Bronco Billy
Tags: cult, suicidal, violence, comic

Plot synopsis:
"Bronco Billy's Wild West Show" is a rundown traveling circus, the star of which is Bronco Billy McCoy (Clint Eastwood), the "fastest gun in the West." For the show's finale, a blindfolded Bronco Billy shoots balloons around a female assistant on a revolving wooden disc, and for the last balloon, he throws a knife. However, the assistant moves her leg and is nicked, so she quits. The show is not making any money, and nobody has been paid for six months.
The show moves on to a new town and Bronco Billy goes to city hall to get a permit. He bumps into Antoinette Lily (Sondra Locke) and John Arlington (Geoffrey Lewis), who are there to be married. Antoinette despises her future husband, but has to marry before she is thirty in order to inherit a large fortune. Their car breaks down at the motel opposite the Wild West Show. The next morning, Arlington steals all her money and their repaired car. She is left to fend for herself.
Bronco Billy talks Antoinette into becoming his new assistant, "Miss Lily," though she only agrees to do one show. Her first performance is unusually successful, although Miss Lily irritates Billy by not sticking to the script.
Antoinette discovers that Arlington has been arrested for her murder (framed by Antoinette's stepmother and her scheming lawyer friend, who stand to gain her inheritance). Seizing the chance to get even with Arlington, Antoinette rejoins the Wild West Show.
She discovers that none of the performers are real cowboys: they are mostly ex-convicts, or alcoholics, or both. Bronco Billy was a shoe salesman who shot his wife for sleeping with his best friend. Nevertheless, Miss Lily begins to warm to the troupe.
Two of the show's performers announce that they are going to have a baby. The crew goes to a bar to celebrate. One gets arrested by police who discover that he is a deserter from the Army. Bronco Billy uses the show's meager savings to bribe the sheriff into letting the man go, swallowing his pride and enduring the sheriff's verbal humiliations for his friend's sake.
Then the circus tent burns down. Everyone blames Miss Lily for their bad luck, but Bronco Billy defends her and proposes that they rob a train. They try to do this in the standard Western way (riding alongside and jumping on), but a modern train proves to be resistant to such an approach and they give up.
Next, the troupe travels to a mental institution at which they have previously performed pro bono. The head of the institution, who is obsessed with the Wild West, agrees to provide them with accommodation and to supply a new tent, and the inmates sew one out of American flags. Miss Lily and Bronco Billy spend the night together. By chance, one inmate turns out to be Arlington (he had been paid by the crooked lawyer to confess to being mentally disturbed when he "murdered" Antoinette). When he sees her, he raises a fuss and gets released. Bronco Billy and the show depart without Miss Lily.
Antoinette returns to a luxurious lifestyle, but she is bored and misses Billy, who drowns his loneliness with alcohol. The two reunite when Miss Lily returns to the circus.

Review: When I read where Clint Eastwood said it was a personal favorite of his I smiled, because it's mine, too.....and I like a lot of Eastwood's movies.This isn't just my favorite Eastwood film.
However, it's not a violent story, just a tale of a modern-day man and his little troupe who want to be cowboys and Indians, and go on tour with their little Wild West show.The film has nice, colorful photography and looks great on DVD.
It's refreshing to see Eastwood play a role like this where he's a Mr. Rogers-type western hero for little kids, urging children to stay on the straight and narrow, mind their parents and say their prayers before going to bed at night.Sondra Locke also is effective as the cold newcomer who reluctantly joins the group and slowly changes from a mean-spirited, sarcastic woman to a caring person.
She shows a good comedic touch and is excellent in this film, perhaps her best effort since "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter."The rest of the cast is fun to watch, too, and it includes one of my favorite faces and voices, that of "Scatman" Crothers.
Bronco Billy the sharpshooting cowboy is the owner of a modern-day travelling Wild West Show that seems to get caught in one messy situation after another.
Through some amusing chain of events a wealthy, snobby heiress Antoinette Lilly finds herself tagging along with the show and becoming one of Bronco Billy's assistant, after her new husband leaves her stranded with nothing.I don't understand why they think this cap gun shoots nothing but blanks.
Even though he is a flawed character Billy does have a good heart and performs shows for the underprivileged for free.If you are a in the mood for a film that will make you feel good for two hours then Bronco Billy is for you.
Like most of Eastwood's films, Bronco Billy is built around a story, but in this story how it comes out is not important, it is how Billy and this cast of lost souls get there.
And the film has one the greatest lines in cinema history:  The one Bronco Billy used to tell Antoinette what happened to his wife..
