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Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Special Edition)

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Special Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Extremely Fun
Review: Funny, light-hearted fun, a moving story of two friends and how they just can't stop their love of robbing.

Watch this and Bonnie and Clyde in one sitting. They make great companion movies.

Paul Newmann and Robert Redford are very cool. Sundance Kid is the coolest character in cinema until Indiana Jones and Han Solo came around.

I had the fun of my life while watching this. I whole-heartadly recommend it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Relaxed Western buddy movie fun with some genuine heart
Review: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is probably the only feel good movie to ever risk a downbeat ending - and get away with it as well! George Roy Hill's first teaming with the appealing Newman-Redford double act (the 2nd being Best Picture Oscar winner The Sting) is an unpretentious, self-effacing Western with a likeable nudge-and-wink style that only enhances the film's already high charisma factor. The pretty much plotless tale of Butch and Sundance after the final days of their "Hole in the Wall" gang, takes the friends from blowing up bank trains in the West and mid-West to hitting peasant banks in Bolivia before an ill-fated and hopeless attempt to go straight. Newman and Redford are superb, playing off each other with easy and familiar chemistry and blessed with a sparkling script that effectively invents the "buddy movie" concept a full decade and a half before it would flower into a dominant sub-genre through films like 48Hrs and Lethal Weapon. Newman in particular - as Butch - turns on the appeal big-time as the charmed bandit whose reputation is decidedly more dangerous than he actually is. The scene where the two are faced with the rather difficult choice of a determined posse behind them or a sheer cliff drop - into an intimidatingly small patch of river - in front, is typical of the chemistry at work. Reluctant to take the leap despite Newman's rational breakdown of the better odds of that choice, Redford finally reveals embarrassingly that he can't swim. Butch bursts out laughing: "Are you crazy???? The fall will probably kill you anyway!" Redford plays straight man in the banter with suitable conviction - once in a while letting us in on the fact that he knows comedy is afoot (such as when Butch reveals he's never actually killed anyone and Redford says: "You've picked a great time to share this information.") Highly entertaining with a hint of surprisingly serious existential meditation as well - this was the late '60s after all!). The last half of the movie is decidedly more preoccupied with their place in the world and - unexpectedly echoing Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch - they, the girl (who leaves them to return home) and you begin to realise that these are men who have outlived their time. Their horses replaced by bicycles and cars; the frontier society a thing of the past as the magic and culture of the East permeates a closing frontier. The ride - while amiable - is at an end. And Bolivia is a poor substitute for the home that no longer exists. They - like the Bunch - accept they have a date with destiny. However you choose to enjoy it though, any movie with five indisputably classic scenes (the knife fight; the train bombing; the bicycle ride; the cliff jump; the genre-defining ending) earns its way into any credible film collection on that alone. That the overall package is satisfyingly ironic - but genre-aware enough to deliver the goods conventionally as well - makes it a gem. The inspiration for the forgettable short-lived Western TV series Alias Smith and Jones, the title and spirit of which was shamelessly swiped from this amiable Newman-Redford vehicle.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A fine piece of effortless entertainment
Review: I fully admit that much of my passion for this movie lies in the fact that it is one of my earliest filmgoing memories. It is vitrually impossible for me to remove this film from my childhood perceptions of my parents. In fact they looked suspiciously similar and the end of the 1960's and early 1970's to Sundance and Etta. My folks fancied themsleves as such in terms of not only their dress but in their attitudes and values as well. This is not to suggest they were outlaws (maybe in the eyes of the Nixon administration they were) but rather folks passionate about an older time that never truly existed.

That personal testimonial aside, I love the film on its own merits as well. It isn't a work of art to be sure, but it is a fine example fo the Hollywood system creating new myths based upon real legends.

The performances of Redford and Newman are so seemless that it is easy to blur the lines between acting and being a movie star. It may be fashionable to knock their work in this picture as Hollywood confection, but I dare any other actors of the time to pull off these performances. Their use of silenc and evaluation are even far more effective that their already dead on line delivery- the mark of fine acting craftsman. The fact that I as an audience member immediately accept and believe wholehearedly their circumstances and become lost in their story is a testiment to their ultimate artistry.

Conrad Hall's photography is both breathtaking and heartbreaking. He truly creates a romantic look at a time and place that could only exist in the imagination. The DVD transfer really makes his painting with light shine and sing. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of the few films I would absolutely love to step into out of real life.

Director George Roy Hill knows exactly how to economically stage a scene while remaining invisible. He varies the storie's pace effectively between tension, whimsy and gentle tragedy. His humor is remarkably subtle and sophisticated without the slightest hin of condescention- a hallmark of a good director.

William Goldman's script does not simply rely on clever one-liners as so many imitators have in creating similar scripts. It is actually poignant in its simplicity and humor. The scene where Butch and Sundance, although both mortally wounded, still find the courage to dream about a future is really what fine writing and peforming is all about.

