Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
Directed by George Roy Hill
Written by William Goldman
1969/US
IMDb link
Repeat viewing/Amazon Instant
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
[box] Butch Cassidy: I couldn’t do that. Could you do that? Why can they do it? Who are those guys?[/box]
Launching “Flickers in Time: The Lockdown Edition” with this beloved classic. It’s a blend of Old West and a thoroughly modern cinematic sensibility that really shouldn’t work as perfectly as it does.
Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) are the leaders of the Hole in the Wall gang of bank and train robbers. Butch is the more laid-back one and Sundance has the hotter temper. They love to banter with each other. We witness several robberies. These are generally amusing and successful. In their last train robbery, they manag to earn the eternal wrath of the railroad owner, who forms a posse that relentlessly pursues the pair.
In the meantime, we are introduced to schoolmarm Etta Place (Katharine Ross). She is having an affair with Sundance yet also seems to form a perfect couple with Butch. Eventually, the heat gets too close for comfort and all three decide to try their fortunes in Bolivia.
This film is firmly tied to a moment in which the bad guys became the good guys so long as they were against the Establishment, love was free and Burt Bacharach topped the pop charts. Yet it holds up extremely well. Qualifies as a recommended lockdown view for its wry optimism, fantastic cinematography, charismatic and beautiful actors, witty dialogue, and, yes, its bouncy score. A true classic.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid won Academy Awards in the categories of Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced; Best Cinematography; Best Music, Original Song (“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”); and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical). It was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Director; and Best Sound.
