Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here: Film Analysis

Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here: History and Myth

The hunt for Willie Boy has been the subject of much debate since the manhunt occurred in 1909. Harry Lawton’s novel “Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here” was largely based on the conventional story that was told by Ben de Crevecoeur. The account told by de Crevecoeur, and subsequently Lawton, share the idea that Willie Boy was drunk off stolen alcohol when he committed the crime, even though there was no evidence of this. The film Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here was directed by Abraham Polonsky, and shared similarities to Lawton’s novel, but also distorts some key facts in the story in order to create a more compelling film narrative. Some of the presented “facts” in the film perpetuate the Indian-hating myth, as they build on the misleading details that
Burgess and James A. Sandos published their interpretation of the different accounts of what occurred during the Willie Boy manhunt in “The Hunt for Willie Boy: Indian Hating and Popular Culture.” Collectively, they sought to expose the myths that were so prevalent in previous accounts of the story by researching not only the immediate press coverage surrounding the manhunt, but the cultures of Chemehuevi and Paiute cultures to best understand the motives of both Willie Boy and Old Mike. Together they uncovered that Old Mike most likely disapproved of the marriage because of the fact that Willie Boy was a Ghost Dancer, which is blasphemy in the beliefs of Chemehuevi culture. The two authors also strongly support the idea that Willie Boy was not drunk when he killed Old Mike. They attribute the perpetuation of this myth to coincide with prejudices towards Native Americans and group Ben de Crevecoeur and Harry Lawton in with the Indian Haters during this period. Finally, Sandos and Burgess speculate that not only was Willie Boy not involved with Carlota 's death, but that he did not learn of her death until he took his own life on Ruby