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| Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid | |
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 film poster by Tom Beauvais |
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| Directed by | George Roy Hill |
| Produced by | John Foreman |
| Written by | William Goldman |
| Starring | Paul Newman Robert Redford Katharine Ross |
| Music by | Burt Bacharach (music) Hal David (lyrics) |
| Cinematography | Conrad L. Hall |
| Editing by | John C. Howard Richard C. Meyer |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | 23 September 1969 (US limited) 24 October 1969 (US wide) |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a 1969 Western film that tells the story of bank robber Butch Cassidy (played by Paul Newman) and his partner The Sundance Kid (played by Robert Redford). The film is only loosely based on historical fact, but it popularized the legends of these Western icons.
The film was directed by George Roy Hill and produced at 20th Century Fox by John Foreman from a screenplay by William Goldman. The music score was by Burt Bacharach with song lyrics by Hal David. Along with Newman and Redford, the film stars Katharine Ross, and features Strother Martin, Henry Jones, Jeff Corey, Sam Elliott, Cloris Leachman, Ted Cassidy, Kenneth Mars and Donnelly Rhodes.
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Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, the leaders of the famous Hole in the Wall Gang, are planning another bank robbery. As they return to their hideout in Hole-in-the-Wall, they find out that the gang has selected a new leader, Harvey Logan. He challenges Butch to a knife fight, which Butch wins, using a ruse. Logan had the idea to rob the Union Pacific Flyer instead of banks. He wanted to rob it twice, the idea being that the return would be considered safe and therefore more money might be involved. Butch takes this idea as his own.
The first robbery goes very well and the Marshal of the next town can't manage to raise a posse. Butch and Sundance listen to his attempts, enjoying themselves. Sundance's lover, Etta Place, is introduced. But obviously both men vie for her attention as she also goes bike-riding with Butch, a dialogue-free part of the film, accompanied by "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."
The second robbery goes wrong. Not only does Butch use too much dynamite to blow the safe, but also a second train arrives, which is carrying a posse that has been specially outfitted to hunt Butch and Sundance down. The gang flees, but the entire posse follows Butch and Sundance. They try hiding in a brothel but are betrayed. When they find out the posse is following their trail, they try riding double on a single horse in the hope that the posse will split up, but that fails. They then try to arrange an amnesty with the help of a friendly sheriff (Jeff Corey). But he tells them they have no chance of getting one, and that they will be hunted down until they are killed by the posse.
Still on the run the next day, they muse about the identities of their pursuers. They fixate on Lord Baltimore, a famous Indian tracker, and Joe Lefors, a tough, renowned lawman, identifiable by his white skimmer. After climbing some mountains, they suddenly find themselves trapped on the edge of a canyon. They decide to jump into the river far below, even though Sundance can't swim and would prefer to fight.
Later that day, 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 it's time to leave the country. Destination: Bolivia.
After a montage of showing Butch, Sundance, and Etta of their travels to New York, they arrive in a small Bolivian village at the end of the world. Sundance already resents the choice. Their first attempted bank robbery stops before it gets off the ground, as they are unable to speak Spanish. Etta teaches them the words they need. Their next robbery is clumsily executed, as Butch still needs his cribsheet. After each robbery, they seem to get better, until they are sought by the authorities all over Bolivia.
However, their confidence drops as one evening they see a man wearing a white straw hat on the other side of the street, and fear that Lefors is once again after them. Butch suggests going straight, so as to not attract Lefors' attention.
They get their first honest job as payroll guards in a mine, directed by an American, named Garris (Strother Martin). However, on their first working day, they are attacked. Garris is killed, and Butch and Sundance are forced to kill the Bolivian robbers. Ironically, Butch had never killed a man in his entire criminal career, but while they are attempting to go straight, he is forced to kill the bandidos. Since they seem unable to escape violence regardless of their occupation, they decide to return to robbery. That evening, Etta decides to leave them as she senses that their days are numbered and she doesn't want to watch them die.
