Movie Review: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)

There are various genres of ‘classic’ films. However, majority of Westerns ever made, end up becoming awesome, despite if the style is a shoot ’em up action, or a somber tale of endearment. Such a Western is BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, which took two of the best actors of all time, ever… and put them in a simple story that was amazingly awesome.

Rating: 4 Out Of 5 Stars

BUTCH CASSIDY… is a simple tale of two bank robbers, who end up on the run and their adventures through out. It’s sort of a doomed tale, akin to that of Shakespearean epics. There’s not one thing that makes this movie stand out in the annals of cinematic history, rather a combination of a few things.

After a successful spree of Robberies in America, Paul Newman’s’ Butch Cassidy & Robert Redford’s Sundance Kid gain prominence in the eyes of a notorious business man who sets a posse after them to kill them. This makes our heroes have to run for their lives, consistently and through out the film.

they scared… but not beat!

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID is awesome because of the titular characters and their chemistry on screen. Paul Newman & Robert Redford are able to play off one another in such a unique way, that it’s easy to see this movie as being the originator of the ‘Buddy Comedy’ genre.

Paul Newman is on full display in a role typical of his career; smart mouthed, instigating, wiseass who is the older of the pair… and the leader of their li’l rag tag crew of robbers. While Robert Redford also does a similar role as the rest of his films, as a somber and soft-spoken bad ass gun man with awesome aim.

them’s shootin’ eyes…

Where the film excels though, is Director George Roy Hill making such amazing use of silence in the film, along with some jaw dropping tension and amazing lighthearted humor to break it all up. There are scenes of such tense drama that the humor that follows is further enhanced. The establishing scenes in the beginning of the film quickly established the strengths of each character, with Sundance being the more badass of the two, almost like a mercenary. While Butch is, as Sundance reminds us constantly, good at thinking; the brains of the group.

This was a time in movies, where intense background music didn’t accompany every action or suspense scene. Hill makes every tense and dramatic scene that much more nail biting and intense by choosing to have no music in the background accompanying it. A style employed by some of the newer filmmakers, but otherwise a lost art.

classic….

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID is one of the best Westerns out there, not for it’s ground breaking action, amazingly layered storyline or even awesome shoot ‘me ups which Westerns are known for; it’s great simply due to the cerebral journey of two characters it takes us on. A simple story with charismatic characters which the audience becomes invested in right away, despite anti heroes in every sense, is really what drives this movie, and makes the ending that much more controversial.

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