by Julian Spivey

George Roy Hill’s 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is without a doubt one of the best buddy films and westerns in cinematic history.

Based on the true story of American outlaws Robert Leroy Parker aka “Butch Cassidy” and Harry Longbaugh aka “The Sundance Kid” the movie tells the story of the two outlaws, played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford, as they make their journey through the wild west and end up in the South American country of Bolivia.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ranks as the fiftieth greatest movie of all-time on the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest Films list. The film is a more modern character based western that lends itself to fans that don’t even like the western genre. Newman’s Butch Cassidy is the highlight of this terrific film. Newman portrays Cassidy, the leader of the group, in a very sarcastic sometimes comical way. It is Newman’s character that gets the movies most timeless line, “Kid, the next time I say ‘Let’s go someplace like Bolivia,’ let’s go someplace like Bolivia.” Cassidy is smarter than your run of the mill gunfighter, and tries to use his brain at least as often as his gun to get out of a mess. Redford’s Sundance Kid is the young, brash gunfighter in the duo who is a very accurate shot and never misses what he aims for.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid also includes good supporting roles by Katharine Ross, the love interest of the Sundance Kid, and possibly Cassidy too, and Strother Martin, who also appeared with Newman in 1967’s Cool Hand Luke.

Newman and Redford together are virtually onscreen gold. Best friends in real life the duo teamed up again in 1973 for another George Roy Hill directed film, The Sting. To this day Newman says he would like to make one more film with Redford.