Movie · 1969 · Adventure, Western, Crime, Drama, History · 1h 51m · PG · English
Curator score: 8.4/10 (421.2K ratings)
Not that it matters, but most of it is true.
Overview
As the west rapidly becomes civilized, a pair of outlaws in 1890s Wyoming find themselves pursued by a posse and decide to flee to South America in hopes of evading the law.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.4/10
IMDb: 8.0/10
Letterboxd: 4.17/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%
Metacritic: 66
TMDB: 7.6/10
Director
George Roy Hill
Production
Campanile Productions, 20th Century Fox, George Roy Hill-Paul Monash Production, Newman-Foreman Company
Cast
Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin, Henry Jones, Jeff Corey, George Furth, Cloris Leachman, Ted Cassidy, Kenneth Mars, Donnelly Rhodes, Jody Gilbert, Timothy Scott, Don Keefer, Charles Dierkop, Pancho Córdova, Nelson Olmsted, Paul Bryar, Sam Elliott, Charles Akins
Curator Review
Verdict
A classic buddy western that turns the end of the frontier into a breezy, bittersweet chase. Its charm comes from the chemistry, the wit, and the way it mixes outlaw adventure with a melancholy sense of history closing in.
Best for
fans of charismatic buddy movies
viewers who want a western with humor and style
people interested in late-1960s American cinema
audiences who like bittersweet endings and antiheroes
Skip if
you want a hard-edged, violent western
you dislike movies that lean on banter and charm
you prefer straightforward action over character chemistry
you want a fully revisionist or politically modern western
Overview
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is one of the great star vehicles: relaxed, funny, and effortlessly cool, but never empty. It takes the familiar outlaw story and gives it a playful, almost modern rhythm, using wit and chemistry to make the characters feel larger than the genre around them.
Worth noting
What lingers is the melancholy underneath the fun. The film understands that the old West is disappearing, and that these men are already out of time. That tension gives the comedy and the romance a bittersweet edge, making the ending feel both inevitable and strangely moving.
Bottom line
It’s also a showcase for how much tone can do. The action is clean and memorable, the dialogue snaps, and the film keeps finding fresh ways to make the buddy dynamic feel intimate without losing its sense of adventure. Even now, it plays as sleek, funny, and emotionally sharp.
Top Letterboxd reviews
maria (4★) · 3952 likes
paul newman and robert redford, horseback riding, five feet apart cause they're not gay
Patrick Willems (4.5★) · 3937 likes
I like these guys. I hope they were okay after the movie ended
Holly-Beth (5★) · 3392 likes
looking for someone who's as ride or die for me as woodcock is for mr e.h. harriman of the union pacific railroad
andrea g. (5★) · 2278 likes
etta, whenever they're out: "this is my boyfriend, sundance, and this is sundance’s boyfriend, butch. sundance is gay but he’s straight for me, but he’s gay for butch, and butch’s really gay for sundance."
Colin the dude (5★) · 2197 likes
1. Makes for a fascinating double bill with Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood. Both are buddy movies that lament the end of an era. One takes place in 1969. The other was released in 1969.
2. The three highest grossing American films in 1969 were Butch, Midnight Cowboy, and Easy Rider. All buddy movies with doomed endings. One with real cowboys, one with motorized cowboys, and one with a wannabe cowboy. I will never get over this and how it managed to happen.
3. Newman and Redford are so insanely good together, it makes you doubt every relationship you've ever had in your own life.