Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [DVD]

Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) are two of the West’s more audacious Frontier outlaws. Following their various schemes and robberies, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” is both a Western comedy and a ‘buddy’ movie. Redford and Newman play the bandits of the title with charm and style, sparring with one another, whilst cooking up adventurous plans. Joining them in their tomfoolery is Sundance’s girlfriend Etta Place (Katherine Ross), a schoolteacher, with a soft spot for both men. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” is a revisionist Western which toys with the convention of the bandit who outsmarts the law with stealth, in this case accidents of fate being a major factor in Butch and Sundance’s success. The film pitches Butch and Sundance, with their values firmly defined by the code of the Old West, against the ways of a new modern order. William Goldman won an Academy Award for best original screenplay. Original music by Burt Bacharach and costumes by Edith Head.