| Dirty Little Billy | |
| Director: | Stan Dragoti |
| Producer: | Jack L. Warner |
| Screenplay: | Charles Moss Stan Dragoti |
| Story: | Charles Moss Stan Dragoti |
| Starring: | Michael J. Pollard Richard Evans Charles Aidman Lee Purcell |
| Music: | Sascha Burland |
| Cinematography: | Ralph Woolsey |
| Editing: | David Wages |
| Color Process: | Eastmancolor |
| Studio: | WRG/Dragoti Productions Ltd. |
| Distributor: | Columbia Pictures |
| Runtime: | 92 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
Dirty Little Billy is a 1972 American revisionist western film co-written and directed by Stan Dragoti and starring Michael J. Pollard and Richard Evans. Set in Coffeyville, Kansas, the film was influenced by the darker, more sinister style of Spaghetti Westerns and offered a unique insight into the beginnings of the titular notorious outlaw. It is notable for Nick Nolte's film debut, along with a background appearance for experimental filmmaker/artist William Ault.
A tough and violent portrait of a psychopathic, yet fresh-faced youth—the infamous Billy the Kid in his grimy early days.
The film premiered at the San Francisco Film Festival on October 20, 1972 before opening at the Vogue Theatre in San Francisco five days later.[1]
Steven Puchalski wrote in Shock Cinema magazine:
This is not typical, Tinseltown western though. It's more like The Making of a Sociopath, with Michael J. Pollard starring as displaced, 17-year-old Billy Bonney, in the days leading up to his evolution into the notorious Billy the Kid ... this is the perfect role for Pollard. And though a little old to play a teenager (he was 33), he hands us a Billy who's perpetually victimized by bad luck, until he finally blows a gasket at the very end and sparks his future.[2]