Butch Cassidy & Sundance Kid

Taking place at the end of the 19th century, Butch and Sundance are, as veteran actor Jeff Corey, playing a sympathetic sheriff and accidental existentialist, snarls, "two-bit outlaws on the dodge!" They spend much of the movie dodging a posse hired to hunt them down and kill them in the wake of a series of amusing train robberies. The location shooting of their escape is breathtakingly beautiful.

Ultimately, they have to flee the closing frontier, and end up in Bolivia, which is portrayed as a kind of low-rent version of the Old West. Their trip to South America is an intermezzo, done in sepia tint, focusing on their stay in New York, which, with its (relatively) modern conveniences, underscores how anachronistic their lifestyle has become.

Their inability to rob banks in Bolivia without using Spanish-language crib sheets is both hilarious and touching, a kind of paradigm of cultural and technological dislocation.

In keeping with its 1969 release date, the film has a strong antiestablishment cant to it: Authority is faceless, unyielding, and, mostly, inept. It is telling that Butch and Sundance kill no one until they "go straight" as payroll guards. Their criminal lifestyle is romanticized as a kind of "On The Road" on horseback. That this doesn't offend the audience is a measure of how fine this movie is. The warmth and humor overcome both the moral relativity of the characters and their sad ending.

Newman and Redford are wonderful together as the affable outlaws. Newman's Butch is a charming, flaky visionary who is trying desperately to cling to the past. When confronted with the new alarms and teller's cages at a favorite bank, he dismisses the guard's explanation of, "People kept robbing us" with a wistful, "It's a small price to pay for beauty."

As Butch says: "The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles!" In a sense: the Western Outlaw was succeeded by "Public Enemy Number One" when cars succeeded horses, and train and bank robberies became Federal crimes. "Your times is over!," Jeff Corey insists, and he's right.

Redford plays Sundance as the stylish straight man, never quite falling prey to Butch's dreams, but never able to dismiss them utterly: "You just keep thinking, Butch, that's what you're best at!" The onscreen chemistry between Newman and Redford is so palpable that although they only made two films together ("The Sting" in 1973 is a modernized version of "Butch & Sundance"), they can easily be considered one of the finest comedy duos ever, anywhere. The dialogue between them is banter between two very good, very old, very comfortable, friends. Maybe there was a script involved, too.

"Butch and Sundance" may be short on facts, but it speaks a kind of truth for which facts are not needed.


Redefined The Western Genre   June 8, 2003
D. Mikels (Skunk Holler)
24 out of 31 found this review helpful

I know, I know. . .many can take issue with the title above. Consider Sergio Leone's "spaghetti" Westerns, or Sam Peckinpah's brutal "The Wild Bunch." Both directors broke ground, but in my very humble opinion neither had the same impact on the genre that director George Roy Hill commanded when BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID hit the big screen in 1969.

This film took a Western and injected it with a healthy dose of pop culture. The soundtrack bears this out--even to the point of treating us with the pre-MTV music video, "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head." Ever see a John Wayne movie of the Sixties that had jazz singers humming the soundtrack? Didn't think so.

Even more compelling is the story, a story about two bank robbers trying to hang onto the Old West in a rapidly changing world. They're outlaws, but they're the "good guys," totally likeable and captivating. The viewer is pulling for them to escape the law, plan their next move, rob another day. The ending is inevitable, yet tastefully and poignantly done.

Much has been made about the chemistry between Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy) and Robert Redford (Sundance)--and rightfully so. The dialogue, banter, timing between these two wonderful actors is flawless, brilliant, overwhelming. There are classic lines ("Who are those guys?") and scenes (Butch's "rules" for a knife fight) that will live in cinematic lore forever. Katharine Ross as Etta Place ("I'm 25, single, a schoolteacher, and that's the pits.") is a wonderful addition to the cast as Sundance's girlfriend and soulmate to both outlaws.

Equally innovative was the film's cinematography--starting in grainy black and white and changing to vivid color as Butch and Sundance ride over breathtaking scenery. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID ushered in the contemporary Western, and I'm darned glad it did.
--D. Mikels


A Great Entertainment Experience   February 18, 2000
Steve Rawlings (Denver, CO USA)
20 out of 31 found this review helpful

This is one of the most satisfying films ever made. The movie excels on a number of planes...impeccable cast with extraordinary chemistry, including Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Katherine Ross...spectacular scenery and cinematography...a serendipitous musical score by Burt Bacharach, featuring "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head"...great direction by George Roy Hill, who later directed "The Sting"...and an amusing storyline about an effusively optimistic bank/train robber, his pragmatic gun-slinging partner, and their beautiful schoolmarm girlfriend. Butch and Sundance try to stay one step ahead of a faceless but relentless posse as they wander from the American west to South America, via New York City, in search of one more bank to rob.

