BUTCH AND SUNDANCE: THE EARLY DAYS
A film review by Shane R. Burridge
Copyright 1995 Shane R. Burridge
(1979) 107m.
How do you make a sequel to a film in which the two lead characters have been gunned down in a shootout? The answer, as 20th Century Fox figured, is to make it a prequel. Fox obviously felt there was more dollar potential to be milked from their 1969 hit BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (a winner for stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford), but it was another ten years before Allan Burns took up the reins as scriptwriter and delivered this modest, good-humored western. Realizing that it would be impossible for "name" stars to replace Redford and Newman, the producers opted instead for relative newcomers William Katt and Tom Berenger, who had previously featured in a dozen films between them. The result is enjoyable on every level--Laszlo Kovac's location photography, easygoing performances by Katt (Sundance) and Berenger (Cassidy), and the tidy directing job undertaken by Richard Lester. While THE EARLY DAYS has Lester's sure touch, it doesn't look like a "typical" Lester effort--I suspect he decided to forego his usual edgy, improvisational choreography after seeing dailies of Kovac's beautifully photographed scenery.
As the title suggests, the story is little more than a series of adventures, recounting the meeting of Butch and Sundance and the start of their friendship/partnership. From scene one, however, you won't be able to shake the feeling that Berenger is not trying to play the part of Cassidy as much as he is trying to persuade us that he is Newman. Wisely, the beginning of the film concentrates on his character so that by the time Sundance appears we have accepted Berenger in the Cassidy role. We can enjoy watching their escapades once their rapport has been established because this time, at least, we know that they will not die. And the screenplay thankfully avoids the trap of resorting to Plan B: "When audience knows lead characters are in no danger, provide loved ones or long-time friends to kill off in tragic manner." Lester and Burns come up with many quirky spins on familiar standards (this is the only western I've seen with ski-ing in it!), including the bank holdup, the gunfight, and, of course, the train robbery. Most redeeming feature of THE EARLY DAYS is that it does not try to be a phoney epic or copy scenes of the film that spawned it, as most sequels generally tend to do. Lester similarly avoids making it nostalgic or sentimental. Film, like its predecessor, ends on a freeze-frame - otherwise it resists any ironical in-jokes pointing to the 1969 production. It exists on its own terms. Favorite moment: Cassidy's hastily-invented nickname for the as-yet-unnamed Sundance. Supporting players include Brian Dennehy, Jill Eikenberry and Peter Weller (introduced as La Force, their nemesis of the earlier film).
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