Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid DVD > Reviews > You'll never meet a pair like Butch and the Kid

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Outstanding
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Great cinematography, Challenges the normal expectations of typical western
Disadvantages:	None

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

By 1969, westerns were becoming the least favourite films of the viewing public. People were beginning to get bored after many western films followed the same formula: a clean shaved hero succeeding in action-packed, tension-building gun-fights against the bad guy, a well dressed beautiful girl and lots of attractive scenery. However, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid still remains one of the most heart-felt and successful films of all time. In 1970, the film won 4 Oscars for "Best Cinematography", "Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture", "Best Music, Original Song" and "Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced". It later won 17 and was nominated for another 11 awards.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (BCSK) contains many elements of a traditional western: clean shaven heroes, the bad guys in bandanas and hats, the respectably dressed young lady and the saloon. However, these elements are reversed throughout the film: the heroes, the posse that are after the famous duo, are not actually seen in the film. One of the two outlaws, who are the main characters of the film, is clean shaven and well-dressed and the beautiful young lady likes the them both. Roy Hill, Foreman and Goldman were ready to take the risk of reversing these elements. In the late 60s, film critics could not see how the film would ever become a success but even they were proven wrong when audiences were slowly drawn to the theatre by the promise of a Paul Newman film. At the time of this film, Paul Newman was at the top of his acting career whereas Robert Redford was a new actor with very little experience. Some elements of BCSK refer to High Noon, an outstanding western directed by Fred Zinneman, such as when the train comes through the beautiful scenery and the good guy (the Marshall) fails to raise a posse. Furthermore, Butch and Sundance, the villains in the film, are presented as heroes and the audience immediately begins to like them. They become our heroes as the film goes on.

The film starts as Butch Cassidy (Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Redford), the leaders of the famous Hole in the Wall Gang, meet each other after a long time and decide to rob the Union Pacific Flyer (a train transporting money) instead of banks like they usually do. The first robbery goes very well and the Marshall (Kenneth Mars) cannot manage to raise a posse. Sundance's lover, Etta Place (Katherine Ross), is introduced in the mock-rape scene but both men want her as she also goes on a romantic bike-ride with Butch as well. The second robbery goes wrong because a train arrives behind the Flyer, which is carrying a posse who have been ordered to find and kill Butch and Sundance. The gang flees and some to do not survivie. Still on the run the next day, they find out that the people who are chasing them include Lord Baltimore, an Indian tracker, and Joe Lefors, a lawman, identifiable by his white hat. We never see their faces in the film. They arrive at Etta's house and learn that the posse has been paid to stay together until they kill Butch and the Kid. They decide to escape to Bolivia. They continue to rob banks and after each robbery, they seem to get better at it with the help of Etta, until they are sought by the authorities all over Bolivia. They fear that Lefors is still looking for them and Butch suggests going straight. They get their first honest job as payroll guards in a Mine and are employed by Percy Garrison (Strother Martin). However, on their first day Butch and Sundance are forced to kill the Bolivian robbers. Butch had never killed a man in his entire criminal lifetime, but while they are attempting to go straight, he is forced to kill them. Etta decides to leave them as she senses that their days are numbered and she does not want to watch them die. A few days later, Butch and Sundance arrive at a new village and are recognised straight away. The police arrive and a climatic gun battle begins (the highlight of the film). The two of them manage to find shelter in an empty house, but they are soon low on ammunition. The pair realise that their time is up. They dash out of the house in a poor attempt to fight back. The image freezes and slowly turns to sepia while a voice is heard ordering: "Fuego!" (Fire), followed by the sound of hundreds of rifles being fired.

There could truly be only one pair to play the part of Butch and Sundance. Newman, who plays Butch Cassidy, is the first thing the audience sees after the 'projector' style opening. The audience immediately knows that this is a character that they will like. After the many repetitions of western films, the audience expects the clean shaven and smartly presented man to be the hero. The part of Butch Cassidy was first given to Steve McQueen (from Bullet) but he turned it down. The first part of the Sundance Kid was actually given to Paul Newman but Newman was then offered Butch's character. Roy Hill was positively sure that Redford would fill the part of Sundance really well. Despite the fact that he was a new actor, the chemistry between him and Butch is still hard to forget today. McQueen and Newman have however done a film together, after BCSK, called The Towering Inferno (1974). Newman and Redford have done a film together after BCSK as well call The Sting (1973).

