Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid were professional bank robbers until something went wrong while they were trying to rob a train. People of the law were after them and they had to leave Wyoming and travel to different places along with Sundance’s lover, Etta Place.
Blaine: Screenwriter William Goldman learned stuff about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid back in the late 50s and he found them to be so fascinating with how they were able to run from the law. They ran away, became legends and that was big for William. Problem was whenever William would talk about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with other people they didn’t know anything about them and that really bothered him. So William decided to write a screenplay so that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid's story could be made into a film. William was also going to be playing around with the western genre. 20th Century Fox didn’t want Butch Cassidy and the Sundance to run away in the movie when William pitched the project to them. The reason the studio didn’t want them to run away was because at the time westerns weren’t about people running away, but William couldn’t allow it to be taken out because it was fact. For William it was more about making a historical film than a western. William spent a lot of time with the script and when it was finished it was 400 pages long. Richard D. Zanuck, who was the President of 20th Century Fox at the time, loved every page of the script, but it was too long and needed to be cut down. William was payed $400,000 for his screenplay because Richard had strong feelings for the project.
The Sundance Kid was written for Paul Newman. William had worked with Paul Newman before, knew how good of an actor he was and so he always knew Paul was meant to be in this movie. It was difficult to figure out who would play his partner, Butch Cassidy. Jack Lemon was in mind at first, then it was Steve McQueen. Director George Roy Hill was looking for work because he had just gotten fired from directing a Hawaiian project. Paul Newman had suggested that George direct “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” because they had been friends for a while and Paul had full trust in George because he knew he was a man with talent. The western genre was new for George, but he had fun with it after they started shooting. One thing was still missing and that was finding an actor to play Butch Cassidy. George felt Robert Redford should be in the film and Paul Newman agreed with him. Robert Redford wasn’t a huge star at the time and because of that Richard D. Zanuck thought having him in the film was a terrible idea. But Robert Redford’s name came up a lot and after Robert read the script he knew he could play the Sundance Kid. Robert wasn’t aware that the Sundance Kid was written for Paul Newman. With the support of George Roy Hill and Paul Newman, Robert Redford was able to get the job. Richard D. Zanuck thought having Robert Redford in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” would ruin the movie, until he saw Robert in full makeup and costume. Richard thought Robert Redford looked perfect and he felt crazy for ever doubting him.
The more Paul Newman and Robert Redford worked together the more they started to bond. They worked so well together more as colleagues than actors. Some say it was fate that brought those two together. Paul Newman wasn’t informed that George Roy Hill wanted him to play Butch Cassidy because Robert Redford was more suitable for the Sundance Kid. The first day of shooting, George told Paul at the last minute that he was playing Butch Cassidy. That was a problem for Paul because he didn’t know how he should act as Butch Cassidy because he spent so much time preparing himself for the role of the Sundance Kid. Another problem was Butch Cassidy was supposed to be funny and Paul Newman didn’t know how to be funny. George calmed Paul down by telling him to not think about being funny and to just act like everything is real. Paul Newman would act like he was in charge at times, when really George Roy Hill was the one who was directing the movie. Paul would suggest things that both George and the studio wouldn’t do. Paul thought the scene where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid go to a sheriff should be taken out. Screenwriter William Goldman was against that because Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are convinced to go to South America after that scene, but Paul felt it wasn’t convincing enough.
Another problem Paul Newman had was Robert Redford doing his own stunts because he was afraid Robert might get hurt or killed. But Robert Redford was so full of energy and was a young man at the time. He wanted to ride a horse his own way while shooting a scene, he wanted to jump on top of a moving train, he wanted to do a lot of physical stuff. Making a movie always excited Robert Redford. Cinematographer Conrad Hall shot “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” very differently from any other western and George allowed him to shoot the movie any way he wanted because he trusted him to do a good job. Conrad had his own way of seeing the movie through his skills as a cinematographer. One of the things Conrad loved shooting was the landscape. They shot the film at Durango, Colorado. The first nine minutes of the movie is sepia, after that it goes to color. My dad said that sepia toning is used on black and white prints to give them an aged look. He says it’s beautiful to look at.
William Goldman wrote a scene where Butch Cassidy would be riding a bike because while doing his homework on the 1900s he learned that bikes were the way to entertain people. Butch would take Sundance’s love interest, Etta Place, for a ride and there would be a song playing in the background because George Roy Hill thought it would be a good idea. Everyone else thought it was a bad idea because westerns didn’t have songs. The song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head” was written and it was the craziest thing to be playing in the background of a western. Composer Burt Bacharach had to come up with a sound that wasn’t old fashioned, but at the same time was suitable for that period. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance” only has thirteen minutes of music score in the background because George felt it was best that there not be too much music in the background.
After “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" wrapped and was put together, they tested it out with 150 people to see what they thought of the movie. People would giggle at the beginning because the movie starts off as a silent movie. People would laugh through the entire movie, which scared the people who were involved in making it. They were afraid that they made “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” too funny, especially George Roy Hill. But there was hope because people were cheering when it was over and that showed George and the rest that they did a good job. Critics didn’t like "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” when it opened, but they don’t like movies at all. Audiences loved it and after “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” won four Academy Awards and became a classic, critics realized they didn’t pay attention to how good this movie was. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” also became an inspiration for future buddy flics. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” also made Robert Redford a super star.
My rating “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” is five out of five stars
