The Unenthusiastic Critic is leading a posse to chase after Paul Newman and Robert Redford in George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), released 50 years ago this week.
A strange mixture of genres, styles, eras, and tones—and far from a critical hit upon its release—Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid went on to become one of the top 40 box-office successes in Hollywood history, and five decades later remains a widely beloved pairing of two of America's all-time favorite leading men.
Nakea isn't particularly familiar with Newman, Redford, or westerns, so we're sitting down for her first viewing of this classic, and having a moseying sort of conversation about train robberies, travel montages, and whether John Wayne ever would have put a hippy-dippy, bicycle-riding music video in the middle of one of his westerns.
Program
0:00: Prologue: William Goldman on his screenplay.
0:42: Cultural Osmosis: Pre-Viewing Discussion
14:01: Interlude: Original Trailer for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
15:55: The Verdict: Post-Viewing Discussion
51:02: Outro and Next Week's Movie
52:32: Outtake
Notes and Links
—Movie Reviewed: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (dir. George Roy Hill, 20th Century Fox, 1969).
—Prologue from Melvyn Bragg's interview with William Goldman, The South Bank Show, 2009.
—Articles Referenced: "The Newman Chronicles," Patricia Bosworth, Vanity Fair; "Did Butch Cassidy Survive to a Ripe Old Age?", Mead Gruver, NBC.com; Reviews by Pauline Kael, The New Yorker; Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com; Mark Lee, The Telegraph.
—Books referenced: William Goldman's Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting (Warner Books, 1983) and Which Lie Did I Tell?: More Adventures in the Screen Trade (Pantheon, 2000).
—Find additional episodes, leave a comment, or make a donation to support the podcast at unaffiliatedcritic.com.
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—"Warm Duck Shuffle" by Arne Huseby is licensed under CC BY 3.0.
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2 thoughts on “BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969)”
Man – it seems a got behind! Loved hearing the two of you debate this one, and I confess that you gave it a depth that I'd missed during my first watching of this, I dunno, 35 years ago.
I actually enjoyed "Blackthorn" a lot, which I was reminded of as you talked through the various "Butch is still alive and living in Washington" stories. Very revisionist western and I'm sure Sam Shepard gave Butch more gravitas than he probably had in real life.
Got to give this one another watch this week, and I'll be sure to use enough dynamite…
I actually wasn't aware of "Blackthorn!" Thanks, I'll have to check that out one of these days.