Review of Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

Introduction

It couldn’t have looked like a blockbuster on paper: a jokey pair of bumbling crims in anachronistic Western setting with no villain and little plot. Oh, and they die at the end. But William Goldman’s hilarious buddy-western comes alive on screen, courtesy of great chemistry, intelligent direction and of course, that great bantering dialogue. Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) a couple of smooth, light-hearted bandits and bank-robbers, find themselves on the receiving end of a tireless head-hunt by a gang of fearless mercenaries as they flee across the country in search for their always elusive freedom (Bolivia, Australia, etc). Along for the ride is Sundance’s schoolteacher girlfriend Katherine Ross as they manage to stay one step ahead of the law, until that famous showdown.

Video

Excellent. Given its age (‘Butch and Sundance’ is now in its early 30s) the image has almost no traces of dirt or imperfection and although it doesn’t quite have the sharpness or clarity of a newer release, this is well-above par.

Audio

Less impressive. We get a mono track instead of a remastered dolby surround and since this film is a lively action/comedy, it would have benefited immensely from greater effort in this area. That said, the mono track is crisp and without any discernable flaws.

Features

A brilliant documentary that essentially consists of 40 minutes of behind the scenes footage accompanied by commentary from the film’s cast and crew, particularly excellent is Hill whose determined and humorous tone never fails to delight. The commentary track is slightly less impressive, given the fact it’s dominated by the film’s jabbering (and not particularly interesting) ‘Associate Producer’. So much so that Hill barely gets a word in, however it’s saved by some enlightening comments by the superb cinematographer Conrad Hall.

Also on the disk is at least 35 minutes worth of retrospective interviews with Newman, Redford, Katherine Ross, Goldman and composer Burt Bacharach, as well as an amusing section showing the conflicting recollections of the team. Topping off this excellent package are three vintage trailers, an alternative credit roll (about as interesting as it sounds) and some rather good production notes.

Conclusion

A jaunty, irreverent western, that manages to sustain its slightly aimless story with an engaging subtext that both captures the nature of the frontier outsider and feels oddly prescient in today’s climate of unblinking surveillance and faceless enemies. The ‘chase’, staggered and slightly abstract, takes on a metaphysical dimension: the pursuer’s have names, but no faces, no discernable passion or motive. Their pursuit is totally undaunted, perfect, inhuman. Stalked across desert, canyons and states, it becomes clear that Butch and Sundance are running from fate itself.

And fate, of course, arrives. Once Butch and Sundance have discovered that Bolivia is more a dust-swept dump than an idyllic lawless paradise (in its own way, a parody of Peckinpah’s obsession with the mythical stature of the outlaw’s sanctuary), they fall back into crime and end up surrounded by what we can only assume is the entire Bolivian army. Naturally, Butch and Sundance bicker while bleeding and reloading and talking of the new paradise fantasy, if only they could shoot their way out…

Clearly, this relies almost completely on the chemistry between Redford and Newman, and, fortunately, this is where the movie succeeds almost flawlessly: they are quite possibly the most likeable pair of violent criminals ever to grace the silver screen. Redford is charming in his breakthrough role, and Newman is as brilliant as ever, cementing his status as one of the greatest actors of his generation. Ross, in a minor role, excels in charisma and beauty for what she lacks in screen time and director Hill handles the action, comedy and drama with an impressive sense of economy. Hill would later re-team with Redford and Newman for the much less enjoyable (but Oscar winning) ‘The Sting’, but ‘Butch and Sundance’ remains on top of its class, re-inventing the buddy flick for a savvy, cynical audience in this coy, cool and completely enjoyable crowd-pleaser.