<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nApart from the pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford as Butch and the Kid, plus a memorable soundtrack by the late great Burt Bacharach, the main thing the film has going for it is a wonderfully funny screenplay by William Goldman which makes the viewing of the film a pleasure from start to finish even after all these years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A short film of the exploits of Butch and his gang plays over the credits, foreshadowing some of the events played out later, after which the audience is informed that \u201cMost of what follows is true\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The movie remains in sepia tone as Butch cases a local bank and Sundance engages in a card game during which he is accused of cheating before the film finally bursts into full colour. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When Butch arrives at the Hole in the Wall gangs hideout with the Kid he finds his leadership challenged by a very large gang member known as Harvey (Ted Cassidy), a situation Butch de-escalates with a well-aimed kick to Harvey\u2019s cojones.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Taking up Harvey\u2019s suggestion that they rob the Pacific Flyer train the gang do just that, Butch and the Kid celebrating by getting drunk whilst being given a glimpse of the future with the advent of the bicycle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Butch turns up at the cabin of teacher Etta Place, the girlfriend of the Kid, with Butch, Etta and the bike getting their own sequence in a rendition of \u201cRaindrops Keep Falling on My Head\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After an attempt to rob the Pacific Flyer again is interrupted by the arrival of a posse of railroad men turn up and start killing the gang, Butch and the Kid ride off and double back into town but the posse stays on their trail. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an attempt to try and go straight Butch and the Kid make a call on an old friend, Sheriff Ray Bledsoe (Jeff Corey) who informs them that they will eventually die bloody and all they can choose is where.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The chase continues and eventually the two outlaws find themselves in a dilemma \u2013 either surrender or jump from a cliff into a raging river. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s at this point that Sundance reveals that he can\u2019t swim to which a laughing Butch informs him that \u201cthe fall will probably kill ya!\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They then make their way back to Etta\u2019s cabin where she informs them that E.P Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad has hired a team of professional manhunters lead by a certain Joe Lefors to track down and kill them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The three of them take off for Bolivia which is a cue for another musical interlude filmed in sepia as they make their way south. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sundance is not too impressed when they finally arrive at their destination, Butch telling Etta he\u2019ll feel better once he\u2019s robbed a couple of banks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With the help of Etta the two men learn enough Spanish to successfully start liberating money from the local banks, shown in a montage against which another musical interlude courtesy of Mr. Bacharach plays in the background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Celebrating their return to a successful life of crime Butch suddenly spots Joe Lefors, recognising him by his distinctive straw hat. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They therefore decide to go straight, signing up with foreman Percy Garris (Strother Martin in a short cameo) as payroll guards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On their very first outing Garris is shot by Mexican bandits, Butch then being forced to shoot them in turn to retrieve the stolen money. Surveying the corpses of the dead bandits Sundance states \u201cWell, we\u2019ve gone straight. What do we try now?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having already declared that she would not hang around and watch them die Etta leaves for home whilst Butch and Sundance stay on in Bolivia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Riding into a small town the infamous \u201cYanquis Bandidos\u201d are recognised and within moments the local law sends for backup from the Federales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two outlaws are forced to take cover in a cantina, belatedly realising they\u2019ve left their ammunition outside. Butch runs out to retrieve more bullets whilst Sundance covers for him but both end up wounded, Butch taking a bullet in the back and Sundance suffering multiple wounds as they retreat back to the cantina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not realising that they are now surrounded the two men discuss the possibility of making a run for Australia once they extricate themselves from the mess they\u2019re in, Butch telling his companion he\u2019ll finally get the opportunity to learn how to swim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
They then make one final break for freedom, only to walk into a wall of gunfire that ends their Bolivian adventure once and for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Reviews were mixed when \u201cButch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid\u201d was first released but it still went on to become the biggest box-office hit of the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bacharach, Goldman and cinematographer Conrad Hall won Oscars and the popular screen partnership of Newman and Redford went on to reunite with director George Roy Hill on the “The Sting”, released in 1973.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trivia notes:<\/strong> Keep your eyes peeled for a very young Sam Elliott as card player # 2 in the early card playing sequence, Sam going on of course to eventually marry actress Katherine Ross. Also, the film is credited with being the inspiration for the popular TV Western series \u201cAlias Smith and Jones\u201d which aired on American TV in January 1971.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One-Eyed Jacks (1961) To label \u201cOne-Eyed Jacks\u201d as a troubled production would be an understatement. This article includes affiliate links. If you choose to purchase any of the products we\u2019ve discussed in this article, we may receive a small commission … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6911,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[324],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6903"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6903"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6913,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6903\/revisions\/6913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}