Of all the many things to enjoy in this film, none is better than the dialogue. The movie won a number of Academy Awards, including best story and screenplay. Memorable lines abound. Butch outlines his latest scheme to Sundance and smiles contentedly, "I've got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals." In a later scene, a man named Harvey Logan (Ted Cassidy) challenges Butch to a gun or knife fight for control of the "Hole in the Wall Gang." Butch mutters to Sundance, "Maybe there's a way to make a profit in this..." He glances over at his taller, stronger adversary and frowns, "...bet on Logan." Sundance immediately replies, "I would... but who'd bet on you?" This is a production with flawless artistry...a monument to the entertaining value of the medium of film.


Still Great Contemporary-Feeling Western Classic in a Robust DVD Package Heavy on Extras   June 29, 2006
Ed Uyeshima (San Francisco, CA USA)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful

It amazes me how incredibly well this 1969 western has held up after all these years. At once classically structured and satirically executed, director George Roy Hill and screenwriter William Goldman have pulled together a supremely entertaining period picture that caters to contemporary sensibilities to this day. It is to their credit that the film remains true to the characters and never gets too broad during its quickly paced 110-minute running time. The story naturally revolves around the legendary outlaws who robbed banks at the turn of the last century. Their escapades are divided roughly into three sections in the film. The first is the introductory set-up where their opposite yet complementary personalities are established. Leading the motley Hole in the Wall Gang, they ultimately pull off a train robbery with an excess of dynamite. The second part is an extended chase sequence where Butch and Sundance are chased relentlessly by a group of unknown bounty hunters.

The third and final part details their escape to Bolivia where they are determined to go straight but get caught up with local bandits and find their infamous past catching up with them. It seems inconceivable to have anyone other than Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the title roles. As the more established star at the time, Newman is characteristically laconic as Butch. His innate likeability is enhanced by his rascally manner and crack comedy timing. In the more traditional gunslinger role, Redford provides the ideal partner with his flinty manner and unavoidable charisma. In between them is Katharine Ross, fresh from "The Graduate", who plays Etta with sensual elan, though she does not figure in the most critical scenes. Of course, Burt Bacharach's instantly recognizable musical score is here, and while there is an anachronistic feel to such 1960's-sounding pop music over a western, it somehow works because the attitude of the film seems so modern. Even the comically romantic bicycle sequence manages to preserve its buoyancy thanks to the inane but undeniably catchy "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head".

Conrad Hall's vibrant, burnished cinematography deserves special mention as it has been preserved well in the 2006 Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD package. The rest of the two-disc package is robust though bordering on overkill, adding on to the features that were already included in the previous 2000 Special Edition DVD. Retained from that edition is the interesting combination of perspectives provided by Hill, Hall, lyricist Hal David and associate producer Bob Crawford in their joint commentary track. New is separate and equally insightful commentary from Goldman. Another holdover from the previous edition is the forty-minute vintage documentary, "The Making of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid", a still terrific featurette from 1970 with participation from Newman, Goldman, Hill and Redford.

There are three new documentaries - a 2005 retrospective look at the film called "All of What Follows is True: The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"; a fact-check featurette called "The Wild Bunch: The True Tale of Butch & Sundance"; and the somewhat repetitive "History Through the Lens: Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid: Outlaws Out of Time", a cumulative effort which combines elements of all the other documentaries into one ninety-minute feature. Lots of great insight is provided on the 1994 interviews with Newman, Redford, Ross, Goldman and Bacharach. A deleted scene is also included with Hill's commentary (since the audio had been lost) - it is a disposable transitional scene where Butch and Sundance are watching newsreel footage of themselves in a Bolivian theater while Etta quietly leaves to the train station. Lastly, there are trailers for eight of Newman's vintage films. This is definitely a robust package for one of the great films of the 1960's.


The film that broke the mold of traditional westerns!   December 3, 2001
Linda Linguvic (New York City)
12 out of 16 found this review helpful

This 1969 film made box office history at the time and was nominated for seven academy awards. The public just loved it and I can well understand why. It broke the mold of the traditional western by being upbeat, lively and whimsical. And the stars, Paul Newman and Robert Redford, cast as bank robbers, had a special chemistry between them with their lighthearted wisecracks throughout. Katherine Ross plays the love interest of both of them and there's a great musical score by Burt Bacharach, most notably, "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" in which Newman and Ross ride around on a bicycle. The story was predictable and at times it seemed a little long, but I found myself smiling throughout and the actors were a pleasure to look at.

Even more than the film, though, I thoroughly enjoyed the "add on" which was included on the videotape. Entitled "The Making of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'", this was 52-minute documentary with the kind of interesting details that really enhanced my appreciation of the film. For example, there's a part in the movie that shows photos of the characters superimposed on old time photos from the 1890s. This is a technique that is relatively simple today by using any one of a number of computer programs. However, in 1969, they had to be actually pasted on. And it was also interesting to see how they do special effects with guns that shoot puffs of smoke. I loved this going behind the scenes.