The antiheroes in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” hit the big screen 41 years ago with their reputations already set in stone.
The film, as seen today, comes with similar baggage. It’s been so celebrated it’s hard not to genuflect as the opening credits role.
Yet there’s something deflating about watching the film now, a sense that it set audiences up for the hollow blockbusters to follow.
It’s still a treat to see Paul Newman and Robert Redford play charismatic bank robbers, but somewhere along the way the film’s myth became reality.
“Butch Cassidy” follows the quasi-real exploits of two nefarious bank robbers. Butch (Newman) is the ham, the quick witted thief who wouldn’t hurt a soul so long as they didn’t get between him and a bank’s bounty.
Sundance (Redford) is the real menace, a fury with a six shooter who lets his bullets do the talking.
The duo have run roughshod over local law officials for years, but now the tables may be turning. A new posse promises to put a halt to their train robbin’ ways, forcing the pair to consider a new terrain to terrorize.
“Butch Cassidy” won a Best Screenplay Oscar, but it’s hard to hear the dialogue today and not wince a time or two. The banter between the leads is too cutesy, too much like the pablum that passes for intelligent conversation in today’s blockbusters.
That doesn’t mean the film lacks movie magic. Consider Butch bicycling like a circus clown while “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” tinkles in the background. And the action sequences crackle with the kind of excitement today’s films rarely achieve.
A montage of sepia-toned still photographs pastes the film’s first and second half together in grand fashion, but one wishes Katharine Ross’ character were given more attention. Why not develop a potential love triangle to sweeten the story, something only hinted at in the script?
The movie came of age when other antiheroes were ruling the box office (“Bonnie & Clyde,” “Easy Rider”). It’s impossible not to root for these outlaws, no matter their misdeeds. They’re so charming, so eager to please, and they avoid bloodshed whenever possible.
“Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” remains a satisfying experience, a witty tale told with panache. But as cinematic lore it can’t live up to its still palpable legend.
NOTE: AMC lines up 10 little known facts about the film
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
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It *is* dated, somewhat – but in its defense, even “Citizen Kane” has some hoariness now.
Contemporary context – as opposed to PC revisionism – always informs the “classic film” screening experience: “Birth of a Nation,” “GWTW,” “Casablanca,” etc. – the films remain important but they also are more challenging to enjoy in this modern era.
D.
Citizen Kane has dated – it’s stuck firmly in the ’70s.