Paul Newman & Katharine Ross

It was back on October 24th, 1969 that much of America became familiar with Robert Leroy Parker and Harry Alonzo Longbaugh in the persons of Paul Newman and Robert Redford.

That was on that date 40 years ago that 20th Century -Fox Released Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. It was one of the most popular films of that time and remains one of the most popular westerns of all time.

It tells the story of Parker-Butch Cassidy, and Longbaugh-Sundance, and their lighthearted train and bank robbing adventures. Throughout their escapades they are accompanied by the Kid’s beautiful girlfriend, Etta Place (the gorgeous Katharine Ross).

Like most westerns that are any good, it’s a mixture of both fiction and fact.

Although it’s considered a classic today, the film  received decidedly mixed reviews at the time of it’s release.

Time magazine said, ”Every character, every scene, is marred by the film’s double view, which oscillates between sympathy and farce. As Butch and the Kid, respectively, Paul Newman and Robert Redford are afflicted with cinematic schizophrenia. One moment they are sinewy, battered remnants of a discarded tradition. The next they are low comedians whose chaffing relationship—and dialogue—could have been lifted from a Batman and Robin episode.”

New York liked the film far better. “Mr. Goldman ( screenwriter) makes the stuff of legend human, telling the tale of two men who run their crooked route with gusto and guts…. And not the least of the pleasures is the emergence of Redford as the fine actor he is in a role worthy of his talents, which include keeping Newman from making the entire movie his own.”

Butch Cassidy was nominated for seven Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Sound; it won for Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Score and Song (”Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”).

The brits liked it a lot more. Over there, it received British Academy Awards for Best Film, Actor (Robert Redford), Actress (Katharine Ross), Cinematography, Direction, Music, Editing, Screenplay, and Soundtrack. Newman was also nominated for Best Actor.

Butch is the #73 Greatest Movie of All Time by the American Film Institute and #7 on its 2008 list of the greatest Westerns. It’s also listed on the National Film Registry and will be preserved in the Library of Congress.

I owe a lot to the film. Had I not seen it, I would have never heard of the mysterious Etta Place and would never have written my novel, Etta. Although my Etta is almost totally different from the one in the movie, I can’t deny that Katharine Ross was my original inspiration (and quite a heart throb at the time for a 17 -year old).

Let’s share our memories of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid. Where did you see it (for me it was the Town Theatre in New Rochelle, New York)? When? Is it one of your favorites or are you more like the Time Magazine guy?

Write back. And happy 40 to Butch & Sundance (and Etta)!

Best,

GK

Paul Newman & Katharine Ross.

Judging by the amount of radio interviews I’ve been doing, people really care about the Sundance Kid.

Ever since news got out that Utah filmmaker Marilyn Grace and physical anthropologist John McCullough had unearthed the remains of one William Henry Long, wireless hosts from coast to coast have been asking me for my opinion. I guess they figure it’s worth something because of all the research I did for ETTA.

Do I think, they ask, that this Bill Long could actually be the Kid? What do I think of the photo comparisons between the two men? Can DNA evidence prove that they’re one and the same?

I answer the questions as well as I can – after all I’ve got a novel to sell – but I don’t flatter myself that all this interest is a tribute to me or ETTA or even the intrepid souls digging up that body in Duchesne, Utah.

It’s actually a tribute to George Roy Hill, William Goldman, Paul Newman and Robert Redford: the team responsible for the great film, Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid.

Does anyone really think that there would be enough interest in Sundance for radio guys to call me if it hadn’t been for this classic movie? Believe me, nobody outside of western nuts would care if Grace and McCullough had found Marion Hedgepeth (who?).

It was Hill’s direction, Goldman’s script and the star power of Redford and Newman that made the two outlaws real to us. For most people Paul and Bob are Butch and Sundance and will be forever more. Photos of the real guy or not, most people will picture Redford when the DNA results are finally announced.

Truth may be stranger than fiction, but it’s nowhere near as powerful. Two screen legends were responsible for creating a western legend so strong that it’s lasted 40 years…and can still get radio types from Minneapolis to Portland to call an author in Philadelphia just to see if he’s got anything new to say about it.