They Fought The Law And The Law ...

Rating: Null/10 (7 September 2007)

Two American bank robbers head for Bolivia to evade capture, in this George Roy Hill directed Western, based on real-life events. I have never understood the appeal of this film. Its plot is boring for the most part, although it does pick up in the second half.
Maybe Butch (Paul Newman) and the "Kid" (Robert Redford) charm viewers with their roguish and outlaw attitudes and behavior, so that they, in effect, become the story. Maybe the appeal is their spirit of teamwork. Or maybe it's because the two are so photogenic. In any event, the plot's slow pace could have been improved if the film had been only about seventy or eighty minutes. As is, it's stretched out to 110 minutes with what seems to me to be lots of filler, especially in the first half.
The color cinematography is dark, so dark I could hardly see the images at times. So much of the plot happens at night. The scenery might have been beautiful ... if I could have seen it. And I don't care for all those photographic stills; I find them distracting and jarring.
This film certainly gets great reviews from others. That's fine. My preference in Westerns would be "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" and "For A Few Dollars More".