Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) stands in a Wild West show arena with the roof an overlapping mosaic of American flags.Image via Warner Bros.
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André Joseph
Published 49 minutes ago
André Joseph is a movie features writer at Collider. Born and raised in New York City, he graduated from Emerson College with a Bachelor's Degree in Film. He freelances as an independent filmmaker, teacher, and blogger of all things pop culture. His interests include Marvel, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Robocop, wrestling, and many other movies and TV shows.
His accomplishments as a filmmaker include directing the indie movie Vendetta Games now playing on Tubi, the G.I. Joe fan film "The Rise of Cobra" on YouTube, and receiving numerous accolades for his dramatic short film Dismissal Time. More information can be found about André on his official website.
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The legendary Clint Eastwood spent much of the ‘70s dominating the big screen with gritty, oftentimes cynical blockbuster hits. The Dirty Harry films and Western epics such as The Outlaw Josey Wales made him a superstar worldwide due to his no-nonsense approach to characters who bucked the system. As the decade drew to a close, however, Eastwood began to soften his tough-guy image in comedy. In 1980, the future Oscar-winning director of Unforgiven would tackle his most offbeat picture yet: Bronco Billy.
Marking his seventh picture as star and director, Eastwood’s comedy-drama about an aging traveling circus cowboy was a sharp departure from his previous year’s true-life thriller, Escape from Alcatraz. Bronco Billy follows a similar lighthearted tone as the star’s bare-knuckle-brawl comedy Every Which Way But Loose by featuring a colorful ensemble with frequent collaborators Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, and William Prince, as well as a theme song by country star Merle Haggard. Despite its middling box office in a summer dominated by The Empire Strikes Back and Smokey and the Bandit II, Eastwood told biographer Richard Schickel in his book Clint Eastwood: A Biography that Bronco Billy remains one of his personal favorite films of all time.
What Is' Bronco Billy' About?
Ex-shoe salesman and trick shooter Billy "Bronco Billy" McCoy (Eastwood) is the ring leader of “Bronco Billy's Wild West Show,” which travels from town to town alongside a ragtag troupe of social outcasts, including “Doc” Lynch (Scatman Crothers) and Leonard James (Sam Bottoms). The show has struggled due to low attendance, resulting in financial difficulties and Billy’s assistant quitting after getting injured during a knife-throwing demonstration. While trying to get a permit at City Hall in their next scheduled town, Billy encounters spoiled society girl Antoinette Lily (Locke), who is about to reluctantly enter marriage with John Arlington (Lewis).
After Arlington steals Antoinette’s fortune and leaves her stranded at a motel near Billy’s circus show setup, the heiress agrees to take a job as the aging gunslinger’s newest assistant. Though the relationship is initially tense due to Antoinette making changes to Billy’s stale show, the two eventually warm up to each other romantically. As the troupe encounters numerous personal challenges on the road, Billy and Antoinette’s romance gets tested when Arlington resurfaces unexpectedly.
Eastwood’s charismatic persona has been frequently identified with characters who were confident loners and pessimists in society. While Billy has the quick-draw and Old West stature as Eastwood’s iconic roles in Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars trilogy, he’s a protagonist with an internal belief that his Wild West show can inspire people, including children. This was a stark contrast to Eastwood’s grim thrillers that were emblematic of ‘70s turmoil with the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal. Even as the Wild West show is depicted as worn and dated on screen, the efforts of Billy's troupe present more than amazing sharpshooting and stylish rope tricks. Bronco Billy’s Wild West Show is about taking people back to a time when America was not so divided, and the power of imagination provides an escape from the troubles of the real world.
Clint Eastwood Subverts His Lone Gunslinger Persona in ‘Bronco Billy'
Instead of scowling and delivering tough talk, Eastwood subverts his image in Bronco Billy by poking fun at the Western hero persona that made him a star. Much of that change in the star’s winning formula is often seen through the eyes of kids looking up to him, almost no differently than moviegoers for decades. Among the film’s standout moments is when Billy enters a bank to cash a check, only to find that two robbers hold up the place. The beats are not too similar to any Dirty Harry scene where the audience expects Eastwood to blast the bad guys with a big revolver. What triggers Billy to do the same, however, is watching one of the robbers push a kid to the floor, causing the cowboy to kill one of the men and trick shoot the other man’s gun in the air. It’s not just Eastwood doing what he does best. It’s seeing the young boy’s amazement at what he believes is a real-life superhero in his eyes. Ironically, what makes Bronco Billy stand apart from Eastwood’s iconic roles is the fact that behind the cowboy hat and boots is a scrappy, broken human being.
Bronco Billy shares the same sentimental factor as the films of Frank Capra. Eastwood explained his attraction to Dennis Hackin’s screenplay in the book American Rebel: The Life and Times of Clint Eastwood by Marc Eliot, believing that it was the kind of movie that the legendary It’s a Wonderful Life filmmaker could have made in his time. That’s because the character of Billy is not a man hardened by tough years on the road, but he gives up so much for his troupe. Whether he submits to humiliation against an overzealous sheriff to get Leonard out of jail or has his confidence shaken up by a failed train heist on horseback just to save his failing show, Billy is the ultimate loser who cannot survive without the makeshift family he runs with. It’s a vulnerable performance by Eastwood, who entertains, inspires, and provides raw emotion to a heartfelt tribute to the working-class hero.
Bronco Billy is streaming on Prime Video in the US.
Bronco Billy
Like Follow Followed PG Comedy Drama Western Release Date June 11, 1980 Runtime 116 Minutes Director Clint Eastwood Writers Dennis HackinCast
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Clint Eastwood
Bronco Billy
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Sondra Locke
Antoinette Lily
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Geoffrey Lewis
John Arlington
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Scatman Crothers
Doc Lynch
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Bronco Billy
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Clint Eastwood
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