• Home
  • Movies
  • TV Shows
  • Anime
  • Live Sports
  • Home
  • Movies
  • TV Shows
  • Anime
  • Live Sports
Account

© 2026 Streamheaven. All rights reserved.

DMCA

The Left Handed Gun

6.0NR

MovieWestern19581h 42m

I don't run. I don't hide. I go where I want. I do what I want.

When a crooked sheriff murders his employer, William "Billy the Kid" Bonney decides to avenge the death by killing the man responsible, throwing the lives of everyone around him into turmoil, and endangering the General Amnesty set up by Governor Wallace to bring peace to the New Mexico Territory.

Play now
The Left Handed Gun poster

When a crooked sheriff murders his employer, William "Billy the Kid" Bonney decides to avenge the death by killing the man responsible, throwing the lives of everyone around him into turmoil, and endangering the General Amnesty set up by Governor Wallace to bring peace to the New Mexico Territory.

Directed by
Arthur Penn
Written by
Leslie Stevens
Genres
Western
Released
April 30, 1958
Runtime
1h 42m
Status
Released
Language
English
Countries
United States of America
Studios
Haroll Productions, Warner Bros. Pictures
Budget
$700,000
  • Paul NewmanBilly The Kid
  • Lita MilanCelsa
  • John DehnerPat Garrett
  • Hurd HatfieldMoultrie
  • James CongdonCharlie Boudre
  • James BestTom Folliard
  • Colin Keith-JohnstonJohn Tunstall
  • John DierkesAlexander McSween
  • Robert AndersonHill
  • Wally BrownDeputy Moon
  • Martín GarralagaSaval
  • Denver PyleOllinger
  • Ainslie PryorJoe Grant
  • AAnne BartonMrs. Hill
  • Robert FoulkSheriff Brady
  • JJosephine ParraBride
  • Nestor PaivaPete Maxwell
  • Paul SmithSmith
  • GGeorge BellDeputy (uncredited)
  • SStephen CoitAlexander Ganz (uncredited)

Rent

  • Amazon Video
  • Apple TV Store
  • Google Play Movies
  • YouTube
  • Fandango At Home

Buy

  • Amazon Video
  • Apple TV Store
  • Google Play Movies
  • YouTube
  • Fandango At Home

Availability for your region. Streaming data provided by JustWatch.

  • John Chard★ 7August 28, 2014
    The demythologised account of Billy The Kid. Billy Bonney is taken in by kindly rancher John Tunstall, he starts to learn respect and education, but then Tunstall is cruelly murdered. Bonney having been robbed of the one man he respected, shows his darker side and vows to seek revenge on Tunstall's killers. This was director Arthur Penn's debut feature film, and all the traits that were to mark his name in futu…Read more

    The demythologised account of Billy The Kid. Billy Bonney is taken in by kindly rancher John Tunstall, he starts to learn respect and education, but then Tunstall is cruelly murdered. Bonney having been robbed of the one man he respected, shows his darker side and vows to seek revenge on Tunstall's killers. This was director Arthur Penn's debut feature film, and all the traits that were to mark his name in future pictures can be found in this very good, and troubling psychological western. Based upon a teleplay by Gore Vidal entitled The Death Of Billy The Kid, Penn ensures that any notions of William Bonney being a hero are well and truly vanquished with this damning portrayal of the legendary outlaw. That this point is rammed home is down to a quite wonderful performance from Paul Newman as Bonney, boyish ignorance and sadistic tendencies making odd bed fellows as Newman plays it weirdly perfect (the role had been earmarked for James Dean until his untimely death curtailed that happening). Backing Newman up is a fine performance from John Dehner as eventual nemesis of Bonney, Pat Garrett, showing nice touches of emotion from both sides of the coin. The rest of the cast do OK and nobody either harms or enhances the picture. This really is about its director and its leading man, both would go on to greater things, but this is a fine point of reference in their respective careers, a picture that both men can be rightly proud of. 7/10

  • CinemaSerf★ 6February 19, 2026
    There is something of the original Chisum story to this western as William Bonney - aka “Billy the Kid” (Paul Newman) is hired by the decent Tunstall (Colin Keith-Johnson) to herd his cattle to Lincoln where it is to be used to feed the troops. The sheriff “Brady” (Robert Foulk) and three of his deputies have other plans and so they kill the unarmed Briton and steal his cows. When he finds out, Bonney is livid and sw…Read more

There is something of the original Chisum story to this western as William Bonney - aka “Billy the Kid” (Paul Newman) is hired by the decent Tunstall (Colin Keith-Johnson) to herd his cattle to Lincoln where it is to be used to feed the troops. The sheriff “Brady” (Robert Foulk) and three of his deputies have other plans and so they kill the unarmed Briton and steal his cows. When he finds out, Bonney is livid and swears vengeance on the murderers. To that end, he must cross his friend Pat Garrett (John Dehner) and with his pals Tom (James Best) and Charlie (James Congdon) sets about killing the sheriff and thereby causing no end of trouble for just about everyone. After a shoot-out and ensuing conflagration, everyone assumes he has been roasted but we know that he has fled to Mexico where he is awaiting the right time to strike against the surviving deputies. Bonney is no brute though, he carefully sets up his scenarios so that his targets have an opportunity to draw before he outclasses them - but do two wrongs really make a right? To be honest, I found this all a bit hit and miss. Newman has moments when his confidence simply overwhelms the vulnerability that this attempts to characterise Bonney with, and there’s a great deal of dialogue that does render this a bit sluggish at times, especially at the start. There is a solid supporting cast from the likes of Hurd Hatfield - whose storyline comes with it’s own particular sub-plot; Lita Milan plays adequately as his latter-day love interest “Celisa” and Denver Pyle, but this cross-over between the psychological and the traditional just didn’t catch fire for me. It is worth a watch, but it isn’t quite the sum of it’s parts.

More like this

7.2

Open Range

2003

6.6

Chisum

1970

7.8

Rio Bravo

1959

7.3

Shane

1953

6.4

Wichita

1955

6.4

Gunless

2010

6.6

Chato's Land

1972

6.8

Day of the Outlaw

1959

6.3

Shoot Out

1971

6.5

Hour of the Gun

1967

6.7

One-Eyed Jacks

1961

6.9

News of the World

2020

6.8

Wyatt Earp

1994

6.3

Decision at Sundown

1957

6.3

Death of a Gunfighter

1969

7.5

My Darling Clementine

1946

6.2

Firecreek

1968

6.9

Support Your Local Sheriff!

1969

7.3

Red River

1948

6.0

The White Buffalo

1977