It’s no update to anyone to say that the Western genre of movies has been having a hard go of it for the past thirty years or so.

There was a bit of a revival in the 1990’s when both Tombstone and The Unforgiven hit big and created some buzz, but that actually seemed to die off relatively quickly. They didn’t end up creating a full blown second Western era. They just kind of made their money and ran off into the night with only a few coattail riders coming in their wake.

I will confess to not being much of a Westerns guy, personally. To me, Westerns will always be those goofy black and white movies that always played a little sped up and had some dopey dialogue and repetitive plots that my Pap-Pap watched when I was very little. That’s not really fair. I never think of, say, the Clint Eastwood Spaghetti Westerns when I think of the genre. Those allegedly had more of a soul to them than those old black and white pictures. But the latter is what my brain goes to.

I’ve seen the aforementioned Tombstone! And the remakes of True Grit and 3:10 To Yuma. Oh, and Bone Tomahawk, if that counts. But not too much else. I guess someday I’ll get around to the Man With No Name trilogy or The Unforgiven, but that day hasn’t come yet.

Everyone always predicts comic book movies will eventually go the way of the Western, and I sure hope not because I still really dig the former. And think about it: can you name ten Westerns that have come out this century? I sure couldn’t! I don’t want to live in a world where I can’t name ten movies based on comics in a quarter century. I need my Spider-Man, guys.

So it was weird to me this week when I was perusing Tubi and came across Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid and thought “Yep, this is what I want to watch today!”. It’s certainly not in my wheelhouse! But I realized I needed to see more classic Paul Newman and Robert Redford films in my life.

The film tells the “mostly true” story of Butch and Sundance, well into their career as professional outlaw bandits. When it opens, the pair are already well-known as the leaders of the Hole In The Wall Gang. We see them intimidate card players and rob a train. Things seem to be going well for the pair.

Unfortunately, after a second shown train robbery goes awry, the gang is set upon by an unknown posse. This team seems to be out to stop the gang–and Butch and Sundance in particular–through any means necessary. And they aren’t going to let anything stop them!

Will Butch and The Kid make it out of the chase alive?

TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS

+ Newman and Redford are a tremendous pairing, and they work both as a duo and as individuals. Newman in particular is a ball of charisma throughout the whole picture, whereas Redford shines more in the second and third acts. I actually had no notion of how funny and amusing this film would be. I laughed several times at the antics and quips of our outlaw protagonists. It’s got good action and an even better sense of humor. 

When I found this movie, it had several labels. Western, action, thriller, drama. Tubi gave this a bunch of notes. But… not comedy? This movie is funnier than half the stuff that is labeled a pure comedy! I’m kind of surprised it didn’t get at least a mention for its light-heartedness.

+ The first two acts in particular are fantastic, as we see Butch and Sundance on the run from a group of pursuers who are relentless in their hunt for the criminals. It is really basic and simplistic, but it’s so well-shot and performed, that it just works so brilliantly. I was so interested and excited as I got through the first couple of acts of the film. This hooked me pretty much right away, and even though the third act was the least strong, I had already determined my feelings by then.

– The film sets up a love dispute where both Butch and Sundance love Sundance’s girlfriend, but nothing ever comes of it. Even when she flees with them to Bolivia, there never ends up being a war for her affection, and she ends up leaving both of them to go back to the safety of home. You could basically eliminate her from the flick and not lose too much of anything. 

It feels like a big missed opportunity to set up some drama between Butch and Sundance. Maybe if the latter knows Butch was flirting with his girl, there would be some drama when Sundance says he’s going to cover him. But the film eschews that, and it just seems like we got the Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head scene for nothing.

– Speaking of that moment, there are a few musically-backed montages where the songs don’t really match anything we are seeing or what the themes of the movie are. They can be fun, I suppose, but they seem extremely weird from a directorial choice side of things. At best, they certainly don’t add anything; at worst, they actively distract from the mood the movie is generating

OVERALL

Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid is one of those movies that reconfigures the way I look at Westerns. Why, I really enjoyed this effort! Back in the 1960’s, you could probably have had Redford and Newman square dance for two hours and get a hell of a flick out of it, but this outing really measured up to its reputation… if not exceeded it! I know I’m inexperienced, but… is this my favorite Western ever now? I think it is.