It's an admittedly corny but charming semi-western comedy that has Eastwood leading a ragtag "wild west show" across the country, playing at various county fairs, churches and orphanages.
Eastwood directs with a sure hand; the film is rather leisurely paced, but has  warm, rustic charm that's very likeable and the movie is worth discovering on video and DVD now.
It's just a sweet little comedy with great characters that deserves more recognition.Maybe the biggest problem with "Bronco Billy" is that it tries to have too much story.
I especially enjoyed Scatman Crothers in his role but also Clint Eastwood did a good job as a character that basically wanted to be like the western characters Eastwood previously played before.Fun comedy by Eastwood!
Even though it's flawed, 'Bronco Billy' has heart and how can one not like a film about a circus group with intriguing characters.
I liked how the relationship was developing between Billy and Antoinette but in the second half the film felt rushed, as though Eastwood was suddenly in a hurry to finish the movie.I've always been fascinated by the circus (the real ones, not the ones that torture animals) and was easily persuaded to see 'Bronco Billy' (alongside the fact that it's a Clint Eastwood film of course).
Sondra Locke shares fine chemistry with her leading man.There's a subtle sense of adventure in 'Bronco Billy' which isn't realized right away.
As the viewer is lead to follow these characters and experience their struggle and hardship at the same time their will to stick together and be there for one another while embracing the unpredictable life they lead, Eastwood shows that there is something beautiful and pure about that lifestyle.'Bronco Billy' is quite well-crafted.
Due to this, plus this being a comedy and a well planned out plot and story, I think this is Clint Eastwood's best movie and was very underrated for it's time.
I think people still see it as Clint Eastwood's failed movie just because he wasn't a tough cowboy like character.
Bronco Billy (1980) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The cowboy/dreamer Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) is barely keeping his Wild West show going but his luck's about to change when he gets involved with a woman (Sondra Locke) recently dumped by her husband.
You know you're movie's off to a good start when Scatman Crothers is immediatly introduced.The movie is about a Wild West Show troupe (one of whom is played by Scatman) who happen to stumble upon a stuck-up b*tch named Lily (played by Sandra Locke).
This film is a fun feel good movie with characters you adore (if you don't, you have serious psychological issues).
Bronco Billy (1980)Plot In A Paragraph: Bronco Billy (Clint) an idealistic, modern-day cowboy struggles to keep his Wild West show afloat in the face of waning interest.I always thought that this was another Malpaso Company production, (especially since it cast is full of Malpaso regulars) but it's actually produced by Second Street Films.
A personal favourite of Clint's, Bronco Billy is a charming little movie, very similar to Every Which Way But Loose in that it just ambles along pleasantly from one scene to another.
Once again Sondra Locke is playing an unappealing character, and it's worth noting that she is once again the victim of a sexual assault (What's with that??) along with Locke, previous Eastwood Co Stars Bill McKinney, Geoffrey Lewis, Sam Bottoms, Walter Barnes, Dan Vardis and William Prince all appear.
This is one of the most underrated films that Clint Eastwood has directed and also starred in.
It was not one of his greatest films overall, but the story of Bronco Billy proves a great dramatic story.
The story is about a wild west show, much like Buffalo Bill Cody's wild west shows of the late nineteenth century, set in modern times.With interest in his show dwindling, and no money to pay the performers, Billy must find a way.
Clint Eastwood is back in a gun-slinging western role - but this time he's funny with it.
Bronco Billy is not your average Clint Eastwood movie - it is a comedy.
This film proves that Clint Eastwood has a fine sense of humor and that he's more than just a good gunslinger on film.Bronco Billy is one of movies that makes great manatee.
If you liked the films: "Blazing Saddles", "Every Which Way But Loose" or any of the serious Western films starring Clint Eastwood - then you might enjoy Bronco Billy.7.5/10.
Bronco Billy is one of Clint's favorite films.
Bronco Billy is part of a traveling wild west troupe out to make a living by entertaining the kids.
That does not mean it lacks depth as the story is good and the characters are interesting.I find Bronco Billy somewhat similar to Overboard ,which is also a funny ,heartwarming comedy with another real Hollywood couple that is fun for the whole family .
Bronco Billy really is a solid movie and proof to any naysayers that Clint is not a one dimensional filmmaker,or only good as action star.
BRONCO BILLY (1980) *** Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Scatman Crothers, Geoffrey Lewis, Sam Bottoms.
Good natured and amiable little Eastwood gem (he also directed and once said this was personally his favorite film) about a ragtag group of wild west performers strictly small time but with big warm hearts.
