Today, October 24, is the 40th anniversary of the general US release of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, written by William Goldman directed by George Roy Hill. A very '60s kind of western, its modern tone and musical interludes were too much for most critics, but it went on to become the most successful western movie of all time. The casual and good-humored interaction between Paul Newman and Robert Redford would provide the template for the "buddy picture" for years to come.
Though not as successful, two other landmark westerns were made in 1969: Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch and True Grit, directed by Henry Hathaway from a popular novel by Charles Portis. The Wild Bunch, which gained immediate notoriety for upping the level of screen violence, is a strong ensemble piece with innovative, kinetic editing style and sound design. True Grit is a solid and nicely-detailed adaptation of an excellent revenge-tale with a unique female perspective, but is mostly known for the performance of western icon John Wayne. Sixty-one years old and down to one lung, Wayne plays against his normal active, upstanding type as a declining, drunken lawman who isn't above bending the law when it suits him.
What these quite different movies have in common is the theme of the end of the old west. All are set closer to 1900 than to the Civil War (The Wild Bunch is in the 19-teens), and the last frontiers of the country have been tamed and settled. The rough and violent men who thrived in the "wild west" are not needed or wanted in the newly-civilized territories. In True Grit and The Wild Bunch, the violent men are needed one last time for missions that civilized men can't undertake. In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the violent men say to hell with the new order; they turn their backs on it and leave to find a new un-civilized place where they can live as they have always done.
Like these movies, I was also made in 1969, so I never saw them in their theatrical runs, but have seen all three on the big screen. I grew up seeing "Butch and Sundance" on TV (I even remember watching it in a junior high school auditorium), and it was always a favorite of mine and my brother's. I saw True Grit on TV early on, but never thought much of it until I began to appreciate John Wayne in my twenties. I knew little about The Wild Bunch until its 1995 theatrical re-release. I saw it three times in the week it played in a local art-house and knew I had found one of my all-time favorite movies.
BTW, Jeff Corey has small but important roles in True Grit and Butch Cassidy, but good old Strother Martin managed to appear in all three!
It's for me hard to rank these films, I love them all. I'd like to see what others think of any or all of them. Thanks for reading this far!
Justin
Though not as successful, two other landmark westerns were made in 1969: Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch and True Grit, directed by Henry Hathaway from a popular novel by Charles Portis. The Wild Bunch, which gained immediate notoriety for upping the level of screen violence, is a strong ensemble piece with innovative, kinetic editing style and sound design. True Grit is a solid and nicely-detailed adaptation of an excellent revenge-tale with a unique female perspective, but is mostly known for the performance of western icon John Wayne. Sixty-one years old and down to one lung, Wayne plays against his normal active, upstanding type as a declining, drunken lawman who isn't above bending the law when it suits him.
What these quite different movies have in common is the theme of the end of the old west. All are set closer to 1900 than to the Civil War (The Wild Bunch is in the 19-teens), and the last frontiers of the country have been tamed and settled. The rough and violent men who thrived in the "wild west" are not needed or wanted in the newly-civilized territories. In True Grit and The Wild Bunch, the violent men are needed one last time for missions that civilized men can't undertake. In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the violent men say to hell with the new order; they turn their backs on it and leave to find a new un-civilized place where they can live as they have always done.
Like these movies, I was also made in 1969, so I never saw them in their theatrical runs, but have seen all three on the big screen. I grew up seeing "Butch and Sundance" on TV (I even remember watching it in a junior high school auditorium), and it was always a favorite of mine and my brother's. I saw True Grit on TV early on, but never thought much of it until I began to appreciate John Wayne in my twenties. I knew little about The Wild Bunch until its 1995 theatrical re-release. I saw it three times in the week it played in a local art-house and knew I had found one of my all-time favorite movies.
BTW, Jeff Corey has small but important roles in True Grit and Butch Cassidy, but good old Strother Martin managed to appear in all three!
It's for me hard to rank these films, I love them all. I'd like to see what others think of any or all of them. Thanks for reading this far!
Justin