Butch Cassidy and the The Sundance Kid is a classic film in the sense that it never fails to entertain and touch the heart. It remains as fresh today as when it first appeared. Some may find it rather saccarine and manipulitive now in this age of cynicism and media hype. I don't and since being a film fan is based so much on raw emotional response to a visual story, this is one of my favorite films.

The DVD edition is not only great to look at, it's many extra features and interviews are a joy and privilage to watch. Hill and Hall's commentary, although often redundant, is also a good listen.

This is well worth its rabid cult following as it appears so effortless in its ultimately entertaining journey.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Incredible DVD For An Even Better Movie
Review: According to AFI this movie is in the top 50 of all time, but according to me it is in the top 15. What is good about it is that you can watch it all in one sitting and not realize how much time has gone by; that is a quality that is missing in many of the movies being put out today. Redford makes a breakout performance here and Newman gives another great one as well. The music is memorable, the action is good, the lines are quotable, and all in all the movie encompasses what is right with the movie industry, albeit it is over three decades old.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "morons... i've got morons on my team"
Review: Who could not love this film? While it is a great western it's also so much more. The dry humor, the action, the love story nesteled into the great plot. The best scene HAS to be when they decide leave their lives of crime for a while and get honest jobs. Such classic lines as "Since i'm desperate and you're exactly what i'm looking for... you're hired." I know i am not coming close to doing this film justice. So look around at what others are saying. You won't be dissapointed.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Really 4-1/2 stars, top-quality entertainment
Review: This one really takes me back to my teens, when the movie came out and my whole family went to see it. We were enraptured, and we all went home humming "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."

I like THAT song sequence in the movie very much. I think it sets up the Butch/Etta relationship nicely and establishes the comfort level of this star-crossed trio. I'm not so sure about the other musical montages (NY/steamship trip to S. America and the Bolivian robberies). The ba-da-da-dums really date the film (hence the reason for taking a half star from an otherwise perfect rating).

This movie is incredibly charming, though, in its writing, appearance, and above all, acting. It showcases the first cementing of the Newman-Redford onscreen relationship that was later so effective in "The Sting" (also directed by George Roy Hill). And it's funny and poignant but yet so real in ways that we rarely see in movies today. When Butch finally has to kill someone after all his years of being an outlaw (ironically when he's in a straight job), you feel his gut-wrenching pain and regret.

There are so many memorable scenes: the rain of money after the train explosion, "Who are those guys?", the jump from the cliff, the bicycle ride, Strother Martin in a career-best role, the Spanish cheat sheets when robbing the Bolivian bank, the jokes and banter even at the most grim times. The freeze-frame ending is so effective and benevolent toward us, the audience. I have always appreciated the sensitivity of the conclusion.

This movie is a treasure and true entertainment--something my kids enjoy as much as my parents.

The DVD has lots of interesting extras. The commentary by George Roy Hill and others in the "making of" sequence is intriguing, especially when you consider the budgets of today's movies and what they managed to do with so little back then. The interviews with the main players are great, and it's fun to learn how Redford met Butch's real sister and how he tried to get her to the premiere of the movie.

The movie stands alone, but if you've got a player, I'd recommend getting the DVD for the bonus material.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant...
Review: At the begining of the movie, Butch (Newman) is told that the beautiful old bank is being modernized because of all the robberies, Butch replies: "That's a small price to pay for beauty" setting the tone for the film. In a world where the old west was fading away, Butch Cassisy and the Sundance Kid were the most wanted outlaws and time was catching up to them really fast, and there was no room for them in this new modern world. The performances, dialog, direction and score are all perfect, specially the chemistry between the two leads.

I once heard a critic say that "The Wild Bunch" (Another movie about faded out outlaws of the same year) was better because at the end the characters had gained our respect; to this i reply, why do Butch and Sundance need our respect when they have already gained our hearts.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: You must own this movie!
Review: If I had to choose from my collection of 200+ DVDs, I would have to say that this film is in the top ten! I really enjoyed this flick. Paul Newman and Robert Redford have always complimented each other nicely. It is kind of like "The Sting" set in the old west instead of the "Roaring Twenties".

Maybe I should say it this way: even my wife liked the film! She usually falls asleep in the middle of the movie. I don't know if she doesn't get enough sleep, or if I just like corny movies. Either way, you can't lose with this DVD!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: They Broke My Heart
Review: I loved this movie from the first day my dad made me sit down and watch an "old movie." What they've done to the sound quality here is an absolute atrocity. MONO sound??? Let's get real. The least they could have done is upped it to Stereo so that I wouldn't have to listen to it through the center speaker the whole time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movie
Review: This is my second favorite movie. It's funny, yet touching and it really makes you fall in love with Butch and Sundance and you find yourself rooting for the two-bit outlaws. this movie is very well done. I've read books about the duo and have done a report on them and I'd say the movie is pretty accurate but still great!


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