Photo Opportunity #63 Draw! Bronco Billy
With all that’s been happening of late, we sometimes need to remind ourselves to smile. And with that, our (slightly late) Photo Opportunity for July will hopefully bring a summery grin. Actually, this photo of Clint as Bronco Billy McCoy is rather a rarely seem shot. Obviously taken for publicity – it captures Clint playing around for the camera.
I often think Bronco Billy (1980) is hugely overlooked as a movie. Personally, I think it’s a charming piece of cinema which features a whole ensemble of Clint’s regular cast and crew – alongside Clint were Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Scatman Crothers, Sam Bottoms, Bill McKinney, Dan Vadis and Woodrow Parfrey – all of whom were on excellent form.
Eastwood received Dennis Hackin and Neal Dobrofsky's script and decided to join the film with Sondra Locke. The film was shot in two months in the Boise, Idaho area in the fall of 1979. Additional filming took place in eastern Oregon and New York. Filmed on a low budget of $5 million, it finished two to four weeks ahead of schedule. It’s provided a nice, easy transition into the new decade.
Eastwood has cited Bronco Billy as being one of the most affable shoots of his career, and the late biographer Richard Schickel has argued that the character of Bronco Billy is his most self-referential work. The film was a modest commercial hit, but was appreciated by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times believed the film was "the best and funniest Clint Eastwood movie in quite a while," praising Eastwood's directing and the way he intricately juxtaposes the old West and the new.
Although the film grossed four to five times its cost (some $25 million) during its United States theatrical release, Eastwood considered it insufficient. In a French interview, Eastwood spoke about the film's financial reception, "It was an old-fashioned theme, probably too old fashioned since the film didn't do as well as we hoped. But if, as a film director, I ever wanted to say something, you'll find it in Bronco Billy."
