In the decade of the spaghetti western, this film shows the struggles of two robbers who are in denial about the waning powers of their thievery coupled with a cocky disregard for the lengthening arm of the law. Filled with quips and innuendos, ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ visibly makes light of their plight, but slowly unearths the fact that their relevance and effectiveness in a fast changing world was diminishing.
Set in Wyoming, the film revolves around a fast thinker, Butch Cassidy and a fast draw, The Sundance Kid, who run a gang of thieves called ‘The Hole in Wall Gang’ that goes about robbing banks. When banks in the USA become more fortified, Butch and Sundance shift their focus to trains carrying Government money. When an expert team of trackers and lawmen is assembled and is hot on their heels, they decide to move to Bolivia, a supposed land of plenty and ply their trade there. Whether that saves them or not is what the plot tries to uncover.
George Hill’s direction of a William Goldman screenplay is quite cerebral. Through the film, the viewer is shown that the world is moving on. The film starts with Butch visiting a bank and reacting wistfully to its fortification saying the earlier banks were more beautiful. There is also the cycle, which is introduced as the vehicle of the future, replacing the horse. The locations are beautiful and the film is shot beautifully, with several transitions shown through sepia-finished pictures featuring Butch and Sundance. While the first half hour (which also includes the classic song 'Rain drops keep falling on my head') gives you the impression that this is a frivolous film, that notion is quickly dispelled.
The two principal characters are shown asking themselves, ‘Who are those guys?’ when the ace team is hot on their heels, unable to believe that lawmen, who were hitherto unwilling to step out of their jurisdiction are now coming together to chase them to the ends of the earth. Paul Newman as Butch and Robert Redford as The Sundance Kid make you love their characters. The viewer wants nothing bad to happen to them. In a film like this, that is an achievement of the cast and the makers.
Watch this film as it represents an important inflexion point in the history of the western, with a lot of subtext and subtlety being added to the treatment.
