Review of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (73)

Due to the unfortunate death of Paul Newman, the Fargo Theatre recently had a Paul Newman film festival in honor of his career and lasting legacy.  One of the movies that was screened just so happened to be the next film on our list, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  The two of us and many other older folks in the 60’s and 70’s packed the theatre to watch this movie on the silver screen.

Plot
The west is becoming civilized and when Butch and Sundance rob a train once too often, a special posse begins trailing them no matter where they run. The duo then packs their guns, don new duds, and, with Sundance's girlfriend, head down to Bolivia. Never mind that they don't speak Spanish - they'll manage somehow.

Jason’s Thoughts
I didn’t quite know what to expect when I went and saw this movie and, after viewing it, I don’t think the director or writers knew exactly what to give its audience.  This movie does run the gamut of genres as on the surface it looks like a full blown western.  Once you get into it, however, there are dashes of romance, action and comedy bits thrown in.  A western with a silly bike ride while “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” is being played?  I can honestly say that I never saw that one coming.

No matter what category you decide to throw this movie into, the seemingly never-ending chase scene where nothing really happens drags this movie down to a category called boring.  I will admit that there were some decent scenes in the movie, like the scene where they use too much dynamite to blow open a safe on a train car, which made the movie at least watchable, but all in all I just can’t see what people love about this film so much and why it is held in such high regards.  I would much rather trade this movie in for Cool Hand Luke or The Sting any time.  In my mind, those are classic Paul Newman movies.

Either that or I am not cut out to enjoy western movies.

Crystal’s Thoughts
I figured since I had just knocked out three blog posts for one of my classes this weekend, a fourth one certainly wouldn’t hurt.  So, I turn to my movie review on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  As I am sure Jason will note, he and I ventured out to do something a bit different for this particular film and watched it at The Fargo Theater.  While it was amazing to have this opportunity, movie theaters don’t come with the option to pause the movie after sucking down a large diet Coke I had to have.  Since I didn’t want to miss a moment as I had never seen this movie before, my teacup sized bladder was just forced to wait until the credits rolled.

With that all said, and a trip to Charlie’s Ice Cream Parlor after the movie, the trip itself was certainly more entertaining than this movie.  Yes, it had its exciting moments, like when Butch and Sundance are being chased, but after they are being chased for a half hour plus, it loses its suspense.  It had me through the scene in which the two have to jump down into a waterfall.  At that point though, it’s as if the movie starts over in Bolivia!  

I am reminded again as how this is a Western.  As we visited this genre before, this one did improve over the other; however, I am left wondering where the good Westerns are on this list?  I know they exist (good Westerns, that is).  And no, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid wasn’t that bad, it did leave something to be desired.  For me, it was the ice cream afterwards.  Honestly, I am not sure how or why this movie made the list other than good acting throughout and the scenery in the beginning part of the movie.  I found out later that this part was filmed near Durango, Colorado.  Perhaps the movie should have never strayed from Colorado.   The scene itself of when they finally got to Bolivia was perhaps a foreshadow of how the movie, like the village they came across, was about to go downhill.

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