In 1955, a television episode of the Philco Playhouse, titled The Death of Billy the Kid, gave birth to The Left Handed Gun. Originally written by Gore Vidal, Leslie Stevens and director Arthur Penn rewrote it, assembled an excellent cast and started filming in a film studio-ranch set in California. The open country scenes were filmed just outside Santa Fe. Nevertheless, the initial character selection for Billy the Kid was James Dean, but Paul Newman, who also played Billy in Gore Vidal’s 1955 television episode, was later picked due to Dean’s unfortunate death. The cast boasts of two cast members of the famous TV show, The Dukes of Hazzard. Warner Bros interfered with the production for unknown reasons and did not allow the director to shoot the ending he wanted. When Gore Vidal saw the film, he was not satisfied and much later in 1989, Gore Vidal remade the film, titled Billy the Kid. The Left Handed Gun was not successful in the US, but it won an annual award given by the Belgian film critics.