She'll do everything for them but watch them die.

Rating: 9/10 (21 December 2017)

This gets one star short of perfection for one minor thing: it is a product of its time with bouncy music montage sequences, really no full plot, and being the epitome of a popcorn picture that is aimed to please, and does. It's the anti-Bonnie and Clyde bandit film, certainly low key in its violence and often tongue in cheek funny. You can't help but love the two stars (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) and root for their characters, two train bandits who manage to charm and influence their victims, charming them in an "Ah shucks" sort of way, and influencing them to follow the two way down south to Bolivia. Accompanying them is prim and proper school marm Katharine Ross who aids them in learning Spanish to get away with a string of clever but comical robberies which doesn't seem to be leading to the ultimate "Sting".
There are many classic moments in this practically excellent action comedy, half western and half southern. Newman doing bike tricks for Ross, the two men stranded on a cliff over the Colorado River, and the final shootout, all used in film montages over the years. There's great character roles for many veteran faces, unknown by name (Percy Helton and Jody Gilbert for example), and a few actors in early appearances or roles before they were stars. There may not be raindrops falling on their head, but there will be smiles on your face as you root for these lovable scoundrels. Under the direction of George Roy Hill, this is near perfection.