What a great movie to start the project off. This movie had me smiling from beginning to end. I loved just about every aspect of the movie. Paul Newman and Robert Redford create characters that are obviously bad guys, but you absolutely root for them. Especially Newman. Butch Cassidy may end up as one of my all time favorite movie characters. Katharine Ross does a great job with Etta creating a character who clearly loves Butch and Sundance and follows them down to Bolivia but because she has nothing better going on. She creates a sense of love for her boys and aching loneliness.
And then there are the other characters that make up this movies universe. My favorite was Percy Garris, but special mention has to be made for Woodcock and the other members of the Hole In The Wall Gang.
And as for the story, there isn't a whole lot of plot, but I think the makers of the film make some bold decisions that pay off in the tension that is built as we eventually meet up with the fate that Butch and Sundance have been running from for years.....or do we?
And special hat tip to Kevin Smith. I'm sure that because we are working backwards having seen many movies that these classics influenced before we actually see the classics, we will notice connections that we never would have gotten otherwise. While I was watching the movie and LaFors is chasing the boys, the name sounded familiar, but since you never see the character I didn't catch the connection until towards the end and we see the white straw hat and it hit me. The Greatest Mall Security cop of all time, LaFors, in Mallrats, was clearly a homage to the LaFors that is relentlessly pursuing Butch and Sundance.
All I can say is if I enjoy the rest of the movies as much as I enjoyed Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, then this will be a very worthwhile adventure.
