Review of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) by Henrik S — 10 Sep 2009

The movie takes good 20 minutes to take off and only truly shines when the focus is purely on Redford and Newman's congenial portrayal of the Wild West Outlaws. Yet, the movie lacks a coherent story and feels like a few episodes of a wild west TV show in a row. The pace changes way too often, so does the tone of the movie. Sometimes it is a gritty sepia realism, an italo-western, a slapstick movie, a love story or a classic western. Problem is, all the parts don't go well together and you feel like you are thrown of your horse over and over again (sorry for the pun). The OST by Burt Bacarach is great but you can hear the 70ies oozing all out of it and that makes the movie more anachronistic than it already is. It is far from being historically accurate, and upon researching the true accounts, I noticed many, in my opinion, unnecessary changes to the "story".

Would it not be for Newman and Redford, this movie would be dull, but these two veterans of the cinema and amazing talents turn their scenes into lectures for actors. Brilliant.

All in all, a decent movie, but it sure as whip did not deserve all those awards.