Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Brilliantly combining a light-hearted touch with perfect casting, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid features one of the most memorable cinematic duos ever. Opening in the Mid-West, Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) is checking out the local banks while the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) fritters away his illicit earnings on gambling. The Kid's pretty good so soon there's just him and a professional card player, who makes the mistake of accusing him of cheating. Although this is a move ordinarily guaranteed to shorten your lifespan, the gambler gets off lightly when Butch convinces him to back down. However, he can't bear to end his meeting with the legend that is Sundance without knowing just how fast the Kid his; a volley of accurate shots speaks volumes.

Since they're currently riding with the "Hole in the Wall" gang, the pair ride out to their isolated hide-out. Fully intending to lay out plans for some bank robbing, Butch finds his authority challenged by the hulking Harvey Logan (Ted Cassidy). With Flat Nose Curry (Charles Dierkop) and News Carver (Timothy Scott) passing comments on the situation, Butch proves equal to his adversary, also showing how brains win out over brawn. With scores settled, the gang robs the Union Pacific Railroad train of its payroll, barely slowed down by the intransigence of employee Woodcock (George Furth). Temporarily flush, Butch and Sundance push their luck by lazing on a hotel balcony while down below the Sheriff tries to organise a reluctant posse to hunt the gang down. They're not worried though since everyone's too scared to stand up to the gang.

As they lay low, waiting for the return of the Flyer, Sundance drops by the home of his lover, Etta Place (Katharine Ross). While she is an ordinary teacher to everyone else, these dalliances with outlaws are where Etta gets her excitement, never mind that she loves them both dearly. When the next job inevitably rolls along, the boys once again bump into the battered Woodcock, before blowing his baggage car to bits. However, before they can pick up the money, another train steams into view. As it grinds to a halt, a hidden posse suddenly rides out, straight towards the gang. While Butch and Sundance manage to get away, their foes are right on their trail, relentlessly following through day and night. Now faced with an enemy that just won't quit, the friends have just one question - "Who are those guys?".

Right from the off, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid creates a magical ambience, a sense that this is a film where everything works. With sepia photography casting a washed-out light on the action, the time when the Wild West is in its death throes appears without fuss. Civilisation is coming to the frontier and, like most other ordinary folk, Butch and Sundance welcome it. The problem is that their trade, the only one that they're any good at, tends to annoy the authorities. It's a shame since the pair are so obviously kindred spirits, each incomplete without the other, and they make such a good team. Where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid deviates from similar Westerns is in its comical spin. The buddies engage in witty banter, full of the cutting remarks and knowing comments that pass for conversation between long-term friends, preferring to lark around rather than shoot people.

The principle performances are all excellent, although Newman and Redford stand out. So great is their chemistry that Butch and Sundance become delightful characters, charming yet tinged with a knowing sadness. For all of their slapstick and dead-pan remarks, clouds are gathering on the horizon and the pair know it. Around them orbit a number of minor roles, all of whom make the film three-dimensional and cast light upon Butch and Sundance (without the need for artificially introduced background material). An example of this is the chase, where their pursuers start as indistinct dots then gradually become larger, making little details apparent. We know as much about the posse as the boys do and it's easy to see how the unaccustomed pressure effects them. At first they're confident, riding two horse, then they become uneasy and switch to one. Finally they become incredulous, resorting to foot travel and allowing themselves to be blocked in. Obviously luck has been a large factor in their success and, while it saves them from this tight spot, it's bound to run out eventually.

Complementing the sharp script of William Goldman, the cinematography is both superb and wide-ranging. While the framing and colours of the mountains gives a feel for the scale and wilderness of the region, the film proves equally adept at evoking memories of the silent era. By laying music over pure images, both static and dynamic, it both entertains in an unusual fashion and compresses time wonderfully. The score for these interludes is rather winning, with the memorable "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" a corner-stone. When Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid puts all of these elements together, the result is a dream of a movie which imprints itself on your memory. A sort of comedy-western, but without any of the negative vibes normally associated with the tag, this film deserves to be watched again and again. The only problem is that this is likely to be on TV, where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid loses so much.

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