Who would have thought that a film starring Clint Eastwood roaming the Western states in cowboy gear could be so uncannily reminiscent of a classic romantic screwball comedy of the 1930s?
Bronco Billy shows the shabbiness of the small Wild West show but it also imparts many of the good feelings given by the cowboy shows of old....
"Bronco Billy" is Clint Eastwood's Capra movie.
"Bronco Billy" is nothing like those films and, for the most part, is way better..
An idealistic, modern-day cowboy (Clint Eastwood) struggles to keep his Wild West show afloat in the face of hard luck and waning interest.Right off the bat, we have to say that this film has some of the same themes as Robert Altman's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson" (1976).
Altman's film took place when "Wild West" still meant something, whereas Eastwood's movie has a traveling troupe well past the prime of the genre.Exactly what the message is, if there is one, I do not know.
Clint Eastwood labels Bronco Billy as one of his favorite films so who am I to tell him different.
It is a fun and quirky movie, kind of like You Can't Take It With You. He certainly has gathered together a collection of people similar to Grandpa Vanderhoff's friends and family.Playing the title role Eastwood is the owner and star of a wild west show Eastwood has in his employ a collection of characters who are uniquely loyal to him.
To which he adds Sondra Locke who is one of those rich heiresses which saturated films in the Thirties.Bronco Billy's outfit is hardly like Buffalo Bill Cody's show nor even like the one John Wayne was the impresario of in Circus World.
Eastwood himself has created Bronco Billy, his own real life was nothing to brag about.
He feels to some degree that people can be what they want and he gives those who are with him a chance to do just that.Clint Eastwood in his westerns certainly created enough mythology of the old west steps back a bit from those characters in Bronco Billy.
It's a curiously old fashioned film though, the kind I wish were still made.What I wouldn't give to work in Bronco Billy's show..
(Credit IMDb) An idealistic, modern-day cowboy struggles to keep his Wild West show afloat in the face of hard luck and waning interest.This movie has sporadically enjoyable moments.
Yet "Bronco Billy" seems to have gathered a following, for good reasons.Clint plays a character very different from the one depicted in his westerns and his cop movies.
In a cynical time, he and his pals travel around the west performing a "Wild West Show" complete with a native American snake dance, a wrangling exposition, and a showcasing of Billy's sharpshooting talents.Things get complicated when Miss Antoinette Lily, a runaway heiress, gets unwillingly involved with the show as a desperate gesture.
Bronco Billy implores youngsters to "obey your mom and dad, because they know what is best," and to "say your prayers at night." A Clint Eastwood movie with a strong message about loyalty and getting the courage to become whatever you want to be.
It's easy to see why Clint Eastwood counts this film among his personal favorites.Only a few contrived plot points concerning Antoinette Lily and her estranged husband and step-mother add nit-picky elements to what is otherwise a wonderful and enjoyable movie..
Clint Eastwood is Bronco Billy, the leader of a Wild West troupe, one of six regular misfits who comprise a struggling-to-break-even touring show.
It seems Miss Lilly, as Doc (Scatman Crothers) calls her, is a would-be heiress who will only receive her long-deceased father's estate if she's married by the time she turns 30, so on the eve of that birthday she gets hitched to the cartoonish Geoffrey Lewis.So, what's the plot of this film?
BRONCO BILLY (2+ outta 5 stars) Kind of an odd, little movie for Clint Eastwood...
This quirky character study of the people involved in a modern day "wild west show" has decent enough dialogue and the performers (most from the usual Eastwood stable of the time, including soon-to-be-ex-wife Sondra Locke) make viewing the film painless enough...
I guess it was just the kind of movie Clint wanted to make at the time (he produced and directed) and after his huge success with "Every Which Way But Loose" who was going to tell him "no"?
It is my personal opinion that this has to be one of the worst films Clint Eastwood ever made.
I watched a second time as I didn't think he could do anything this bad, but was rewarded with the viewing of the poor performance of Eastwood and Locke.
In this small comedic film, he has a stellar cast including himself as Bronco Billy, Sondra Locke as the heiress and his real-life girlfriend at the time, Beverlee McKinsey, Scatman Crothers, and others.
Actually, "Honkytonk Man" is Clint Eastwood's worst film but "Bronco Billy" cuts it close.
It came on TV at like 2:00am and i sat up and watched it all and didn't get bored once.A rich woman is left in the lurch after her new husband runs off with all of her possessions, she's kinda mean to "poor" people but she joins Bronco Billy's wild west show to get from A to B.
