Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid- 1/27/10

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Tim (3.5 stars) - I think I liked this movie a little more than Liz, but I still wasn't absolutely thrilled with a few parts in it. First of all, the soundtrack was terrible. Burt Bacharack's "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" was completely out of place and the whole scene that played out over that song could have been completely cut and we wouldn't have missed anything from the film. What I liked about the movie was the relationship that played out between Paul Newman (Butch Cassidy) and Robert Redford (Sundance Kid) as they aged and started to realize that times had changed and they couldn't continue the life that they had been living for so many years. They contemplate what else they can do and don't really come up with any other ideas so they go to Bolivia and continue the life they couldn't in the US until even the Bolivians catch up with them.

Liz (3 1/2 stars *mainly due to the actors) Okay, let me just say first off that I LOVE Paul Newman. I was not a huge fan of this movie, however. I don't think it had anything to do with Paul Newman or Robert Redford though. I think a lot of it had to do with the story, the way it was filmed and the choices the director made. What I disliked the most was the music. I know a lot of people are Burt Bacharach fans, but I just thought the music was totally distracting. "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" seemed so absurd during that bicycle scene and some of the music that played while they were in Bolivia was just annoying. So much of the cinematography and look of the movie was so authentic to a classic western, why throw it off with a very 60s sounding score? What works for this movie is the relationship between Butch Cassidy (Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Redford). The two actors really created a sense of kinship and some of their moments together were really memorable. The scene where they are being chased and have to decide whether or not to jump into the river is great and the last scene in the movie is a great example of how Newman and Redford created characters that you felt you knew by the end. All of their dialogue and nuances seemed exactly true to their characters.