Butch Cassidy

This has got to be one of my favorite westerns. It has everything you could possibly want for every movie fan. They're so many great aspect and I will attempt to display some of them.

The acting, what can I say about it. It was a perfect fit for Redford and Newman who are both friends in the movie and real life. They deliver exhilarating, funny and electrifying performance. It is so great I can't even put it into words. These two actors were robbed of an at least an Oscar nomination. It has to be the biggest Oscar snub ever. Watching this movie my only wish is that Redford and Newman would have done more movies together.

The writing was great and creative. I have never witnessed a movie that was so serious and yet so funny. The writing totally propelled this movie forward. The fact that Butch and Sundance went to Bolivia trying to outrun the law was hilarious. This has got to be some of the best writing ever.

The directing by George Roy Hill was as well amazing displaying the chase scenes and just sitting back and letting the writing and directing take over. But most of all he let Robert Redford and Paul Newman do their thing. You could see that they were both feeding off each other and George Roy Hill never seemed to interrupt their chemistry.

I would advise anyone and everyone to watch this. They are just so many laughs, many fun action scenes and of course Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

One of the best and most-liked films of the 1960s, this is still a fun movie to watch today. When I saw this on DVD on a nice flat-screen set, I was amazed how good this looked. I had seen it several times before on VHS and hadn't realized how good this was photographed. I just discovered Conrad Hall was the cinematographer, which explains it. Few, if any, were better than him.

One remembers this western for several things: the two leads looking over their shoulders incredulous that their pursers seem to be always there; Paul Newman riding a bicycle to the tune of "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head," the beautiful Katharine Ross, the chemistry of Newman and Robert Redford as a two-man team, on and on. Those three lead actors, with the repartee between them, and the likability of each, make them fun to watch as they dominate this picture.

It's just solid entertainment and another example of good film-making that doesn't need a lot of R-rated material to make it successful. Photography-wise, the western scenery was great, there were some wonderful closeup shots and I really liked the tinted old-time footage inserted in here.

So, when you combine all the elements, it's no surprise this film won so many awards and endures so well.

George Roy Hill's funny Western is still modern and hasn't aged bad at all. Paul Newman is charming and charismatic, and Robert Redford is energetic. I don't know why some Western-fans doesn't like it because it is filled with powerful and spectacular gunfights, humor, friendship and beautiful pictures - which is the reasons why you watch Westerns, isn't it? I am fully aware of the fact that 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' was an unusual Western when it came. After this there were other attempts or experiments made like this but I don't think that they succeeded. 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' has also the rare ability to even smell, taste or feel classic when you watch it ... Robert Redford was never better than here.

Rating: 9 of 10.

OK, for those of you who aren't sure whether "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" is a good, or even great movie, just do the following:

Scroll up to "memorable quotes". Go on, do it and then read what follows. I'll be right here when you get back.

Finished? Did you read those lines? THAT, my friends, that and the fact they are spoken by some great actors is what makes this film so wonderful. They are perfectly balanced between being funny, endearing and also revealing about the characters. There's genuine emotion and warmth in a lot of that.

Conrad Hall, George Roy Hill, Burt Bacharach et al all contributed marvelously but I love the cast; such quality and for some of them, in small, but memorable roles: George Furth, Ted Cassidy, Kenneth Mars, Strother Martin, Katherine Ross and the stars at the top; Newman and Redford who did perfect justice to Goldman's script.

I can remember seeing this movie, at the Colony Theater in Portsmouth Virginia, when it was first released. Since then, I've seen it at least 30 times, most recently last night. In my humble opinion, Paul Newman & Robert Redford made an excellent movie twosome 30 years ago [and expanded on it a few years later, in The Sting]. In reading the reviews submitted about this movie it makes me happy to see that most of the people agree with my opinion. How could you not like these characters, along with Etta, "those guys" following them and eventually Strother [who will always be remembered for his "what we have here is a failure to communicate" in Cool Hand Luke] Martin? Not to mention the scenes where Etta enters the picture, when Butch has to fight Logan, when they have to jump in the water and, of course, the ending sequence of events. I won't say "they don't make them like they used to", but this one is a keeper. And if you agree with my evaluation, and have a DVD player, watch the DVD that has interviews, etc., to give you an even better picture of this excellent movie.