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.

cat ballou

the year: 1965

the genre: western


the cast: Jane Fonda (Cat Ballou); Lee Marvin (Kid Shelleen / Tim Strawn); Michael Callan (Clay Boone); Swayne Hickman (Jed); Nat King Cole; Stubby Kaye; Tom Nardini (Jackson Two-Bears)


the plot: Catherine Ballou, an aspiring schoolteacher, is traveling by train to Wolf City, WY to visit her rancher father, Frankie Ballou. En route she unwittingly helps accused cattle rustler Clay Boone and his Uncle Jed elude the sheriff. She reaches the ranch to find that the Wolf City Development Corporation is trying to take the ranch away from her father, whose only defender is an educated Indian, Jackson Two-Bears. Clay and Jed appear and reluctantly offer to help Catherine, but she also hires legendary gunfighter Kid Shelleen, who turns out to be more than she expected.



watch for: the scene where Kid Shelleen's horse leans against a wall with its front legs crossed. The film's horse trainer said it couldn't be shot because horses don't cross their legs, but that it might be possible if he had a couple of days. The director gave him an hour. The trainer plied the horse with sugar cubes while repeatedly pushing its leg into position, and they were able to get the shot.



don't miss: Kid Shelleen's version of Happy Birthday.




listen for: "Yeah, it's all over in Dodge. Tombstone, too; Cheyenne, Deadwood, all gone, all dead and gone. Why, the last time I came through Tombstone, the big excitement there was about the new rollerskate rink that they had laid out over the OK Corral. I'll tell you something else, I used to work for the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show and a Congress of Rough Riders. And I rescued many stagecoach passengers from road agents and drunkard injuns... in the nick of time! Twice a day, three times on Saturday."




also listen for: "Mrs. Parker didn't introduce us, I'm Catherine Ballou." "I'm drunk as a skunk."



did you know: at his acceptance of the Oscar, Lee Marvin opened by saying, "Half of this probably belongs to a horse out in the Valley somewhere".

el dorado

the year: 1966

the genre: western


the cast: John Wayne (Cole Thornton); Robert Mitchum (J.P. Harrah); James Caan (Alan Bourdillion Traherne ['Mississippi']); Ed Asner (Bart Jason)


the plot: Hired gunman Cole Thornton turns down a job with Bart Jason since it would mean having to fight his old friend, J.P. Harrah - sheriff of El Dorado. When Cole finds out the lawman is on the bottle and a top gunfighter is heading his way to help Bart, he returns to help the sheriff help a local ranching family, the MacDonalds, fight Bart, who is trying to steal their water rights. Along for the ride is the green gambler Mississippi, handy with a knife and armed with an impressive shotgun.


listen for: "Don't you think I could know a girl?"

don't miss: Johnny Diamond's "kill or cure" for drinking.

watch for: the montage of paintings that depict various scenes of cowboy life in the opening credits. The artist was Olaf Wieghorst, who appears in the film as the Gunsmith, Swede Larsen.



did you know: Oliver, the bartender shot by Sheriff J.P. Harrah is played by Robert Mitchum's brother John.

extra bonus points if you can name the author of the poem "El Dorado" that is quoted by Mississippi.

support your local sheriff

the year: 1969

the genre: western



the cast: James Garner (Jason McCullough); Jack Elam (Jake); Joan Hackett (Prudy Perkins); Harry Morgan (Mayor Olly Perkins); Walter Brennan (Pa Danby); Bruce Dern (Joe Danby)



the plot: A frontier town in the Old West springs up overnight when the rather klutzy and hotheaded Prudy Perkins discovers gold in a grave during a funeral. Her father Olly becomes mayor of the new settlement. He and the other members of the town council bemoan the facts that the place has become a drunken free-for-all, and that in order to ship out all the gold that is mined, they must pay a hefty fee to the Danbys, a family of ranchers/bandits who control the only route out of town. This all changes with the arrival of Jason McCullough, who is passing through town "on his way to Australia." Needing money after discovering the town's ruinious rate of inflation, McCullough demonstrates his shooting ability to the mayor and town council, and becomes the new sheriff. McCullough acquires a semi-willing deputy in the form of the extremely scruffy Jake, who was previously the "town character." The arrest of Joe Danby ignites the wrath of the patriarch of the Danby family and while the rest of the town immediately quiets down under McCullough's reign, "Pa" mounts various efforts to get Joe out of jail.



count: the percentage of inflation at Emma's Tasty Food Emporium.

don’t miss: how the Sheriff gets Joe to stay in the jail cell with no bars.



check out: Prudy's biscuit baking skills.

listen for: "Sixty for who and forty for who?"



extra bonus points: if you know the name of Prudy's mining company.

the scene: arresting Joe and keeping him in jail (PG clip: some gunfighting in the first few seconds - after all, it IS a western.)