BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID : a Review

BUTCHCASSIDYAND THE SUNDANCEKID
Directed by: George Roy Hill - Written by: William Goldman - Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford,
Katherine Ross, Strother Martin - Awards: Best Writing, Best Cinematography, Best Music - Released: I969

Robert Redford and Paul Newman; there was a time when the star power of those names burned like a 20K spot. The former, with blonde hair and perfect smile, the latter handsome features and china-blue eyes. Either one could green-light a project just by being on board. Comes a time in any megawatt star’s life when the mirror on the wall says, “time happens, and it’s happening to you”.

That’s the moment in an actor's career to cash-in; build the nest egg for those cold, old days ahead. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is perhaps such a moment in time. They did the popular thing and it worked; it was a hit, made a lot of money, and is now a considered a classic. Loosely based on a historical pair of old-west outlaws in Utah of the I890’s, who robbed a few trains, then escaped to South America (or faked their escape). Newman is Butch Cassidy, lovable and seemingly dumb. Sundance as played by Redford is a neurotic but none-too-bright gunfighter

The frontier was gone by the time they made the scene. They learn that when you rob trains in the I890’s you bring the big heat down on you in the form of paid detectives and trackers to kill you. The old tricks of disappearing into the bush are no longer working. A sequence where a posse of some of the best lawmen and Indian trackers in America hunts them through the rugged canyonlands of Utah is one of the funniest in the western chase lore. As Newman nervously looks over his shoulder to mutter “who are those guys?” they keep just barely ahead of the law-dogs.

The last half of the film covers their outlaw pranks in Bolivia, where the pickings are few and in a language they don’t speak. The final set-piece battle is homage to The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Viva Zapata.

The strategy of playing outlaws as morons is what saves this film from being routine. Most outlaws are morons. We can laugh and point at these clowns, the two stooges, knowing how much smarter we are, we think. Their camaraderie and chemistry are of the highest order. Sundance has a girlfriend, but she’s so far behind in this film that she barely registers (Katherine Ross of The Graduate fame).

Butch Cassidy was the model for The Sting redux; it uses the same formula: Criminals/comedy/buddy film. It looks very much like the pals in Butch Cassidy are having too much fun. The circled takes are the early ones, before the buffoonery on the set got out of control most likely. The film succeeds with very few characters, really just two bozos bellyaching at each other like an old married couple. There are several hints that the domestic situation of the three is a ménage à trois.

As the outlaws ride those newfangled bicycle contraptions to the film’s Burt Bacharach theme, ennui sets in, but the marketing boys must’ve loved it. You’d never guess that in contemporary America there was a war on, Nixon had just been elected, assassination was the political statement du jour, and the biggest cultural rebellion in the nation’s history was reaching it’s peak. Whether or not you can call two lovable stars hamming it up a great film, it is a great entertainment.

Notes:

(a) Watch for the references to Treasure of the Sierra Madre when the two reach Bolivia. Many other westerns are quoted too.
(b) Jack Lemmon was offered the role of the Sundance Kid, but turned it down.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

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