Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, oddly enough, is the story of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. It takes place during the end of the wild west era, and Butch and Sundance are struggling to adapt. They eventually attract the attention of a group of some of the best lawmen in the country, and they start being followed everywhere they go. Because of this, they decide to leave the country, bringing Sundance's wife, Etta Place, with them. They travel across the country to New York city, where they catch a boat to Bolivia, where they go back to doing what they do best, robbing banks and trains and such. They don't learn from their mistakes, as they are soon back to running from the law. But this time, they get caught. They get cornered in a small Bolivian town by about nine hundred policemen, and they are swiftly gunned down. I enjoyed the film, and there were several things in it that made the film more interesting.

(Left to right) Butch, Sundance, and Etta arrive in Bolivia.

The first scene that I thought was interesting is near the very beginning of the film. After inspecting a local bank, The Suncance Kid sits down for a game of cards, and for the next several minutes, give or take a few seconds, the camera is fixed on Sundance. People are often getting in the way of the camera, and we can barely see Sundance. At this point, someone accuses Sundance of cheating, and the claustrophobic camera angle works to help us feel tense and nervous. As Sundance gets to be more in control of the situation by sweet talking and fancy gunplay, the camera backs away, freeing up space and making the environment feel more open, showing us that he is in fact in no danger at all.

Sundance maintains his composure as he is accused of cheating at a card game.

Sundance once he starts asserting his dominance.

One thing I noticed about a half hour into the film is that many sound effects are very loud, while the characters voices are quiet in comparison. If you turned the volume up so you could hear the characters voices clearly, you would have your ears blown off if someone fired a gun or exploded a bank safe with some dynamite. This reminded me a lot of the feeling you get when you are doing something you know you shouldn't, like cheating or trespassing, and every little sound you hear is super loud. It makes you feel very tense, like something could jump out at you at any minute, which is how Butch and Sundance felt throughout this film. I know I would if it was me.

Another interesting point I wanted to discuss was the lawmen, who remind me a lot of the Ringrwaiths from The Lord of the Rings. They are constantly chasing Butch and Sundance throughout most of the film. Obviously the real Butch and Sundance didn't have the Nazgûl chasing them across the world, (as cool as that would have been) but I don't think It's crazy to say that when they made this film, they drew some inspiration from The Lord of the Rings novels. They have many of the same characteristics: Mysterious figures, all on horseback, never really seen up close or in a lot of detail. They also both have a keen ability to track the heroes wherever they go. Except instead of magical ring sniffing powers, the lawmen have an native american tracker with them, who can supposedly track anyone over anything, day or night.

The final shot of the film, showing Butch (left) and Sundance (right) charging out into a crowd of Bolivian police officers, followed by the deafening sound of gunfire, and then a fade to black as the film comes to a close.

I enjoyed this film a lot, Butch and Sundance make a good pair, Butch as the brains, and Sundance as the brawn. Because of the aforementioned audio balancing, the film was kinf of hard to follow at some points, since everything was so quiet, and sometimes in Bolivia people would talk entirely in spanish. But the characters expressions were often enough to convey what they were saying, so it isn't a deal breaker for me. I give this film a 3 out of 5.

Works Cited:

Barsam, Richard Meran., and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. Fourth ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2010. Print.

Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. Dir. George R. Hill. Perf. Paul Newman and Robert Redford. 20th Century Fox, 1969. DVD.