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Bronco Billy is a 1980 American Western comedy-drama film starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke. It was directed by Eastwood and written by Dennis Hackin. The film focuses on the financially struggling owner of a traditional Wild West show and his new assistant.
Due to poor show attendance, Billy has been unable to pay his crew for the last six months, though they stick with him. At the next town, Bronco Billy goes to the city hall to obtain a permit. Also there are Heiress Antoinette Lily and John Arlington, who have Elopement. Antoinette despises her future husband, but must marry before turning 30 to inherit a large fortune. Their car breaks down at the motel opposite the Wild West show. The next morning, Arlington steals Antoinette's money, luggage, and the repaired car.
Left stranded, Antoinette asks Bronco Billy for help. He hires her as his new assistant under the alias, "Miss Lily", though she agrees to only one show. Antoinette ad libs her lines, entertaining the audience, but irritating Billy.
Antoinette discovers that Arlington has been arrested for her murder (framed by Antoinette's stepmother and her scheming lawyer friend, who stand to gain the inheritance). Seizing an opportunity for revenge, Antoinette rejoins the Wild West show to remain incognito. She gradually learns that Billy's performers are not actually cowboys, but largely ex-convicts, alcoholics, or both, and have remade their lives into what they want to be. Billy is a failed shoe salesman from New Jersey, who shot his wife in the leg for sleeping with his best friend. Nevertheless, Antoinette begins to warm to the troupe.
Performers Lorraine Running Water and Chief Big Eagle announce they are expecting a baby together. The crew celebrates at a bar, though a fight breaks out. When Antoinette is nearly sexually assaulted, Billy and the crew come to her rescue. After, youngest member Leonard is arrested after being recognized as an Army deserter. Bronco Billy uses the show's meager savings to bribe the sheriff into releasing him, enduring the sheriff's verbal taunts. When the circus tent burns down, everyone blames Antoinette for their bad luck, but Bronco Billy defends her. He proposes robbing a train to raise money for a replacement. They attempt the heist in the antiquated Western way (driving alongside in a car and Billy on horseback to jump on), but a modern train derails their effort.
The troupe arrives at a mental institution, where they annually perform pro bono. The director, Dr. Canterbury, provides them with accommodations and the inmates make a new circus tent sewn together with American flags. Antoinette and Bronco Billy spend the night together. By chance, one inmate is Antoinette's husband, Arlington. His crooked lawyer persuaded him to plead insanity after he supposedly "murdered" Antoinette. When Arlington sees her, proving Antoinette is alive, he is released. Bronco Billy and the show depart without Antoinette.
Antoinette returns to her luxurious life, but she is bored and misses Billy, who drowns his loneliness with alcohol. During a performance, Bronco Billy is about to introduce his new assistant, "Miss Lily", who is actually fellow performer "Lefty" LeBow dressed as a woman. The real "Miss Lily" appears, instead. The show, now a raving success, runs smoothly. Bronco Billy ends it with a positive message for the children in the audience.
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