Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
Abraham Polonsky
This film has no current screenings
Polonsky’s Marxist Western, starring Robert Redford and Robert Blake, wasn’t bloody enough for 1969, but it was—and remains—the most perspicacious neo-Western. Polonsky was no doubt thinking of himself when he wrote Willie Boy’s line: “At least they’ll know I was here.” Native American Willie Boy (Blake) goes on the lam with his girlfriend Lola (Katharine Ross) after shooting her father in self-defense, and Deputy Sheriff Cooper (Redford) is tasked with leading a posse on the subsequent, harrowing manhunt. Ripped from the headlines and under-screened since its initial release, Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here is a moving illustration of how society endeavors to eliminate rebellion by any means necessary.