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 and the cinematography by Conrad L.
Hall. Along with Newman and Redford, the film stars Katharine Ross,
Strother Martin, Henry Jones,
Jeff Corey, Sam Elliott, Cloris Leachman, Ted Cassidy, Kenneth Mars and Donnelly Rhodes.
Synopsis
The knife fight and the ruse.
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.
Butch, Sundance and Etta posing for a portrait.
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.
Final image of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: "Fuego!"
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.
Production
The two starring roles were originally offered to Warren Beatty and Steve McQueen. Even 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, Steve McQueen 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.
Responses
Awards and nominations
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 the United States Library of Congress
deemed the film "culturally significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Box office
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 listed[citation needed] above Goldfinger
(1964) – $124.9 million and below Thunderball
(1965) – $141.2 million.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in popular culture
- In the video game Max Payne, a guard can be overheard saying, "The best movie ending ever?
Heh, gotta be 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'. A hero's end, goin' out with guns blazing."
- In the film, A Little Romance, Thelonious Bernard's character, Daniel Michon, raptly watches the film (dubbed in French).
- In the film, Mallrats, Sven-Ole Thorsen's
character, the over-zealous security guard La Fours, is a clear homage by director Kevin
Smith to the classic Western. La Fours follows the protagonists throughout the movie, and is often seen wearing his white
skimmer.
- In the comic book Hitman, Tommy Monaghan, the titular hitman, is talked out
of a suicide run by his friend, Natt, who says "it don't feel like time for Butch and Sundance yet". In the series' final arc,
Natt calls back to this earlier comment, deciding that it does feel like they'll go out guns blazing.
- In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer and Marge ride on a bicycle while 'Raindrops are
falling on my head' is playing in a similar fashion to the famous scene in the film.
- In the third season of the popular HBO original series Entourage, when main character Vincent Chase, played by
Adrian Grenier, meets fictional legendary producer Bob Ryan, played by Martin Landau, he greets him and mentions that he loved Bob Ryan's work on Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid.
- In the film, Hot Fuzz, Simon Pegg and
Nick Frost's characters are having a shootout against the "villains" of the film at the
ending. The shootout parodies Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's shootout as well.
- In the television show Farscape, main character John
Crichton (played by Ben Browder) creates an alias for himself and his partner,
Aeryn Sun (played by Claudia Black) on an alien planet.
"I'm Butch. This is Sundance"
- In the film, The Way of the Gun, the protagonists take on the aliases of
Mr. Parker and Mr. Longbaugh, the real names of Butch and Sundance.
- In the film Beverly Hills Cop Billy Judge
Reinhold references the movie during a gunbattle at the end of the film.
- Miami Dolphins' running backs Jim Kiick and
Larry Csonka were known as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."
- In The Fast Show, Simon and Lindsey, the extreme sports enthusiasts, spoof the ending
of the film during a paintballing game.
- One scene near the end of Shanghai Noon is a homage to the last shot of the
film
- In the television show Stargate SG-1, Butch and Sundance are referenced several times
when someone (usually Colonel Jack O'Neill, played by Richard Dean Anderson) is in need of a cover up name, or simply in a tough situation.
- In a particular Sealab 2021 episode, Marco is found to be an ex-character on the fake
show, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids.
- In the popular television show the Office the character Dwight (in a moment of comedy) compares Michael Scott to Mozart and
himself to Butch Cassidy (who he says are legendary friends).
Legacy
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.
The film inspired a television series, Alias Smith and Jones, starring
Pete Duel and Ben Murphy as two outlaws trying to earn an
amnesty [1]. It has also been spoofed in films such as
Shanghai Noon [2] and Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves, and TV
shows such as The Simpsons (in the episode Duffless), Futurama, The
Venture Bros. and Full Metal Panic [citation needed].
References
‹ The template below (Refs) is being considered for deletion. See
templates for deletion to help reach a consensus. ›
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