Hill chose Katherine Ross as Etta because he loved her innocent look and enthusiasm to work however, tension soon built between Hill and Ross. This shows that even though the film had an amazing crew and cast, there were a few mistakes that everybody made. Before and after the film, Ross' career had not been as good as Newman's and Redford's. She hoped to get a lot from BCSK but did not succeed. The on-screen chemistry between Newman, Redford and Ross is genuine and very comfortable. The main purpose of the three musical sequences is to establish Etta in the film and to establish her relationship with Butch as well as Sundance. Hill wanted to give her character more importance. The first music sequence where Etta and Butch are riding on the bike is carried out by "Raindrops keep fallin' on my head" being played in the foreground and the scene is shot in soft-focus to make it look like it is almost a dream. "Raindrops keep fallin' on my head" was the number one song on the Billboard Hot 100 list in the United States in January, 1970. It is known as a very happy, optimistic song. B. J. Thomas had the first number-one hit of the 1970s, when it took the top spot on January 3. It was written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach.

The contributions of the minor characters are important in this film. For example, Woodcock (George Furth) and his innocence when the gang rob the flyer is almost comical to watch. Butch makes sure if Woodcock, the flyer's attendant, is okay and he greets him almost as if they are friends. Without this being in the film, the audience would not be able to understand how Butch could ever be a nice guy. The Marshall (Kenneth Mars) refers to Kane from High Noon when he tries to raise a posse but everyone refuses to help however, the audience sees the Marshall as a fool and he is another comical character. The Sheriff (Jeff Corey) is a friend to the pair and they run to him for help but he says that whatever they do, they will still be hunted down. When he says this, the audience can see the expressions on their faces and immediately know that what he is saying is actually going to happen. We get constant reminders from the minor characters of what is going to happen to Butch and Sundance. The posse, whom we never see, are significant throughout the film as we gradually begin to hate them and worry whether Butch and Sundance will get caught. Percy Garrison (Strother Martin), the innocent man who was shot by the Bolivian bandits, is a wake-up call to Butch and Sundance. They are forced to kill the bandits and realise that they are no good at going straight. The large woman (Jody Gilbert) who comes off the train also contributes to the film. When she comes out of the flyer, the audience realise that the duo prefer not to kill people. Here you notice a difference between Butch and Sundance: Butch does not like killing people whereas Sundance sees it as the easiest option.

Hill preferred to shoot the film scenes in sequence so that the actors could develop into their characters. The film was not budget-driven but was driven by the desire to make it. He aimed to make a successful film instead of saving the most money and stuck to telling the storyline and nothing else. He first had an image of BCSK as being a 'dark' comedy however, the film developed into something quite different. Hill has been known to leave actors when they are doing well and help them when they are doing badly. Hill also added a lot of things to the script to enable the characters to develop. By doing this, he has coaxed wonderful performances from his cast.

The ingenious cinematography is the element that makes this film seem authentic and reinforces the story of the real Butch and Sundance. Hill made sure that each camera angle in a single scene matched up to what it would look like in real life. He wanted the weather to appear the same as a scene played along to make it look authentic. There are many unusual things in this film that you would not find in a typical western. For example, the way the colour changes from sepia to colour so slowly that you barely notice it. Sepia is the colour that black and white turns after a while and is used in this film to give that feeling of what used to be. BCSK integrates footage in Sepia, mainly at the start of the film, to suggest that these are genuine flashbacks. The silent movie clip at the beginning made to look like a typical western tells the audience what to expect in the film. The silent footage which is 'projected' along with a woodwind instrument being played in the foreground suggests something sad. Hall designed this opening scene because he wanted the audience to take it in subliminally and he wanted to make the film seem real. Hall hired a specialist, Robert Crawford, to do the opening scene.

BCSK is a very innovative film. When Butch, Sundance and Etta escape to Bolivia, instead of footage there are still photographs which are designed to look like holiday photographs. Crosby focused on catching the happy moments and this technique is effective because it speeded up the duration of the film. The 'photographs' which are 'flick-over' images are all faded to make it look like these moments are memories that the three of them will never forget. We hear a non-diagetic sound during this in the form of cheerful music. There have been many close-up shots of Butch and Sundance which gives the audience the chance to capture their facial expressions and connect with them.

