Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Director: George Roy Hill, John C. Foreman George Roy Hill

Overview

"Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is given a fine treatment on DVD. The cinematography, which won Conrad Hall his first Oscar, was sorely mistreated by years in pan-and-scan video prints. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer thankfully restores Hall's stunning photography to its original theatrical release quality. The commentary track features director George Roy Hill, lyricist Hal David, associate producer Robert Crawford, and Conrad Hall. While scene-specific, the style of the comments suggest that the participants were recorded separately. The 45-minute documentary included was made at the time of the filming. Though 30 years old, it is extensive and details every aspect of the production from the movie's start to its climax, including historical information about the characters. Finally, to compensate for the lack of a current documentary, 1994 interviews with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, writer William Goldman, and composer Burt Bacharach are included from a separate menu. Trailers and an alternate end-credit roll are also included. Between the commentary, the 1969 featurette, and the retrospective interviews, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is an exhaustive historical document of a classic film, augmented by the terrific digital transfer."

Product Details

Release Date:	05/16/2000
UPC:	0024543002567
Original Release:	1969
Rating:	PG
Source:	20Th Century Fox
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono, THX-Supervised Mastering]
Language:	English
Time:	1:50:00
Sales rank:	1,180

Special Features

45-minute documentary; Cast and crew interviews; Audio commentary by George Roy Hill, Hal David, Robert Crawford, and Conrad Hall; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Paul Newman	Butch Cassidy
Robert Redford	Sundance Kid
Katharine Ross	Etta Place
Strother Martin	Percy Garris
Jeff Corey	szeryf Steve Bledsoe
George Furth	Woodcock
Cloris Leachman	Agnes
Ted Cassidy	Harvey Logan
Kenneth Mars	Marshal
Henry Jones	Bike Salesman
Donnelly Rhodes	Macon
Jody Gilbert	Large Woman,Large Woman
Timothy Scott	News Carver
Don Keefer	Fireman
Charles Dierkop	Flat Nose Curry
Nelson Olmsted	Photographer
Paul Bryar	Card Player
Sam Elliott	Card Player
Charles Akins	Bank Teller
Eric Sinclair	Tiffany's Salesman
Pancho Córdova	Bank Manager
Douglas Bank	Citizen
Larry Barton	Citizen
Rico Cattani	Bank Guard
José Chávez	Bolivian Police Commander
Dave Dunlop	Gunman
Jill Hall	Minor Role
Percy Helton	Sweetface
Buck Holland	Posse Member
Burt Bacharach	Conductor,Composer

Technical Credits

William Goldman

George Roy Hill	Director
William Goldman	Screenwriter
Paul Monash	Executive Producer,Producer
John Foreman	Producer
Art Cruickshank	Special Effects
L.B. Abbott	Special Effects
David Dockendorf	Sound/Sound Designer,Sound Effects
William Edmondson	Sound/Sound Designer,Sound Effects
Richard D. Zanuck	Executive Producer,Producer
M. James Arnett	Stunts
John C. Foreman	Director
John C. Foreman	Producer
Lawrence Schiller	Special Effects
Michael McLean	Casting

Editorial Reviews

Released the same year as The Wild Bunch, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid covered similar territory about the end of Western myths, but it expressed its revisionism with tongue firmly in cheek rather than with the brutal violence of Sam Peckinpah's offering. Butch and Sundance never lose their gift for one-liners, even when they have to jump off that gorge; George Roy Hill and screenwriter William Goldman send up the image of outlaws heading south of the border with bank robberies conducted in broken Spanish from crib notes. Still, violence impinges on Butch's and Sundance's world, intimating the fate that modernity held for charming bandits who cannot master a horse-replacing bicycle. The jocularly clear-eyed approach to the pair's exploits, combined with the chemistry between Paul Newman and relative newcomer Robert Redford, vastly appealed to audiences; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid became the most popular film of 1969 and won several Oscars, including one for Goldman's script. Like Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, glamorous outlaws Butch and Sundance were in tune with the late-'60s counterculture, but the movie's humor -- and its Oscar-winning Burt Bacharach/Hal David song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" -- softened the revisionist blows amid impending tragedy.