Extremely Original!

Rating: 9/10 (1 April 2010)

Robert Ebert wrote "William Goldman's script is constantly too cute and never gets up the nerve, by God, to admit it's a Western.", I think he's right, but the thing is, they didn't try to make an old school western movies, they mixed western with Chaplin's comedy, and buddy movie, making the result, entertainment itself.
It's the story of Butch(Newman) and Sundance(Redford), the two leaders of the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. Butch is all ideas, Sundance is all action and skill. The west is becoming civilized and when Butch and Sundance rob a train once too often, a special posse begins trailing them no matter where they run. Over rock, through towns, across rivers, the group is always just behind them. When they finally escape through sheer luck, Butch has another idea, "Let's go to Bolivia!".
Imagine Sergio Leone's movies mixed with "Lethal Weapon", and than you have something close to this movie, but the truth is, this movie is original, and I can't think about another movie that look like this one. In the beginning credits, they made a tribute to old Westerns, and what I understood about it is that they were trying to say, "We admire the old Westerns, and those classics inspired us, but we're making something a little bit different, out of what you guys created, alright?".
Sometimes they even used Chaplin's kind of humor to entertain you, like the scene of Butch riding the bicycle, and it worked, I laughed more in this movie than in a lot of comedy movies, and not only bad ones. The first part of it was concentrated more in the laughs and showing how close those two guys really are(Note the intimacy between Butch and Etta, Kid's wife). The second part is a little slower, and the rhythm falls a little bit, not that it's bad, it's great, but it's hard to make the second part as good as its incredible first part. The photography is great, but not different than the other Westerns.
The Acting is splendid, Newman is one of the best actors of all time, and he proves it again in this one, he's charismatic and funny, unlike Redford's equally great performance, that makes his character darker, and hesitant about his actions. But the most important element of the acting in the picture, is the chemistry between those two actors, which made all the situations more believable, and the ending more striking, plus it's incredibly funny to watch them arguing.
Verdict: When this movie ends, you'll want more, because it's entertaining and funny, in a way that you don't see a lot these days, plus the performances by the two leads are brilliant