Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) or, Friendly Outlaws

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Warm and inviting colors outline fine moments from the film and its three popular stars more than anything on this poster for George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

 

American crime legends Butch Cassidy and Harry 'Sundance Kid' Longabaugh robbed banks and trains in the Wild West, until they decided to escape justice to Bolivia with a woman. SPOILER And here they both got shot.

 
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is written by William Goldman (Harper (1966)) and directed by Minnesotan master filmmaker George Roy Hill (Period of Adjustment (1962)), whose 6th feature it was. The film is based loosely on fact.

It is a celebrated and charming, very early instance of the buddy movie. To me, its western, romance and true events elements seem secondary to its being a buddy movie. Taken as such, it is entertaining, funny and exciting, but also banal, (as many buddy movies are), because it isn't really about anything. Not anything more than two grown men goofing around as buddies, that is.
But the film is good fun, in large measures thanks to its title stars, Paul Newman (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)) and Robert Redford (All Is Lost (2013)), the latter of whom build his career on it. There are nevertheless several stronger westerns from the 1960s, both American and foreign.
Seen out of its historic context, today, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid may well seem a strange film. But the '60s were a very different time. The film's status may make you expect something out of this world. It is good, but a far cry from great.

Related posts:

 

George Roy Hill: Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

The Sting (1973) or, Partners in Hoax

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 6 mil. $
Box office: Uncertain but projected gross of at least 125 mil. $
= Blockbuster (projected return of 20.83 times its cost)

[Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid premiered 23 September (Connecticut) and runs 110 minutes. Golding was paid 400k $ for his screenplay. Newman was paid 750k $ for his performance; Katherine Ross (Donnie Darko (2001)) was paid 175k $. Shooting took place from September 1968 - January 1969 in Mexico, California, including in Los Angeles, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. The film was #1 for its first 2 weeks in general release in North America, earning 15 mil. $ in domestic rentals in 1969 and ended up with 45.9 mil. $ in domestic rentals alone, indicating a gross total north of 100 mil. $ domestically. Foreign numbers are not released, but a few details can be made out: The film sold 2.9, 1.3 and 60k tickets in France, Germany and Denmark, indicating a 6.2 mil. $ gross in those 3 markets alone. A 25 mil. $ foreign total gross would seem likely. The film was nominated for 7 Oscars, winning 4; for Best Original Screenplay, Cinematography (Conrad L. Hall (Black Widow (1987))), Best Song (Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head by Hal David (What's New Pussycat (1965)) and Burt Bacharach (A Boy Called Po (2016))) and Score (Bacharach). It lost Best Director to John Schlesinger for Midnight Cowboy, Picture to Midnight Cowboy and Sound to Hello, Dolly!. It also won 9/10 BAFTA nominations, 1/4 Golden Globe nominations and a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Hill returned with Slaughterhouse-Five (1972). Newman returned in WUSA (1970); Redford in Downhill Racer (1969); and Ross in Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969). Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is certified fresh at 89 % with an 8.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?

Get the Gringo/How I Spent My Summer Vacation (2012) - Mexico is just a little merrier with Mel Gibson...

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+ Best Comeback of the Year: Mel Gibson

Super-star Mel Gibson looks dangerous and game on the gritty and very orange poster for Adrian Grunberg's Get the Gringo

An American man, who crosses the border into Mexico with 2 million stolen dollars is immediately arrested and put in Tijuana's feared El Pueblito prison. Here he hustles his way upwards and befriends a 10 year-old boy, who's important in there for a special reason. But 2 mil. $ don't go missing without being missed...

 

Get the Gringo is written by co-writer/co-producer Stacy Perskie (Bel Canto (2018, co-producer)), co-writer/co-producer/star Mel Gibson (Apocalypto (2006)) and debuting co-writer/director Adrian Grunberg (The Black Demon (2023)), with Scotty Atkins (Gotti (2018, executive producer)) contributing story elements.
Gibson leads the film in more ways than one. Watching it, you can feel his engagement in the story, and that is a great asset here. The New-Yorker's pariah status in Hollywood on the back of his Passion of the Christ (2004) DUI scandal should at least begin its ending with this comeback.
Here Gibson's scheming character bonds with a boy (Kevin Hernandez (The Sitter (2011))) and his mother. Some of the dialogue scenes between Hernandez and Gibson have really bad continuity between the shots, which is a shame. Peter Gerety (Flight (2012)) is a dubious US consulate attaché, who wants a piece of the stolen money, and Peter Stormare (The Last Stand (2013)) is the enraged mobster who was robbed.
The movie provides an interesting look inside a big, Mexican prison. One production team member, Alejandro Cuervo, did extensive research about El Pueblito, interviewing ex-inmates etc. The prison works like a village; a really crummy village full of criminals and dirt. Mexico looks like shit in Gringo, - but the scenes from America and the Americans in the film aren't much better. Just different.
Gringo starts out with an action-packed car chase that succeeded in hooking me, and then it slows down action-wise, almost to a complete stop, as prison life is introduced. The dialogue becomes too dense, and you get to wonder, if you are watching a modern Midnight Express (1978) or a fun-filled action picture. But then comes a major shoot-out in slow motion so insane that it brings to mind old Sam Peckinpah films like the shoot-out in the beginning of The Wild Bunch (1969). And Gringo picks up its pace and dares go into some dark developments in later scenes.
The film is at times very funny and serious at other times, though mostly by its implications. Gibson is great throughout and totally believable as the resourceful, likeable gringo crook. Remembering his past career in films like the Lethal Weapon films (1987; 1989; 19992; 1998), it seems like the world has changed since then and that that change is reflected in Get the Gringo. Those once common major action films without superheroes or vampires or attractive teenagers all over the place aren't really done much anymore. But Gibson keeps going. And that deserves respect.

Mel Gibson: 2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

2016 in films - according to Film Excess

Hacksaw Ridge (2016) - Gibson's intense, humbling WWII epic 

The Expendables 3 (2014) - Unique, bizarre, largely entertaining third action fireball (co-star)

2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

The Beaver (2011) - Odd depression-dramedy with great stars - for the open-minded (co-star) 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date

Top 10: The best big hit movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

Apocalypto (2006) - or, Journey to an Extinct World  

The Passion of the Christ (2004) - Gibson's breathtaking, fierce religious masterpiece (co-writer/co-producer/director)

Lethal Weapon 4 (1998) - Pretty good last show for Donner's buddy-cop franchise (co-star) 

Hamlet (1990) - Stars shine in Zeffirelli's compelling adaptation (co-star)

 

Watch a short clip from the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 8.8 mil. $
= Mega-flop (returned 0.44 times its cost)

[Get the Gringo was released 15 March (Israel) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place from March - April 2010 in Mexico, Texas and San Diego, California. In North America the film was released as VoD and with screenings in ten cities followed by a satellite feed of a Q&A with Gibson and Hernandez, with the gross from the event going unreported. The film's biggest markets were Mexico with 1.6 mil. $ ( 18.2 %), Brazil with 1 mil. $ (11.4 %) and Russia with 839k $ (9.5 %). Grunberg returned with Here on Earth (2018, TV-series) and theatrically with Rambo: Last Blood (2019). Gibson returned in Machete Kills (2013). Get the Gringo is certified fresh at 81 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Get the Gringo?