The Left Handed Gun
| The Left Handed Gun | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Arthur Penn |
| Screenplay by | Leslie Stevens |
| Based on | "The Death of Billy the Kid" (1955 teleplay) by Gore Vidal |
| Produced by | Fred Coe |
| Starring | Paul Newman Lita Milan John Dehner Hurd Hatfield |
| Cinematography | J. Peverell Marley |
| Edited by | Folmar Blangsted |
| Music by | Alexander Courage |
Production company | Haroll Productions |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Left Handed Gun is a 1958 American Western film directed by Arthur Penn, in his feature directorial debut, about outlaw Billy the Kid. It stars Paul Newman as Billy and John Dehner as Pat Garrett, along with Lita Milan and Hurd Hatfield. The film attempts to portray Billy the Kid as a misunderstood youth who got mixed up in a cattle war and was dragged down by the hostile population of New Mexico.
The film is based on Gore Vidal's 1955 teleplay "The Death of Billy the Kid", which aired on The Philco-Goodyear Television Playhouse, in which Newman also played the title character. Vidal revisited and revised the material for the 1989 TV movie titled Billy the Kid. The title refers to the belief that Billy the Kid was left handed, and he shoots left-handed in the film, though this was a false conclusion drawn from a reversed photograph.
The Left Handed Gun was released by Warner Bros. on Mary 7, 1958.