Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Movie, 1969, The '60s, Set in Wyoming to Bolivia
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is #15 of 34 in release order and #12 of 34 in chronological order in the Westerns.
The story
As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid recap
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) follows two train robbers who run to Bolivia when a hired posse will not stop chasing them. George Roy Hill directs. Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman), a talker, and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford), a fast gun, lead the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. After they rob the same Union Pacific train twice, the railroad's owner E. H. Harriman pays a superposse of trackers and lawmen to hunt them. The posse follows them across rock and water, and they only escape by leaping from a cliff into a river. With the schoolteacher Etta Place (Katharine Ross), Sundance's lover, they sail from New York to Bolivia and rob banks there, learning the Spanish words for a holdup. They try going straight as payroll guards for a mine boss, Percy Garris, until bandits kill him and Butch has to shoot a man for the first time. Etta goes back to the United States. The film was followed by a prequel, Butch and Sundance: The Early Days (1979).
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ending explained
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid ends with the pair wounded and surrounded by Bolivian soldiers in San Vicente, charging out as the frame freezes. They are recognised after stealing a payroll and its mule, and police then a large army unit fill the square. Hiding in a building, they talk about going to Australia next. They run out shooting, and the image holds on them as gunfire continues. Burt Bacharach's "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" scores an earlier bicycle scene.
Post-credits scenes
No. There is no post-credits scene.
Where to watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid isn't on a US streaming service right now. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 8.0/10, Rotten Tomatoes 89%
Where it fits
- Release order: after The Wild Bunch, before True Grit.
- Chronological order: after The Wild Bunch, before True Grit.
Cast
- Paul Newman as Butch Cassidy
- Robert Redford as The Sundance Kid
- Katharine Ross as Etta Place
- Strother Martin as Percy Garris
- Henry Jones as Bike Salesman
- Jeff Corey as Sheriff Bledsoe
- George Furth as Woodcock
- Cloris Leachman as Agnes
- Ted Cassidy as Harvey Logan
- Kenneth Mars as Marshal
- Donnelly Rhodes as Macon
- Jody Gilbert as Large Woman
Directed by George Roy Hill.