What do you think?
Rate this book
Willie Boy: A Desert Manhunt
A gripping, true tale about a 1909 posse chase across more than 500 miles of harsh desert wilderness for Willie Boy, a local Paiute Indian who killed the father of a girl he loved so he could run off with her. The story became highly publicized by reporters in the area, and turned into a large chase. The end of the story of this local legend is disputed, with an Indian version and the version of the white-man. This western epic inspired the 1969 film starring Robert Redford called Tell Them Willie Boy is Here.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
2 people are currently reading
57 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 16, 2026
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here written by Harry Lawton and Abraham Polonsky, directed by the latter is one of The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made, it was also the 1971 Winner of The BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor for Robert Redford - shared with: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid · Downhill Racer, and The BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress for Katharine Ross – you have a few thousand notes on films from The NYT 1,000 and other lists, plus another few thousand reviews of magnum opera from The Greatest Books of All Time and other sites on this blog and YouTube channel you may wish to visit https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
8 out of 10
Arguably, Robert Redford https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... has the leading role of sheriff Cooper in this drama, which is also a western, although Robert Blake is Willie Boy, given the name of the motion picture, you would expect him to be the main character
- Both Willie Boy and sheriff Cooper are leading here
I have read some interesting stories about Robert Redford, one of the greatest thespians of all time, the one who has created The Sundance Film Festival, who was nevertheless a more complicated figure in his youth, when he could be more than difficult, according to one of the best books on cinema, written by William Goldman
Adventures in The Screen Trade https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is a must read, if you are a cinephile: the segment on Redford is quite enticing, William Goldman and Redford had worked on the Oscar Winning Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, the writer has one of two Academy Awards for this one
After this film, Redford wanted Goldman to work on a project, which he would abandon, for a flimsy reason, then he had William Goldman work on the script for All The President’ s Men – the link to my note on this one is above – but he always used the secretary as an intermediary, making things more difficult than they already were
Eventually, after many months of hard work, the writer is invited to this place in New York, only to be told that Carl Bernstein would do the screenplay, and that was the worst, or one of the worst days in the life of William Goldman, that is what you find in that glorious book…I have to take it up again, I just saw now…
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here is about racism first of all: the narrative takes place at the start of the last century – based on a real story – when Native Americans were discriminated against- Willie is a Paiute and he tells the story of his arrest, how they had treated him like a dog, and we see quite a lot of that in the movie
In one scene, he is in this bar where they shoot pool, and this white fellow insults Willie, telling him to get out and other things, but the Paiute kicks the moron, who complains to the sheriff, who explains that if Willie had wanted to kill him, the racist guy would be dead, indeed, the young man is intrepid, an excellent shot
He is in love with Lola, but as he is intimate with her in the woods, her father wants to shoot him and Willie is quicker, and I would say he kills the parent in self-defense, nevertheless, a posy follows him, he can deal with a lot of the white fellows, shooting their horses, but he sees there may be no way out, I mean he could escape, but he could have enough and abandon the fight
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
8 out of 10
Arguably, Robert Redford https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... has the leading role of sheriff Cooper in this drama, which is also a western, although Robert Blake is Willie Boy, given the name of the motion picture, you would expect him to be the main character
- Both Willie Boy and sheriff Cooper are leading here
I have read some interesting stories about Robert Redford, one of the greatest thespians of all time, the one who has created The Sundance Film Festival, who was nevertheless a more complicated figure in his youth, when he could be more than difficult, according to one of the best books on cinema, written by William Goldman
Adventures in The Screen Trade https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... is a must read, if you are a cinephile: the segment on Redford is quite enticing, William Goldman and Redford had worked on the Oscar Winning Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, the writer has one of two Academy Awards for this one
After this film, Redford wanted Goldman to work on a project, which he would abandon, for a flimsy reason, then he had William Goldman work on the script for All The President’ s Men – the link to my note on this one is above – but he always used the secretary as an intermediary, making things more difficult than they already were
Eventually, after many months of hard work, the writer is invited to this place in New York, only to be told that Carl Bernstein would do the screenplay, and that was the worst, or one of the worst days in the life of William Goldman, that is what you find in that glorious book…I have to take it up again, I just saw now…
Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here is about racism first of all: the narrative takes place at the start of the last century – based on a real story – when Native Americans were discriminated against- Willie is a Paiute and he tells the story of his arrest, how they had treated him like a dog, and we see quite a lot of that in the movie
In one scene, he is in this bar where they shoot pool, and this white fellow insults Willie, telling him to get out and other things, but the Paiute kicks the moron, who complains to the sheriff, who explains that if Willie had wanted to kill him, the racist guy would be dead, indeed, the young man is intrepid, an excellent shot
He is in love with Lola, but as he is intimate with her in the woods, her father wants to shoot him and Willie is quicker, and I would say he kills the parent in self-defense, nevertheless, a posy follows him, he can deal with a lot of the white fellows, shooting their horses, but he sees there may be no way out, I mean he could escape, but he could have enough and abandon the fight
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence
Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
February 25, 2018
This was a really good read, written in that clear, uncluttered style I always associate with books from the 1950s. The author attempts to separate fact from fiction but there is so much fiction surrounding this story, it's hard to know whether or not he did a good job of it. He apologized for only consulting with the surviving white members of the various posses involved in the hunt, and he makes an effort to include the Paiute point of view as well, even if he did tuck it into the very end of the book, as if it were an afterthought. The photo section includes what may be the only extant photos of a sheriff's posse hunting a fugitive. This is a real page-turner that left me with many unanswered questions, but also a large bibliography that may yet lead me to the answers.
April 27, 2018
I'm actually surprised that it held my interest. Good storytelling, and for a western, he used lots of words I had to look up!
January 11, 2021
It had moments of greatness. The last three or so chapters were fantastic, but all in all it was a slog to get through.
February 21, 2009
A Really excellent book.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews