Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Paul Newman, Robert Redford)
A robbery in the year 2001 would probably include hacking into a mainframe character and transferring funds into Swiss bank accounts. Or perhaps there would be the sabotage of laser beams, heat detectors and video cameras. It's interesting to see how things have changed since the days of the old West. The bank managers actually stayed in the office behind the counter, dynamite was used to blow open a safe (regardless of what damage it did to the paper money inside), and no one could really trace the money if the robbers chose to spend it... even if they did so within the same town they stole it from.
There are certain elements essential to any Western movie: shootouts, robberies, brothels, poker games, trains, horses, and lots of action. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has all of these and one important added bonus: three-dimensional characters. Paul Newman (Butch) and Robert Redford (Sundance) glide effortlessly from scene to scene with crisp dialogue and they are indeed legendary characters yet they seem to make quite a few mistakes. One can't swim, the other has never killed a man, and they find these things out at the most inopportune and ironic of circumstances. These are two of the most well-rounded and well-explored characters in all of Western cinema.
As the smart schemer, Cassidy one day decides to rob the Union Express after a near-mutiny within his posse. One too many successful train thefts prompts the president of the company to issue a hefty bounty, and Butch and Sundance suddenly find themselves pursued by a relentless lynch mob. The suspense incorporated into these sequences is quite effective -- while the riders themselves are never seen close up, they are always an ominous presence, and an accurate depiction of the life of the wanted criminal who is always trying to escape the law, not necessarily individual people.
The direction by George Roy Hill is nearly flawless except for two musical sequences that abruptly stop the established momentum. The first is the now-famous bicycle-riding scene between Katharine Ross and Paul Newman as "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" plays in the background, and the second is a montage of a trip to New York to catch a ship to Bolivia. Other than that, the movie features surprisingly little music for a Western, and the silence proves just as effective.
What works best about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is its ability to be tense yet humorous at the same time. The two lead characters are outlaws through and through, but they have so much fun at what they do that their conversations are always tongue and cheek. In a smile-inducing scene, Katharine Ross suggests they try their hand at other professions, but it's obvious that while going straight may be a noble goal, it's one that probably isn't all that attainable.
Newman and Redford have an explosive chemistry that is almost symbionic. Neither fights for the camera, because neither has to. They trust the material and each other completely, and the result is a fine character study of two of the most notorious outlaws in American history. When things seem to be going against them, they prefer to play each scenario out like a game of poker, always ready to play the odds. In a way, their fate is sealed once they start doing more running than robbing, but there's something to be said for attempting the ultimate bluff -- which for them is living day to day.
