Review of Blackthorn (2011) by Robert G — 19 Mar 2013

With the world having thought him dead for twenty years, Butch Cassidy(Sam Shepard), aka James Blackthorn, can afford to relax on his ranch in Bolivia and spend some quality time with Yana(Magaly Solier). Still, he is restless and has gotten tired of waiting for Che Guevara to show up, so he sells his horses in order to return to his home country. But an altercation with Eduardo(Eduardo Noriega), a Spanish national, separates him from his horse and his money. To make it up to him and save his own life, Eduardo mentions the mine he just robbed. All of which gets Butch thinking of the old days when he used to ride with the Sundance Kid(Padraic Delaney) and Etta Place(Dominique McElligott, of "Hell on Wheels").

The best part of "Blackthorn" is the beautiful Bolivian scenery, especially the salt flats sequence. At the same time, that along with an extended cameo overshadow the lived-in and low-key performance from Sam Shepard which also fits in well with Butch Cassidy being more of a passive anti-hero this time around. But if you are going to the trouble to take a legendary outlaw like Cassidy out of cultural retirement, shouldn't one at least think of a better story that can stand on its own? For example, nothing against Bolivia of which we get some valuable history here, I think it would have worked out significantly better if this had been about Butch Cassidy already living in the United States as something of a living ghost.