Howard Hughes successfully achieved his goals of simultaneously showcasing Jane Russell (or at least parts of Jane Russell), challenging film censors and using controversy as a marketing gimmick with this movie. Completed in 1941, it would not screen for two years, and then only in at The Geary Theater in San Francisco for six weeks and under protest from The Legion of Decency and others. It was further shelved after Hughes attempted to get uncut prints into theaters, until it was ultimately released in 1946 to great success - due in large part to Hughes' intentional exploitation of the controversy.
Billy the Kid (Jack Buetel) and Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) are close friends until lawman Pat Garrett (Thomas Mitchell) attempts to ambush Billy and put him behind bars. Doc brings Billy to his ranch to hide out, but when Billy meets Doc's mistress Rio (Jane Russell), he's instantly attracted to the buxom beauty. An intense chemistry quickly grows between them, despite the fact that Billy murdered Rio's brother. Billy and Rio secretly marry, but their love runs hot and cold, and soon Billy, Doc, and Rio are fighting among themselves as they're chased through the desert by Garrett and his posse. Director Howard Hawks and screenwriter Ben Hecht both worked on The Outlaw, but they went uncredited after disputes with Howard Hughes.
"...in my more than ten years of critical examination of motion pictures, I have never seen anything quite so unacceptable as the shots of the breasts of the character of Rio...Throughout almost half the picture the girl's breasts, which are quite large and prominent, are shockingly emphasized..." - Joseph I. Breen (Director, Production Code Administration), March 1941.