Tension builds and drops throughout the film and you half expect Butch and Sundance to die. The mock-rape scene is brilliantly lighted to raise the tension. This is where we first see Etta and we think that she is the hero's girl because of her long dress. She looks genuinely scared when she sees Sundance sitting in her bedroom. The dark lighting and shadows helps to bring the tension straight up and we expect Sundance to rape her, knowing the he is the bad guy after all. Sundance is presented in both light and shade which makes him look like a typical outlaw. There are lots of long-shots to establish her in this scene and close-up shots of what Sundance is looking at: her body while she is forced to undress. The scene is quite silent except for the sound of Sundance's gun which also adds to the tension. Surprisingly, we realise that this is a game that they play before he spends the night at her house.

As the title shows, the film is directly about Butch and Sundance. BCSK is about true friendship. The film highlights the 'highs' and 'lows' of Butch Cassidy, and the Sundance Kid's lives and how their friendship managed to get them through difficult situations. Throughout the film, there is quite a lot of humour despite the fact that they are dealing with death almost all the time. This humour is used to deflect the audience's attention from the violence. This western is loosely based on historical fact but it has glamorised the lives of these two legends. There are several gang robberies involving our two favourite characters however you see some goodness in Butch. For example, when they blow up the flyer (the train which transports money from bank to bank), Butch makes sure if Woodcock (Flyer's attendant) is okay and he greets him almost as if they are friends. In the end, they try to change their ways and become good men by getting themselves jobs. However, Butch is put in a difficult situation where for the first time in his life he is forced to kill a gang of robbers (an imitation of what he and Sundance used to be). The audience almost feels the rush of sadness at this point and the scene slows down to emphasise the importance of this scene.

Today, BCSK still remains one of the most talked about western of all times not just for its surprisingly good storyline but for the excellent cinematography and use of original music. The trio (Newman, Redford, and Ross) are still in contact today. The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang is a famous expression which is still used today to refer to cash-machines. The film inspired the western television series Alias Smith and Jones, starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy as two outlaws trying to earn an amnesty like Butch and Sundance were doing in BCSK. It was first shown on ABC between 1971 and 1973. Furthermore, Shangai Noon (2000), a martial arts western comedy starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson as Chan's western sidekick, is a spoof of BCSK. The relationship between Chan and Wilson in the film is designed to look exactly like the close friendship of Butch and Sundance.

The ending of BCSK is very different to other western films. In many westerns, there have been some truly distressing deaths but the death of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has to be the worst. Despite the fact that they are the bad guys and the bad guys always die, the pair realise that their time is up and make a poor attempt to fight back. The image freezes and slowly turns to sepia while a voice is heard ordering: "Fuego!" (Fire), followed by the sound of hundreds of rifles being fired. The image freezes so that the audience can accept the deaths of the pair without having to get too upset about it. Even though we do not see them die, we do not want to see them die. This is the last scene, and the fact that Sundance protects Butch, shows that their friendship means more than a couple of robberies. The image returns to sepia and is designed to connect the opening and the ending of the film. Hall chose to keep the credits rolling over the picture of Butch and Sundance because it looks like a sad memory.

All the elements of BCSK mix together to give a really satisfying and engaging film. The sepia toned cinematography is perfect for setting that "what-used-to-be" mood. The editing, from Butch's fighting to the dynamite explosion on the flyer, remains perfect throughout the film. All of the people behind this film, from the cast to the crew, have really made this film an everlasting memory. This is the second western film (after High Noon) that I have seen from the beginning to the end and I have enjoyed it. Despite the fact that this film is quite old now, it still tells the story of the Hole in the Wall Gang in such a way that we see them as the good guys rather than the bad. There is no surprise that BCSK has been ranked in the top 100 films of all time and the top 10 for its decade. I do not think that anything in the film could have been changed to make it better; everything from the acting to the cinematography is excellent. Giving the part of the Sundance kid to Robert Redford was a very good idea because he fits in really well and the female audiences love him. When I watched the film, I didn't notice when it changed from sepia to colour because brown colours were used to keep the sepia tone in the audience's mind. The cinematography and filming has been used really well. The ending of BCSK is the best ending there could possibly be to a film because, like the typical outlaws that they are, they do not give up. The ending is easier to accept because we do not actually see them die. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of the only westerns that have had some sort of impact on the films of today.