I recently had the pleasure of catching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in true widescreen, digitally enhanced color format on the American Movie Classics cable channel. As I have not seen the movie in many years beforehand, I figured I'd work on a quick review/retrospective of this excellent movie.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid redefined the American expectation of the Western. Shunning the stereotypical John Wayne classics of years before, BC&SK showcased two of the greatest outlaws of the American West in a gritty, humorous, realistic fashion. To this day (with handful of exceptions, such as the now-corny extended bicycle riding sequence) this movie stands up to the 90's in terms of wit, realism, violence, and humor. It's all all around entertaining movie made perfect with the flawless performance of Paul Newman as Butch and Robert Redford as the Sundance Kid.
Displayed afresh in stunning digitally perfect, color-enhanced DVD, BC&SK is the paramount Western. Forget the old washed out video store rental VHS pan-and-scan. This latest widescreen release is more vibrant and spectacular than ever. Subtely is in the form of Redford's excellent, yet wry facial expressions, as well as Newman's charming eye-brow raises when he delivers the perfect wit, and the beautiful southwest landscapes. The viewer believes they are watching a classic Western epic instead of the late 1960's tragic, yet humorous escapades of the last two American anti-heroes as they try to substain their way of life while avoiding both The Law and their own inevitable last stands in the desolation of South America.
The one-liners are classic, and the characters are both realistic and genuine. From both character's situationally inappropriate confessions, (Sundance: "I can't swim"; Butch: "I never shot someone") to their equally witty responses (appropriately, Butch [laughing as they attempt to jump off a huge cliff]: "Why you CRAZY? The FALL will probably kill you.", Sundance [utterly sarcastic when they are surrounded by Bolivian banditos]: "One HELL of a time to tell me!") to the general unattached yet professional attitude the characters display in their situations, the movie paved the way for the cool, root-for-the-bad-guy response the 90's audience has been expected to see. Forget the fact that Butch is the leader of a gang who is going to rob a legitimate 19th century railroad of a huge sum of money; instead, laugh when they underestimate and level of explosive they use when blowing up the same railroad's safe and the blast skewers the outlaws to the ground. Instead of a classic hero shooting off innumerable bullets with his trusty 6-cylinder relvolver, you have genuine outlaws panting as they reload and fleeing from a mysterious unstoppable force made up of the greatest bounty hunters of the West. It's incredibly satisfying.
The movie was created with realism in mind - showing the audience both the real names of the two outlaws as well as their inaccurate (yet humorous) expectations of South America, in Bolivia. Added to the mix is the love triangle of Butch (as the eternal friend/confidant/womanizer), Sundance (dedicated yet realistic of his profession) and Etta (Katherine Ross' excellent portrayal of a pre-feminist-movement caught between feeling for her two best friends who break the law). It was created specifically to be historically accurate (the mysterious trackers, the destruction of the infamous Hole In The Wall Gang, their flight to South America), although embellished to provide a certain amount of comedic relief.
BC&SK is a wonderful, funnny, almost-family rated adventure/Western flick rated PG for a couple of swear words and general implications of violence. The 60's/70's playboy-icons of Robert Redford (sporting a quiet, side-burned, exasperatted sense of humor) as well as Paul Newmann (blue-eyed, charming, over-involved intellecutal wit) makes this a film from two of the most decorated actors in Hollywood not to be missed. Unfortunately, seeing this movie on the regularly circulated circa 1980, blue-tone balanced, washed-out VHS is a bad idea - rent it on a digitally remastered Laserdisc or DVD for the best experience.
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