Chiefly, however, the comparison between the two films ends here, because "Bronco Billy" lassos bigger themes than the contrived, self-conscious "Circus World." As it turns out, the Clint Eastwood characterBronco Billy McCoyis a huge fraud in the best sense that Paul Newman's hero amounted to a fraud in Robert Altman's "Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson" (1976).
Whereas director Altman ridicules Buffalo Bill as a cynical fraud in the bi-centennial "Buffalo Bill," the Eastwood film pokes fun at Bronco Billy's masquerade but not the dreamer of a man beneath the masquerade.
Bronco Billy's circus reforms the hard-hearted Antoinette Lilly and gives her a home, the way that Fellini's circuses give Masina a home in his own films.
Hardcore Eastwood fans that want to see Eastwood in "Dirty Harry" type movies are not going to still through "Bronco Billy." Or if they do, they will be disappointed.
One of Clint Eastwood's most charming movies.
Self-stylized modern-day cowboy and ace sharpshooter Bronco Billy (a pleasingly amiable performance by Clint Eastwood) runs an old-fashioned traveling Wild West show that's fallen on hard times.
The Wild West Show, I believe, is a metaphor for the film-making process, in which a carefully crafted illusion is created for the viewing public.After the tent burns down, Billy has a new tent stitched together by the inmates at a mental asylum, which results in a patchwork of American flags -- literally, a crazy-quilt assemblage.Bronco Billy is gleefully old-fashioned, even anachronistic, both in its optimistic mood, which ran counter to the popular culture at the time of its release in 1980, and in its characters -- a cowboy who belongs to another time, a daffy heiress who has stepped out of a 30's screwball comedy.Best of all, Eastwood's heart is in the right place, and he has a genial affection toward his eccentric characters..
Bronco Billy McCoy is the poor man's Buffalo Bill Cody, the proprietor and star of a touring Wild West show, essentially a circus with a Western theme.
Of course, this being a romantic comedy, that means that they will eventually end up falling for one another.Antoinette is played by Sondra Locke, who was Eastwood's lover at the time.
It also deals with the theme of the way in which the enduring legend of the Old West continued to influence American culture even in the late twentieth century.Clint Eastwood's Billy character has been described as a parody of the sort of Western heroes he played in films such as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" or "High Plains Drifter", but in fact he is both a parody of and a celebration of the traditional Western hero.
maybe this film did not do well because it is about a bunch of losers, albeit warm hearted losers who stick together and have the advantage of a loyalty most families don't have.Stand out scenes are Clint's reaction to the little kid being hit at the bank robbery, and Clint swallowing his pride to get his buddy freed with the god awful sheriff - a nice performance of the corrupt lawman getting emotions running in the right direction.Scatman does his usual scene stealing thing, Bottoms is good, it is interesting to see McKinney in a sympathetic role after his Clint nemesis in Outlaw Josie Wales, Geoffrey Lewis always dependable manages a wonderful slimy coward, Sondra Locke is her usual wooden self, Clint must have been blinded by love to put here in so many of his movies, she deservedly disappeared without trace after splitting from him.
We are used to seeing Clint Eastwood starring in and directing himself in cowboys, but this one wasn't the usual western with a town, showdown and shootouts, it was hopefully going to be something more fun.
Basically "Bronco Billy's Wild West Show" is a rundown travelling circus, the star is cowboy Bronco Billy McCoy (Clint Eastwood), the "fastest gun in the West".
Eastwood is essentially a cowboy with a good heart, Locke is slightly annoying but an alright performer's assistant, it a nice simple of how optimism and showmanship can get you somewhere, most of the no-hoper and oddball characters are likable, and the circus scenes are memorable enough, it is mostly the circus stuff I remember, the sentimental and attempted dramatic stuff only works slightly, it is a fun enough small-scale comedy western.
I had assumed, incorrectly, that this film was some sort of biography about the old silent movie cowboy star, Bronco Billy Anderson.
Instead, Bronco Billy (Clint Eastwood) is a modern fictional character--much like Buffalo Bill Cody with his wild west show, but on a much, much, much, much smaller scale.
BRONCO BILLY is a likeable comedy romance from Clint Eastwood that sees the star and director on typically strong form.
I never thought the Bronco Billy Wild West Show would actually aspire to entertainment on a deeper level.
Right after that great con job by Clint Eastwood's character when he makes everyone in the troupe feel good about not being paid, there was no reason to believe this was going to be anything more than pure popcorn.