BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID is a very popular film that audiences loved and critics hated when it first opened in
the late 1960s. The film was originally slated to star Paul Newman and Steve McQuenn, but McQueen dropped out which made way
for Robert Redford. Budget problems and script revisions were teh subject of business before cameras even started rolling.
Everyone was taking risks before and during production. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUDNANCE KID is a romanticized view of the two
real cult anti-heroes who robbed banks at the end of the 19th century before moving to South America (compacted down to Bolivia
in the film). Robert Redford and Paul Newman were a great team and they would team up once again for THE STING. The music
interludes and the comedy somehow work in this film and it sets up a pop Western. By the way, Katharine Ross is hot as Etta,
the girl that both love in a way and she loves them too (an unspoken love for Butch). These are two guys running ahead of
Death until it does catch up with them.
VIDEO: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic Widescreen)
The print looks very nice. The colors and shadow values are captured just right. Image detail is very good. Another great
transfer job from Fox.
AUDIO: English 2.0 Stereo, English Mono, French Mono, Spanish Mono
Subtitles: English, Spanish, English Close captioning (special features not subtitled or close captioned)
Dialogue is very clear. Other audio elements aren't a problem either.
SPECIAL FEATURES: on disc 1 are two audio commentaries for the film and a 1994 Making Of documentary on the film narratted
by director George Roy Hill, screenwriter William Goldman, and actors Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Plenty of behind-the-scenes
footage is featured in this 47 minute documentary.
The audio commentary with George Roy Hil, lyricist Hal Dvid, dodumentary director Robert Crawford Jr., and cinematographer
Conard Hall is thebetter of the two audio commentary tracks. The second track with screenwriter William Goldman was full oflong
moments of silence and he comes off as not very interesting. The first track provides tons of info on the film's production.
Disc 2 is where loads of information abnd other material can be found.
ALL WHAT FOLLOWS IS TRUE: THE MAKING OF BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID has the three stars and crew and others (like
Lawrence Kasdan) look back at the film with their memories of making it and their appreciation of it. Richard Zanuck now looks
like he would be an easy fit for a role in a remake of THHIS ISLAND EARTH is Universal ever made one.
THE WILD BUNCH: THE TRUE TALE OF BUTCH AND SUNDANCE- this featurette gather the facts theat the film got right and the
other facts the film didn't. I wished there was a film on Butch and Sundance's travels in South America (where the film just
say they went to Bolivia). Etta Place was actually Ethel Place.
HISTORY THROUGH THE LENS: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID OUTLAWS OUT OF TIME is another making of featurette on the
film with interviews from 1994. On another part of the disc are other interviews from 1994 with Paul Newman, Robert Redford,
Katherine Ross, William Goldman, and Burt Bacharach.
The one deleted scene is missing an audio track (which has been lost) and features English subtitles and an optional audio
commentary with George Roy Hill. George wanted to film it but he discovered the scene didn't work after he saw what he filmed.
It was a contrived scene to him. Everyone else wanted to take the scene out before it was even filmed. This four minute scene
takes place in a cinema in Bolivia. Not a bad scene to watch once or twice.
The production notes section features letters over the budget of the film and script revisions in addition to pages from
the script. Also on this disc is something on the Films of Paul Newman. If yiou're really interested, a two minute alternate
credits roll is included too. The three theatrical trailers are nice to watch and they put some of the current movie trailers
to shame. I love vintage trailers from the 1960s.
FINAL ANALYSIS: BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID Collector's Edition is full fo extras and Fox again delivers a top notch
job for a great film.
this review is (c)11-18-2006 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission (except for excerpts and a link
to the review). Look for additional content at http://enterlinemedia.livejournal.com and send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com
