Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
(1969) is that rare Western that goes off the beaten path, at one point quite
literally by leaving the American West behind. It is also sometimes
cartoonishly funny as outlaws use too much dynamite to blow up a safe, jump off
a cliff to evade a posse, and have to learn a new language in the middle of a bank
robbery. At its core it is the story of two friends who, despite the occasional
argument, stay together until the end.
The first time I saw the movie was more than a decade
ago when if I wanted to watch a classic movie I had to rent it from a store. It
was not the best cinematic experience since the disc was scratched and the image
kept jumping in the first minutes, but eventually it got better. I recently
rewatched it on Disney +, since Disney seems intent on owning everything, and
was pleasantly reminded of what a fun movie this is. It is not Blazing
Saddles in terms of silliness, but it’s certainly not Unforgiven in
terms of violence either.
The titular outlaws Butch and Sundance are played by
Hollywood icons Paul Newman and Robert Redford, who have such good on-screen chemistry
they reteamed with director George Roy Hill for another classic, The Sting.
Clearly this was a case of two actors who loved working together between takes.
Even though this is later in their career as criminals, you quickly understand
the rapport between Butch, the brains of the operation, and Sundance, the quick
shooter. They have a shorthand, almost finishing each other’s sentences. Sundance
has a lover, Etta (Katharine Ross), but you get the impression the one
relationship that matters the most to him is Butch. Make of that what you will.
Along with the rest of their Hole in the Wall Gang, Butch
and Sundance have built quite the reputation. When they rob a train, the
engineer wants to see them at work. When they rob that same train a second time,
they are on a first name basis with the clerk that is guarding the safe. Unfortunately,
they have caused so much financial troubles to the people they are robbing that
a special posse has been dispatched to hunt them down. It truly is a hunt as
the posse relentlessly chases Butch and Sundance through forests, deserts, and
rocky hills. The two outlaws can only speculate who might chasing them as
though it was some outlaw boogeyman. Whoever they are, the local newspapers say
they will not quit until Butch and Sundance are dead.
This is when the movie takes a turn, with the two
outlaws and Etta packing their bags and fleeing to Bolivia. In movies the cliché
with American criminals on the run is that they will flee to Mexico. Butch
however has heard there are lots of silver and gold mines in Bolivia, hence
lots of banks to rob. After a picturesque stop in New York City, the trio makes
it to South America where things are not as easy as Butch imagined. For one
thing, the outlaws forgot that if you are going to rob a bank in Bolivia, you
need to know how to say “Put your hands up” in Spanish. Despite patient Spanish
lessons from Etta, and the occasional use of cheat cards, the two quickly catch
the attention of the local authorities under the name “Bandidos Yankees”.
It is pretty ironic that nowadays plenty of Americans
want to wall up their border to stop criminals coming from South America, but over
a century ago two Americans were busy robbing Bolivian banks. This is a true
story, albeit with a few dramatic licenses since the movie begins by saying “Most
of what follows is true.” For all I know Butch and Sundance might have killed a
few innocent bystanders while robbing some banks between the United States and
Bolivia. However, as played by Newman and Redford, you can’t help but root for
the movie characters that are Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. If they were
robbing my train, I also would love to see them work.
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