Hmmm....

Rating: 7/10 (16 February 2009)

This one seems to be better on reflection. After seeing it 24 hours ago, I think more highly of it than when I was actually watching it. The movie entertained me, but most of the time I was thinking "this is pretty overrated". Yet right now I want to watch it again! This is probably mostly due to the unique screen chemistry shared by the two leads, Paul Newman (Butch) and Redford (Sundance). The famed robbers probably weren't as charming as these two, but who cares? It's a classic character study of the extrovert, Butch, and the introvert, Sundance, who bicker but can't really live without each other. What I find striking is how this menage a trois angle, with Katherine Ross as schoolteacher Etta, plays out. She may be in love with them both, or may just have nothing better to do. They like having her around, but they are really in love with each other. Nary are they apart, and Etta fades into the background so that when she leaves we don't even notice. Ross may be accused of playing bland but I think that was what was intended with the character. Then again, director Hill had her banned off set apart from doing her scenes, so it couldn't have helped her with the part.
I didn't like the sepia bits at all. The opening credits seemed ripped straight from Penn's "Bonnie And Clyde". And the film wasn't as funny as it makes out to be (the line "Who ARE those guys?" wears out fast). The song "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head" jars. Some scenes I really liked, others I didn't. But I'll go back to it, because I thought Newman and Redford were special together. Obviously audiences felt it too, as they teamed again later.