Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (1969)
 Ah
. . . the sepia tinted fantasy world of the old west, South
American getaways and a bicycle made for two.
It hardly needs saying that the star quality and sex appeal of
Paul Newman and Robert Redford contributed enormously to the box
office bonanza this movie enjoyed.
Newman and Redford appeared as the most friendly, likable pair
of outlaws ever seen in a western. Their knockabout, adventuresome
relationship recalled the mischief of Huckleberry Finn and Tom
Sawyer (and the wisecracking slapstick of Dean Martin and Jerry
Lewis).
The central theme of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
was a common one in 1960s westerns - The dying of the old West and
the reduction of the cowboy to an anachronism.
At the start of the film, Butch is dismayed to find a new
automated bank which will be much more difficult to rob
("What happened to the old bank? It was beautiful").
Butch and Sundance are inseparable buddies to the end. They may
bicker over whether to jump off a cliff, and they may be in love
with the same girl (Katharine Ross), but they never contemplate
parting.
Throughout the film the duo are relentlessly pursued by a
posse, which is scarcely seen but which seems unshakeable and
sophisticated in its tracking methods. In a sense, the posse
symbolizes progress, which will overtake Butch and Sundance sooner
or later and signal their death.
The film has standard Western fare - a daring train raid,
slow-motion deaths, a violent last stand - but the tone is more
important than the theme.
The movie seems cool and modern rather than stately and
serious, as in the classic Western. And in a decade when style
counted for a great deal, Butch and Sundance had style in
abundance.
Burt Bacharach provided a bouncy score, featuring the classic Raindrops
Keep Falling On My Head, as sung by B J Thomas.
|
