‘You should never kill a man unless it’s absolutely necessary...’
While I have generally loved much of Clint Eastwood’s output, especially as a director, you can’t love everything. Bronco Billy, a supposed comedy, is the first time I’ve actively not enjoyed an Eastwood picture…
The titular Bronco Billy (Eastwood) is the leader of an unlikely band of losers and ne’er-do-wells trying to keep a long running travelling circus alive in the face of changing tastes and waning interest. That premise alone could have made for a good movie, particularly when considering a supporting cast featuring Scatman Crothers and Geoffrey Lewis. Unfortunately, the main thrust of the plot isn’t the tribulations of the travelling circus but rather the introduction of Sanda Locke as Antoinette Lily, a future heiress who fakes her own death. This latter part of the plot is, quite frankly, incredibly tedious.
I know that Eastwood has done a bunch of comedies, but he’s not an actor that I’ve ever associated with chuckles. I would, in fact, perhaps claim that Eastwood is the physical embodiment of severity. I love the guy, but he’s hardly laugh-a-minute. And so it proves here. Bronco Billy just isn’t funny, no matter which way you slice it, and without the humour, there isn’t much left to make this self-referential neo-Western anything other than a curio.
I’ve long banged the drum that Eastwood is vastly underrated as a director but it’s safe to say this absolutely isn’t his best work – a tedious chore of a movie.