A few days later, Butch and Sundance attack a payroll mule train in the jungle, taking the money and the mule. When they arrive in the nearest town, San Vicente, a stable boy recognizes the brand on the mule's backside and alerts the local police. While Butch and Sundance are eating at a local eatery, the police arrive and a climatic gun battle begins.
The two of them manage to find shelter in an empty house, but they're soon low on ammunition. Butch makes a run to the mule to fetch the rest of the ammunition while Sundance covers him, shooting several Bolivian policemen. But even the "fastest gun in the West" cannot match the twenty or more Bolivian policemen at once. Butch manages to retrieve the ammunition and runs back to the house, but they are both wounded. While tending to their wounds in the house, about 100 soldiers of the Bolivian cavalry arrive and surround the place, eager to get at the notorious Bandidos Yanquis.
The pair discuss where they will be going next, realizing that their time is up (Butch suggests Australia, where at least they speak English). They dash out of the house in a futile attempt to get to their horses. The image freezes and slowly turns to a sepia tone tintype while a voice is heard ordering: "Fuego!" (Fire), followed by the sound of hundreds of rifles being fired in three consecutive volleys.
Goldman's script, originally called "The Sundance Kid and Butch Cassidy," was purchased by 20th Century Fox for $400,000. The two starring roles were originally given to Newman and Steve McQueen, but McQueen left after failing to come to an agreement about which actor would receive top billing. Warren Beatty was considered for one of the lead roles, and Marlon Brando, who at the time had minimal box-office draw, was considered at one point due to his role in an earlier Western, One-Eyed Jacks. At one point, Max Olsen and Paul Newman were expected to star, and they discussed using the new "staggered but equal billing" later introduced for The Towering Inferno. Eventually, Newman and Robert Redford were chosen, but initially Newman was to play Sundance and Redford Cassidy. 20th Century Fox did not want Redford to play the part, but director George Roy Hill insisted. Redford later noted that this film catapulted him to stardom and changed his career forever.
The movie was partially filmed near Durango, Colorado. (The area where they jump into the river is just north of Baker's Bridge in SW Colorado.) In the scene where a railroad car is blown up, the railroad car was built for the scene out of balsa wood and toothpicks. The budget only allowed for one take, and therefore an unusually high amount of explosives was used. The explosion was huge, and the line "Think ya used enough dynamite there, Butch?" is reported to be an ad lib, according to locals who observed.
The film won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical), Best Music, Song (Burt Bacharach and Hal David for "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head") and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Material Not Previously Published or Produced. It was nominated for Best Director, Best Picture and Best Sound.
The film also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film.
In 2003, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
In June 2008, AFI revealed its "Ten top Ten"—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was acknowledged as the seventh best film in the western genre.[1][2]
Adjusted for inflation, the film ranks among the top 100 grossing movies of all time and the top 10 for its decade, partly due to subsequent re-releases. The film grossed about $102.3 million domestically through 1974 and although no data on its worldwide gross is readily available, it is listedcitation needed above Goldfinger (1964) – $124.9 million and below Thunderball (1965) – $141.2 million.
The Sundance Film Festival, begun by Robert Redford, is named for his role in this film, as is his Utah ski resort, Sundance.
Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for seriously ill children is named from the gang in this movie.
A prequel to the film, "Butch and Sundance: The Early Years," starring William Katt and Tom Berenger was released in 1979[3]. The film inspired a television series, Alias Smith and Jones, starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy as two outlaws trying to earn an amnesty [4]. It has also been spoofed in films such as Shanghai Noon [5] and Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and TV shows such as The Simpsons (in the episode Duffless), Futurama, The Venture Bros. and Full Metal Paniccitation needed.
The Sundance Square, a commercial development in downtown Fort Worth, Texas by the Bass Family, is named in honor of the final and most famous portrait taken in that area.
| Awards | ||
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| Preceded by Midnight Cowboy |
BAFTA Award for Best Film 1971 |
Succeeded by Sunday Bloody Sunday |
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