Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Paul Newman is Butch Cassidy and Robert Redford is The Sundance Kid in this tale of how the notorious outlaws wound up fleeing to Bolivia.

Their gang robs the same Union Pacific Overland Flyer train twice in a matter of days. But after the second robbery, a second train shows up.

Turns out that train is transporting a posse that’s both skilled and dogged in its pursuit of Butch and Sundance. Several times, the duo tries a trick to throw the posses off their track. The posse keeps right on coming, prompting them to ponder: “Who are those guys?”

They eventually escape and make it back to the home of school teacher Etta Place, the Sundance Kid’s lover. And she has the answers, thanks to newspaper reports.

The posse was hired by railroad president E. H. Harriman to track down the Hole in the Wall Gang. It’s headed by fame Indian tracker Lord Baltimore and a lawman named LaFors. And it’s to continue pursuing Butch and Sundance until they’re dead or brought to justice.

Bolivia suddenly looks appealing, though it turns out to be nothing like the land of riches Butch had heard about.

But there are banks to be robbed, if you know Spanish. Fortunately, Etta does.

Plus Bolivia offers an opportunity to “go straight,” something that might throw the posses off their trail for good. Though going straight might be more dangerous than robbing those banks.

Review:

A wonderfully unique buddy Western that was nominated for a best picture Oscar and features real chemistry between the two males leads,

Newman plays the affable outlaw with a quick wit and ready smile. Sundance is a man of few words, but you certainly don’t want to be facing a gun he’s holding.

Etta, meanwhile, has feelings for both men and wonders who’s bed she would have wound up in had she met Butch first. Their relationship is best summed up when they return home after eluding the posse. She walks up and wraps her arms around both men.

Theirs are the only three featured characters in the film, but it features a host of excellent cameos. Among those: George Furth as Woodcock, the railroad guard so loyal to Harriman that he’ll risk being blown to bits to protect his money; Jeff Corey as Sheriff Bledsoe, who helps Butch and Sundance, then insists they tie him up and gag him so no one will suspect he has; and Strother Martin as Percy Garris, the Bolivian miner who hires Butch and Sundance to guard his payroll.

“Midnight Cowboy” took honors for Best Picture that year. This film, however, did win the Oscars for best screenplay and best original movie song, the latter for “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head,” the song played as Butch takes Etta for a ride on his new bicycle.

Directed by:
George Roy Hill

Cast:
Paul Newman … Butch Cassidy (Robert LeRoy Park)
Robert Redford … The Sundance Kid (Harry Longabaugh)
Katharine Ross … Etta Place
Strother Martin … Percy Garris
Henry Jones … Bike Salesman
Jeff Corey … Sheriff Ray Bledsoe
George Furth … Woodcock
Cloris Leachman … Anges
Ted Cassidy … Harvey Logan
Kenneth Mars … Marshal
Donnelly Rhodes … Macon
Jody Gilbert … Large woman on train
Timothy Scott … News Carver
Don Keefer … Fireman
Charles Dierkop … Flat Nose Curry
Pancho Cordova … Bank manager
Nelson Olmsted … Photographer
Paul Bryar … Card player
Sam Elliott … Card player
Charles Akins … Bank teller
Eric Sinclair … Tiffany’s salesman

Runtime: 110 min.

Memorable lines:

Butch Cassidy, after inspecting the security in a bank: “What happened to the old bank? It was beautiful.”
Bank guard: “People kept robbing it.”
Butch: “Small price to pay for beauty.”

Butch Cassidy: “Every time I see the Hole in the Wall it’s like seeing it fresh — for the first time. And every time that happens, I keep asking myself the same question: How can I be so damn stupid to keep coming back here?”

Butch Cassidy: “Look, if we had been in business during the California Gold Rush, where would we have gone? California, right?”
Sundance Kid: “Right.”
Butch: “So when I say Bolivia, you just think California.”

Butch Cassidy: “Boy, I got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals.”

Sheriff Ray Bledsoe: “You should have let yourself get killed a long time ago when you had the chance. See, you may be the biggest thing to ever hit this area, but you’re still two-bit outlaws. I never met a soul more affable than you Butch. You’re faster than the Kid. But you’re still two-bit outlaws on the dodge. It’s over. Don’t you get that? Your times is over. You’re going to die bloody. And all you can do is choose where.”

Etta Place, about going to Bolivia: “I’m 26, and I’m single, and a school teacher, and that’s the bottom of the pit. And the only excitement I’ve known is here with me now. I’ll go with you, and I won’t whine, and I’ll sew your socks, and I’ll stitch you when you’re wounded, and I’ll do anything you ask of me except one thing. I won’t watch you die. I’ll miss that scene if you don’t mind.”