Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), the likeably entertaining story of hfe friendship of two legendary, turn-of-the-century Western outlaws.


 Two outlaws, the sly, funny, witty, and egotistical Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the quick-drawing, dead-panning, dim-witted Sundance Kid (Robert Redford), team up together. Sundance often tells Butch, "You just keep thinkin', Butch. That's what you're good at." 

In the opening sepia-toned scene, Sundance displays his fearsome reputation, when a cardplayer accuses him of cheating. Sundance pays a visit to schoolteacher Etta Place (Katharine Ross), forcing her to strip for him at gunpoint, until we learn that they are lovers and know each other.

 Memorable image: 

- the comical-lyrical "Bicycle Ride" sequence in which Butch tries out the latest invention with Etta on the handlebars, accompanied by award-winning song, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head." 

Following two robberies of the Union Pacific Railroad, they are pursued by a relentless posse, led by a sheriff in a white hat named Joe Lefors. Butch repeatedly asks Sundance as they look over their shoulders and try to evade the posse: 

Who are those guys?

Their frequent comic bantering is a highlight of the film. When they are trapped by the posse on a ledge at the edge of a steep canyon with nowhere to go, Butch learns that the Kid is afraid of jumping into the river far below because he can't swim. Butch comments:

 

Why, you crazy - the fall'll probably kill you!

As they jump into the river, Sundance wails: "Oh, s--t!" 

They go to South America (Bolivia), thinking it will be easy living there, but it isn't. Butch promises Sundance that they will feel better after robbing a bank there too. "He'll feel a lot better after we've robbed a couple of banks." 

Back to their old ways, they are wounded and cornered in an empty building by hundreds of Bolivian soldiers. They joke to each other:

 

Butch: Is that what you call giving cover?
Sundance: Is that what you call running? If I knew you were going to stroll... 

While bleeding badly, they talk of new places to go. Butch asks Sundance: 

Butch: You didn't see Lefors out there, did ya?
Sundance: Lefors? No.

Before they emerge with guns blazing from their hiding place for their last shootout, Butch says confidently:

 

Good. For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble. 

The picture ends with the well-known freeze-frame of their final charge, drowned out by the sounds of thousands of guns firing on them.

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