(As always, potential spoiler alert.)
I find myself with some free time on my hands today. After waking up early today to film and edit an ice bucket challenge, I wondered what to do with the rest of my day. So, browsing through my DVD collection, I decided to watch one I picked up on sale. Namely, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.
I'll be the first to tell you, I'm pretty far behind on classic movies to watch. My knowledge is more of modern films, but I try to educate myself when I can. I had always heard good things about this film, so I took it as an opportunity to learn a little bit more about what makes a classic movie a classic. I'll treat this as a review, but after pros and cons, since this an older film, I'll give you my opinion on whether or not it still holds up today. I'll only be doing that last bit for older films. Let me know what you think, but for now, let's begin.
Plot Summary:
Our story begins with Butch (Paul Newman), Sundance (Robert Redford), and Butch's hole in the wall gang (Sundance considered himself seperate from the group) deciding that they want to rob a train called the Union Pacific Overland Flyer, a train known to be carrying money to and from it's respective end points. They decide to rob it coming both back and forth. The first robbery goes off without a hitch, but the second one ends when a posse lead by the best trackers and lawmen in the west come after them. After a grueling chase, Butch and Sundance meet up with Sundances girlfriend Etta Place (Katharine Ross). Realizing that they'll never stopped being chased, the three of them decide to go to Bolivia. After a string of successful robberies, they suspect the lawmen from the states have followed them to Bolivia, causing them to rethink what to do. They land a job and attempt to go straight, but after being ambushed by robbers and having to get the money back, they decide to return to robbery, but Etta returns to the United States. After stealing a payroll themselves, they arrive at a nearby town and are discovered by the police and the army. Butch and Sundance to decide to go out fighting and......the movie ends. It leaves you to decide what happens to them.
Now, the next step.
Pros - Where do I begin? First off, the chemistry between Paul and Robert is amazing. The Real Butch and Sundance were friends, but Paul and Robert sell it like they were the best of friends. They bounce off each other perfectly humor wise as well. The movie is full of humor and every joke is spot on. The cinematography is fantastic as well, especially in the chase sequence, there are so many fantastic shots of the complex landscape of the west and all of it is gorgeous. There's even two montage sequences that are supposed to show large passages of time going by and they do those well too. The pacing in this film is perfect, you never feel like anything has arrived out of the blue.I would complain that Etta is sort of barely in the film, but I can overlook that by the fact that they don't force some stupid love triangle between the three of them.
Cons - Honestly, aside from Etta not being in it enough, I can't think of any. Maybe how the film sort of just plops you in in the beginning, but even then that's a minor nitpick at best.
Does it still hold up today? - Absolutely. You don't get put into the national film registry by being mediocre. They even tried making a prequel to it. I've read it got mixed reviews, but even that got nominated for an Oscar.
Final Score - 10/10
The first one of these I've given since doing this, this film easily deserves it. If you get a chance, I may have a DVD copy, but I know it's on Netflix, and if you need a solid western with a fantastic sense of humor, I'd easily recommend this.
And that's the first Retro Review. I rather enjoyed writing it, and I hope you enjoyed reading this.
Until next time, I'll see you around.
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