believe that, spiritually and psychologically, he WAS left-handed. He saw everything 'through a glass darkly,' and we are using the glass symbolically throughout the film.\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) In the film's climax, Billy is shot as he moves his left hand as if to draw.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN)\n\n## Performance and style\n\nFresh from Actor's Studio training, Newman defied Western convention by mumbling, flaring up, and contorting himself in poses of internal anguish, treating Billy as a deeply troubled youth rather than a bloodthirsty desperado.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88464/the-left-handed-gun) Some critics derided the performance; *The New York Times* wrote that he \"seems to be auditioning alternately for the Moscow Art Players and the Grand Ole Opry,\" but the film found greater critical success in Europe, where cinematic rule-breaking was more graciously received.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88464/the-left-handed-gun)\n\nOne much-discussed scene shows Billy repeatedly putting coins into a large music box playing the Civil War tune \"The Battle-Cry of Freedom (Rally Round the Flag)\"; it has been included in documentaries on film history and Newman's career.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) In another, Billy draws his killing plans on a steamed windowpane overlooking the street where he later kills Morton and Sheriff Brady.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN)\n\n## History versus the film\n\nThe film altered and fictionalized names, places, and details of Billy's life and death, though Billy's friends Tom Folliard and Charlie Boudre did die before him, as in the film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) The real Billy the Kid was born Henry McCarty in New York City on 28 November 1859, took the name William H. Bonney, and was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett on 14 July 1881 in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, at age twenty-one. Newman was in his early thirties when the film was made.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) The Lincoln County War (1878–1881) alluded to in the film was a famous range war in which Tunstall and his attorney Alexander McSween fought rival cattle barons; Billy rode with \"The Regulators\" on Tunstall's side, and the 1878 amnesty by Governor Lew Wallace excluded those already indicted.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN) • [4](https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2021/09/the-left-handed-gun-wb-1958/)\n\n## Legacy\n\n*The Left Handed Gun* is regarded as a key stage in the development of the Western, laying groundwork for the revisionist Western that reached fruition a decade later in films such as [Sam Peckinpah](https://www.edgepedia.org/sam-peckinpah)'s *The Wild Bunch* (1969), [Robert Altman](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-altman)'s *McCabe and Mrs. Miller* (1971), and Penn's *Little Big Man* (1970).[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88464/the-left-handed-gun) • [7](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-left-handed-gun) Penn's use of a historical figure for social commentary makes the film a practice run for his *Bonnie and Clyde* (1967), and the device of a legend outgrowing the man was later borrowed in [Clint Eastwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/clint-eastwood)'s *Unforgiven* (1992).[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88464/the-left-handed-gun) Vidal realized his original vision in 1989 with a script for the TNT cable movie *Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid*, starring Val Kilmer, in which Vidal himself played The Preacher.[3](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-left-handed-gun-2025-09) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN)\n\nOn Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 83% Tomatometer from 12 reviews against a 53% audience Popcornmeter.[8](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-left-handed-gun)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Left Handed Gun (1958), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52636-THE-LEFT-HANDED-GUN)\n2. [The Left-Handed Gun, by Bret Wood, Turner Classic Movies (2010)](https://www.tcm.com/articles/88464/the-left-handed-gun)\n3. [The Left Handed Gun, Harvard Film Archive](https://harvardfilmarchive.org/calendar/the-left-handed-gun-2025-09)\n4. [The Left Handed Gun (WB, 1958), Jeff Arnold's West](https://jeffarnoldswest.com/2021/09/the-left-handed-gun-wb-1958/)\n5. [The Left Handed Gun streaming, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/movie/the-left-handed-gun)\n6. [The Left-Handed Gunman, The American West, July/August 1981](https://npshistory.com/newsletters/the-american-west/v18n4.pdf)\n7. [The Left Handed Gun, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-left-handed-gun)\n8. [The Left Handed Gun, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the-left-handed-gun)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1950s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-left-handed-gun", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-left-handed-gun.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Left Handed Gun\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-left-handed-gun. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Left Handed Gun](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-left-handed-gun)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-left-handed-gun](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-left-handed-gun). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Left Handed Gun\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-left-handed-gun. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Left Handed Gun is Arthur Penn's 1958 Western debut, starring Paul Newman as a psychologically troubled Billy the Kid, adapted from Gore Vidal's 1955 teleplay The Death of Billy the Kid; the title's left-handed premise is a myth from a reversed photograph." }