- Actors: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin, Henry Jones
- Directors: George Roy Hill
- Writers: William Goldman
- Producers: Paul Newman, John Foreman, Paul Monash
- Language English, Spanish
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Fox
- VHS Release Date: 6 April 1998
- Run Time: 110 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CW40
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 33,726 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Dating from 1969, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has never lost its popularity or its unusual appeal as a star-driven Western that tinkers with the genre's conventions and comes up with something both terrifically entertaining and--typical of its period--a tad paranoid. Paul Newman plays the legendary outlaw Butch Cassidy as an eternal optimist and self-styled visionary, conjuring dreams of banks just ripe for the picking all over the world. Robert Redford is his more level-headed partner, the sharp-shooting Sundance Kid. The film, written by William Goldman (The Princess Bride) and directed by George Roy Hill (The Sting), basically begins as a freewheeling story about robbing trains but soon becomes a chase as a relentless posse--always seen at a great distance like some remote authority--forces Butch and Sundance into the hills and, finally, Bolivia. Weakened a little by feel-good inclinations (a scene involving bicycle tricks and the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" is sort of Hollywood flower power), the film maintains an interesting tautness, and the chemistry between Redford and Newman is rare. (A factoid: Newman first offered the Sundance part to Jack Lemmon.) --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com
On the DVD: This anamorphic widescreen print of the 2.35:1 Panavision original looks marvellously crisp, highlighting the sepia tinting and washed-out, over-exposed look of the film nicely and making the best of the deep focus cinematography. The mono soundtrack sounds clean and clear in Dolby 2.0. The commentary track is hosted by documentary-maker Robert Crawford with contributions from George Roy Hill, cinematographer Conrad Hall, and lyricist Hal David (who chips in during the "Raindrops" sequence). The 40-minute documentary dates from 1968 and is narrated by director Hill, who talks in detail about the making-of process, comments on his relationship with the three principals (Katharine Ross was the difficult one apparently), and adds little nuggets such as how they sprayed the bull's testicles to make him charge at the end of the bicycle scene. Also included are a series of absorbing 1994 interviews with all the main players: Newman, Redford, Ross, writer William Goldman, and composer Burt Bacharach. Trailers, Production Notes and an Alternate Credit Roll complete an attractive package. --Mark Walker
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid clasps hands with the French New Wave and waltzes it off to the rugged Utah mountains. Centered on the triangular relationship between the ever-charming Butch, monosyllabic, fast-shooting Sundance and the melancholy, haunting Etta Place, one look at this picture tells you more than three years at any film school could about film-making. For beginners, the tough, lyrical screenplay relies on visuals rather than dialogue to tell the tale. Researched from the obscure, true story by the soon-to-be-legendary Bill Goldman, it seduces and delights with economy and humour. And don't forget, for a film of this kind there is almost no shooting, no melodrama and, perhaps bravest of all, two heroes that actually run away. And yet never does the film drag. The fast, zooming cinematography is drenched in the golden haze of the Wasatch mountains, before it shifts via sepia stills to the hostile Bolivian hills and the inevitable denouement. Throughout, the action is accompanied by the unusual, unforgettable and now classic Burt Bacharach soundtrack.
The work satisfies on every level, but is transformed into something extraordinary by the restrained, charmed performances of Redford, Newman and Ross. It launched a thousand imitators, but no equals. Rarely does Hollywood deliver such gold, so see it and fall in love, like Butch and Sundance, with an era that really never was.
21 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
This is one of my favourite films of all time but I am not happy with this conversion to DVD.
Fine, you get lots of great extras but the film itself has been destroyed.
Fine, you get lots of great extras but the film itself has been destroyed.
Different parts of the film appear to have been taken from different film stock with some parts showing faulty colour saturation and even some film flaws such as badly corrected scratches [I am not referring to the scenes and sections where such things are a part of the film].
The more evocative sections where there are soft focus and hazy lighting effects have been utterly ruined...for example when the apple is picked from he tree during the bicyle scene there is colour blocking that gives the appearance of several heavy colour halos instead of a gradation of hazy colour. Frequently the resolution is poor and grainy.
Latter parts of the DVD appear to come from a better print because colour and detail are excellent.
Sound is also quite patchy
A wonderful fillm has been very badly and lazily converted.
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Besides the film itself, which is in better quality then the VHS version, you get a documentary by the director explaining how the key scenes in the film were made. Also the original film with commentry by those involved in making it with some especially interesting comments by Conrad Hall on how he lit and shot it. Although parts of the commentary are interesting, at times you wonder whether they ran out of things to say about the film and just start telling very long anecdotes like a fencing match between the director and Robert Redford!! There are interviews with the the writer, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Katharine Ross and Burt Bacharach which are interesting. All this together with the ability to go to those classic scenes within the film make this a superb buy for anyone who is a fan of this cult movie.
Steve Pearce, UK
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent DVD & service.
DVD arrived within a week from order. Excellent film. Thoroughly recommend this film - great action and entertainment for the whole family.
Published 1 month ago by Mr. R. D. Wardrop
A classic
Robert Redford and Paul Newman make up one of the best pairings ever as Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, a film which might not be the best western ever made, but it's certainly... Read more
Published 4 months ago by BPR
Stylised, refreshing, a classic but self-indulgent
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) is a Western about two outlaws in the West who use violence to rob banks and trains and end up on the run in Bolivia. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Miami
The turning of the tide was here.
Academy Award Winner Best Original Screenplay-William Goldman. Academy Award Winner Best Cinematography-Conrad Hill. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Spike Owen
A CLASSIC
A CLASSIC, FIRST RECORDED BY ME CHRISTMAS DAY 1973 ON BBC 1 ON A PHILIPS N1500 VIDEO RECORDER, I STILL HAVE THE TWO TAPES IT TOOK TO RECORD.
Published 14 months ago by DON BEWLEY
butch cassidy & the sundance kid
I bought this for my husband, he enjoyed it. In view of all the sex, violance and bad language on tv these days, it was a welcome change
Published 15 months ago by peggy
To outlaw life out
That's a real American Western. Not spaghetti in the least and not parading à la John Wayne in the even slightest least. Real tough, dirty, hateful. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Jacques COULARDEAU
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
`Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' is a western that's not a western. In fact it is more of a buddy movie set in the west and later Bolivia. Read more
Published on 17 Dec 2009 by Spider Monkey
TIMELESS
Ah...I am only 37 but even I realise that they REALLY do not make them like this anymore. The dynamic between Butch and Sundance is witty and poignant, and the barren Wyoming... Read more
Published on 24 Nov 2009 by Alan Brown
a classic
If you haven't seen this yet what's stopping you? A classic film from a classic era. Funny, warm and engrossing.
Two very sexy male leads too.
Top. Read more
Two very sexy male leads too.
Top. Read more
Published on 22 July 2009 by Megan McNair
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