butch cassidy and the sundance kid

the year: 1969

the genre: western


the cast: Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy); Robert Redford (Sundance Kid); Katherine Ross (Etta Place)


the plot: Butch and Sundance are the two leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Butch is all ideas, and Sundance is all action and skill. The west is becoming civilized and when Butch and Sundance rob a train once too often, a special posse begins trailing them no matter where they run. Over rock, through towns, across rivers, the group is always just behind them. When they finally escape through sheer luck, Butch has another idea, "Let's go to Bolivia".


don't miss: the friendly banter between Butch and Sundance.


listen for: "Is that what you call giving cover?" "Is that what you call running? If I knew you were going to stroll..."


did you know: this movie was filmed on the sound stage next to Hello, Dolly! Director George Roy Hill believed that the studio would allow him to film the New York scenes on "Dolly's" sets, since the two films' daily shooting schedules were totally different. After production started, though, the studio informed him that it wanted to keep the sets for "Dolly" a secret and refused him permission. To work around this, Hill had Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Katharine Ross simply pose on the sets as photos were taken of them. He then inserted images of the three stars into a series of 300 actual period photos and spliced the two different sets (real and posed) together to form the New York montage.


extra bonus points: if you know why Sundance doesn't want to jump off the cliff.



disclaimer for Erika: the ending is bittersweet.