There’s something magical about westerns. I have seen, read, and played many westerns over the years and I still can’t place that one mystical element. Maybe it’s the romanticism of an age gone by; perhaps it’s the lawless struggle for survival in a hostile country; or maybe it’s the assless chaps. Whatever the reason (probably the last one), westerns have a knack for scratching an itch of mine that no other film genre manages to do. And by God, if Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid isn’t one of the best westerns I’ve ever seen. Legend speaks of a gang of outlaws called the Wild Bunch. It was run by Butch Cassidy and the lot of them committed acts of robbery and murder out of Wyoming. They stole from the rich and gave to themselves. Once the law caught up with them, Butch, the Sundance Kid, and Sundance’s girlfriend Etta Place fled the country. They made for Argentina, but eventually wound up in Bolivia. It’s there that Butch and Sundance were believed to have their last stand against a handful of Bolivian soldiers, while Etta Place mysteriously vanished from history. At least, that’s what history tells us.
The film actually follows history fairly closely, with only a few alterations. The film was directed by George Roy Hill and originally starred Paul Newman and Steve McQueen, but McQueen dropped out. After passing through a few other hands, the role of Sundance eventually made its way to some unknown hack named Robert Redford. The film launched Redford into super-stardom and began a forty-something year long career that continues to this day. Funny story about Robert Redford: the dude, when younger, looked exactly like Brad Pitt. Or, since Redford came first, Brad Pitt looks exactly like a young Robert Redford. It’s eerie, to say nothing else. Paul Newman looks like Paul Newman, go figure. However, I choose to believe he stole Robert Redford’s mustache once they were done filming Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and decided to wear it to The Color of Money. If their real-life friendship is anything like their onscreen chemistry, then I imagine Redford would have been ecstatic to share his facial hair.
Like I said before, the film follows history very closely. Butch and Sundance are the lead members of a gang of outlaws operating out of Wyoming. They pull bank and train heists while spending their days off at cathouses and riding bicycles to the tune of “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head.” That song, no joke, was written specifically for this film. It’s a funny world sometimes. Too bad the raindrops are soon replaced by ace lawmen and skilled Native American trackers, forcing Butch and Sundance to flee and enter a daring game of cat and mouse. They spend days trying to shake their pursuers, but they aren’t giving up easy. After evading their would-be captors by way of near suicidal jump into a river, they meet up with Sundance’s girlfriend Etta Place and decide that now would be the best time to visit Bolivia. It is a lovely country, after all.
After a sepia-toned montage of the three travelling to New York, evading more police, and dancing the night away on a steamer ship the trio finally wind up in Bolivia. Apparently the filmmakers don’t care for Argentina. It doesn’t take long before the gang is up to their old tricks and they’re robbing banks like the good old days. Their paranoia gets the best of them when they think they spot their old pursuer. This forces them to take a path they never thought they’d take and it leads their final showdown at a Bolivian restaurant. I won’t spoil how the movie ends, but you can probably guess how it all goes down. Butch and Sundance aren’t the kind of cowboys to go riding off into the sunset. Their last stand is one of the most intense shoot-outs in Hollywood history and has some truly spectacular last words of any film ever produced.
There are so many things I appreciate about this movie. First and foremost is the avoidance of the moronic love triangle that Twilight has unleashed into Hollywood like a plague. While there is a short dialogue between Butch and Etta of what could have been, the two remain platonic friends throughout the film. It’s almost like they’re grown-ass adults and know how to act as such. Weird. As for Butch and Sundance, the two have the best chemistry I’ve ever seen out of two actors. Okay, maybe Tom Hanks and Wilson in Cast Away were a little better, but Wilson was a volleyball and lacked manly facial hair. Sure, Tom Hanks had enough facial for the both of them by the end, but he didn’t have it by choice; unlike Redford’s Sundance and his manly mustache of might. I won’t get into detail about how the two interact because it’s glorious to see them act off one another’s insights and faults. It’s pure, dynamic bliss.
If there’s anything I’d have to criticize about the movie, it’s that there isn’t enough of it. I would have loved to see some more of their time in Bolivia, or even when they were with the gang before everything went to crap. The sepia-toned intro felt a little out of place, but that’s such an insignificant nitpick I don’t even know why I brought it up. If you love westerns and haven’t seen Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, give it a watch. It you don’t usually like westerns, give it a watch anyway. This movie feels strangely modern and there’s a good chance you’ll like it for the tense action and the loveable bromance of Butch and Sundance. Also, it’s pretty funny for a western. The leads are more akin to rodeo clowns than gunslingers as they dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge through hailstorms of bullets and lawmen. We don’t get too many westerns anymore or any good ones, at least. That being said, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a western worthy of legend in and of itself.
