While I enjoy this movie very much it has to be said that the history portrayed has been embellished a lot. Polonsky, a victim of anti-communist black-listing, decided to make Willie Boy a hero fighting against the suppression of racist, uncouth white capitalists. The real Willie Boy was very quiet and shy but was also known among the Indians for having an irrational and violent temper. Willie got his whiskey from another Indian who stole the bottle from out of a bunkhouse, not from whites after participating in a bar fight. He did not run away with his lover after being confronted while they were making love. She was terrified of him and he kidnapped her after shooting her father in the face while he slept. He later shot Carlota in the back either when she tried to escape or because she was slowing him down. The only real relevance to the proximity of the US President was that it also meant there was an over abundance of newspaper reporters near San Bernardino and Riverside who sensationalized the chase not even knowing that Willie Boy was already dead before most of them had even heard of him.
The true story of the manhunt (or at the least the closest to the truth as it was based on eyewitness and second-hand accounts from the remaining witnesses) is The Last Great Manhunt by Harry Lawton, the book TTWBIH is based on (Lawton even changed the title to that of the film). Years later a couple of politically correct college professors wrote articles claiming Lawton's book was all wrong and Willie Boy was a hero, even going so far as to suggest Carlotta was killed by the posse. Lawton sued and showed his meticulous research of historical archives and interviews with witnesses. The professors later were forced to print a retraction as part of a settlement.
The true story of the manhunt (or at the least the closest to the truth as it was based on eyewitness and second-hand accounts from the remaining witnesses) is The Last Great Manhunt by Harry Lawton, the book TTWBIH is based on (Lawton even changed the title to that of the film). Years later a couple of politically correct college professors wrote articles claiming Lawton's book was all wrong and Willie Boy was a hero, even going so far as to suggest Carlotta was killed by the posse. Lawton sued and showed his meticulous research of historical archives and interviews with witnesses. The professors later were forced to print a retraction as part of a settlement.