“Most of what follows is true”

When these words appeared towards the end of the title sequence of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, film entered into a new era, albeit signalling a change that was so subtle, most didn’t even notice it until some distance had been made between this film and the ones that would follow. Suddenly, George Roy Hill and William Goldman were making it very clear that they were aware of their artistic liberties, and more than intent on exercising their poetic licence, even going so far as to admit that they set out to creatively reconfigure this iconic story to meet their chosen approach, rather than being bound by the historical facts, which are present but still somewhat flexible. Their targets are Robert LeRoy Parker and Harry Longabaugh, otherwise known as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid respectively, a pair of train robbers and outlaws the ran rampant for a few years during the height of the Wild West, and whose ease with criminal activity has been woven into the fabric of their legacy, which has remained almost folkloric for nearly two centuries since their death, which is often seen as just as legendary as their lives. A film that contains many layers, most of which exist in direct communion with a lot of other entries into this particular genre as well as many others, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a fascinating document of the past, handcrafted by a director whose fascination with stories of America’s past were frequently the source of some of the most magnetic and enticing films of the New Hollywood era, which Hill aided in developing precisely because he was willing to act as a bridge between the Golden Era and this particular period, sampling from the past but not being afraid to experiment where it was necessary. The results were always fantastic, and while it may seem rudimentary on the surface, this film is a masterful work that oscillates between genres and captures the spirit of the past in a more compelling and forthright way than many of the pale imitations that have followed.

The Western as a genre has undergone so many radical shifts over the years, while still maintaining a general consistency in terms of subject matter and structure, even if only on a very superficial level, which is all part of the timeless appeal of so many of these films, and the reason why it consistent seems to be reinvented in various forms. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid came at quite a serendipitous moment, since the more populist westerns defined by the likes of John Wayne and Budd Boetticher were slowly transitioning out of favour (they were still popular, but the days where they dominated the industry were slowly fading away), and instead were being replaced by darker and more complex character studies that aimed to dismantle the myth of the American West and the almost romantic view that so many people had to an era shrouded in violence, sexism and bigotry. Not quite the more actively provocative work that would come about much later, this film is still a masterfully crafted attempt at deconstructing the popular perspective of this particular era and how it functioned, being a challenging and often quite unnerving glimpse into this historical period and how society functioned at the time. Choosing to focus on two of the most notorious outlaws in the nation’s history was an interesting approach, since not only does it allow us to get a clearer depiction of their actions (or at least to the extent that the director was willing to venture), but also subverts the idea that only the most valiant and upstanding of heroes can be considered the protagonists of such a film, and that criminals and other dastardly individuals can be fascinating subjects as well, even if some of the sympathy shown to them can be contradictory to many of the principles of the culture at the time. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is primarily focused on exploring the friendship between the two titular characters, which is contrasted with the changing nature of the country, creating a fascinating juxtaposition that Hill and Goldman explore with incredible sincerity and profound admiration for this particular era.

The process of casting Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was quite a daunting challenge since this is a film based on two very distinct characters that not only needed to be brought to life by actors who could capture their traits but also have exceptional chemistry since so much of the film is based around their friendship and everything that it represented in comparison to their status as notorious criminals who terrorized the region for years. Packaged to dismantle the myth of the American West and the accompanying view of masculinity, these characters were certainly quite complex in theory. The ultimate decision was to cast Paul Newman with Robert Redford – the former was beyond established by this point, and arguably one of the most bankable and popular actors at the time (and someone who was also not new to the idea of complex depictions of flawed masculinity in a subversive western – his performance in Hud remains an all-time great portrayal of these themes), while the latter was steadily rising in prominence, having appeared in a few well-received films, but was still awaiting the career-defining performance that he’d encounter in the coming decade. The two are brilliant in the roles – Newman’s easygoing everyman charm interacts seamlessly with Redford’s slightly more rugged persona to create a fascinating pair of performances that set the foundation for the film. Casting two actors known for playing more moral, heroic characters was not an accident – they both use their effortless charisma to show that it is entirely possible to centre a film around notable criminals and make them entertaining without justifying their actions (at least not to the point where we feel complete sympathy for them), while still commenting on the nature of the period and how Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were essentially just ordinary men corrupted into a life of crime as a result of their circumstances – and while it’s not entirely foundational to the story, there is a sense that the supposed lawmen that they challenge are just as corrupt and ensconced in criminal behaviour, but in a far less obvious manner, leading to a defining role for both actors.

However, as much as the performances are understandably seen as iconic and extremely definitive in the careers of both Newman and Redford (and would lead to another pairing under Hill’s direction in the form of The Sting, another high point for the trio), the reason Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has lingered so heavily in the cultural consciousness is due to the underlying approach that makes it such a wonderfully enticing piece of storytelling, with a lot of it being due to the specific directorial decisions. Unlike many Western films, which are defined by a very clear pattern in which the plot unfolds according to a set of obvious tropes, this film is far more focused on the atmosphere than anything else. There’s something profoundly captivating about the story, which is driven by a sense of trying to capture the spirit of the era, as seen through the eyes of these two characters who seemed to take a far more easygoing approach to their criminal behaviour, which they view as more of a game than a lifestyle. The film as a whole is a freewheeling odyssey, featuring some genuinely daring ideas that could be viewed as the antithesis of the overly moralistic, heroism-based westerns that dominated previous eras, and which this was seeking to contradict through showing that the era portrayed was not defined by such clear-cut binarism in terms of heroes and villains, with the ambiguity between them being where this particular film finds itself nestled, challenging conventions in a simple, elegant way. There aren’t many moments of pulsating action throughout this film – a couple of very exciting sequences punctuate the story, but the majority of what makes Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid so effective is its simple, almost lighthearted tone. This is a quintessential example of the buddy film, where two very different characters come together find common ground, and work alongside one another to achieve a common goal, which leads to the film being as much about the Wild West as it was the friendship between these two men and the way they lived their lives as outlaws, challenging a system that they knew was far more fragile than those who followed the rules would be willing to admit.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is a masterful and well-crafted western that captures the best qualities of the two leads, and has an abundance of unique charms that are difficult to overlook, especially when it is essentially the product of a few well-crafted elements that work together to create this vibrant, captivating western that sets out to subvert common tropes and create something extremely meaningful but also wickedly entertaining. We tend to divide Western films into two categories – some are purely enjoyable and those which carry much more grave meaning and should be viewed as serious, sombre works considering the subject matter. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is the rare example of a film that exists at the perfect intersection between the two – it is a fascinating exploration of the American West and the way society functioned, as seen through the eyes of two of its most notorious bandits, but it is also wildly entertaining and is driven by a sense of exuberance that almost betrays the underlying complexity in ways that are somewhat difficult to entirely comprehend based on a cursory glance. Daring and provocative, while also being exceptionally simple in form and structure, Hill’s work here is one of the landmark achievements of the early period of the New Hollywood era – there’s something so wonderfully off-the-wall about his approach, which is driven by such sincerity and commitment to the material, but also to giving the audience something captivating, which we find is perfectly exemplified in nearly every frame of this film. Upbeat but still very informative, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is every bit as entertaining today as it was over half a century ago, and remains a vitally important work in a genre that may have undergone many changes over the years, but still remains vital and intriguing as a result of such challenging, unconventional works.