Search - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on DVD

MPAA Rating: PG Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children, Profanity, Western Violence Movie Release: 1969 DVD Release: 05/16/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Special Collection Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 50 mins Studio: 20th Century Fox Members Wishing: 36 Genres: Western, Revisionist Western, Buddy Film, Outlaw (Gunfighter) Film See Also: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [Collector's Edition], Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid [Blu-ray]

Opening with a silent "movie" of Butch Cassidy's Hole in the Wall Gang, George Roy Hill's comically elegiac Western chronicles the mostly true tale of the outlaws' last months. Witty pals Butch (Paul Newman) and Sundance (Robert Redford) join the Gang in successfully robbing yet another train with their trademark non-lethal style. After the pair rests at the home of Sundance's schoolmarm girlfriend, Etta (Katharine Ross), the Gang robs the same train, but this time, the railroad boss has hired the best trackers in the business to foil the crime. After being tailed over rocks and a river gorge by guys that they can barely identify save for a white hat, Butch and Sundance decide that maybe it's time to try their luck in Bolivia. Taking Etta with them, they live high on ill-gotten Bolivian gains, but Etta leaves after their white-hatted nemesis portentously arrives. Their luck running out, Butch and Sundance are soon holed up in a barn surrounded by scores of Bolivian soldiers who are waiting for the pair to make one last run for it. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Paul Newman - Butch Cassidy
Robert Redford - The Sundance Kid
Katharine Ross - Etta Place
Strother Martin - Percy Garris
Henry Jones - Bike Salesman

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is given a fine treatment on DVD. The cinematography, which won Conrad Hall his first Oscar, was sorely mistreated by years in pan-and-scan video prints. The 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer thankfully restores Hall's stunning photography to its original theatrical release quality. The commentary track features director George Roy Hill, lyricist Hal David, associate producer Robert Crawford, and Conrad Hall. While scene-specific, the style of the comments suggest that the participants were recorded separately. The 45-minute documentary included was made at the time of the filming. Though 30 years old, it is extensive and details every aspect of the production from the movie's start to its climax, including historical information about the characters. Finally, to compensate for the lack of a current documentary, 1994 interviews with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, writer William Goldman, and composer Burt Bacharach are included from a separate menu. Trailers and an alternate end-credit roll are also included. Between the commentary, the 1969 featurette, and the retrospective interviews, =Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is an exhaustive historical document of a classic film, augmented by the terrific digital transfer. ~ Oliver Thornton, All Movie Guide