Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
— Shoot your way out of that: a butch story that didn't leave me dancing.”
- Director: George Roy Hill
- United States, 1969
This movie is a legend about a legend, if you will. Newman and Redford are the pardners in crime, an iconic double-act that robs trains and banks, and appears to do so mostly for kicks. Never has cinema thrown up a more spectacular display of 9-to-5 avoidance.
The movie is legendary because of its contribution to postmodern genre cinema, because of the status of its two leads and maybe a bit because of the feather-light Burt Bacharach score (how very outré). For 1969, it was probably the epitome of cool.
The photography is occasionally outstanding and the characters are affable enough, though Katharine Ross’ Etta is of doubtful value to the narrative whole. The bum note is that Butch is a bit of an anti-climax: it’s not that exciting and it’s not that funny. Watch The Sting instead, in which Newman, Redford and director Hill team up again to do a much better job.
See also:
Brokeback Mountain
Known as the greatest script never to be greenlighted, Brokeback finally got made and it’s not a bad effort.
- Originally published: 25 Mar 2007 in Film
The Wild Bunch
Peckinpah’s version of the American West lives hard, ages fast and dies violently.
- Originally published: 2 Apr 2007 in Film
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