Influential and entertaining

Rating: 7/10 (30 April 2018)

Despite a few issues, the movie coasts along on the charms of it's iconic duo.
We have seen these buddy movies before. Pairing up two characters with opposite temperaments together. In this movie Paul Newman is the easy going and talkative gang leader and Robert Redford is the laconic dead shot. This pairing works wonders. And their interactions easily form the best part of the movie.
In the first half of the movie we see them both fleeing from a posse that attempts to pursue them. The movie successfully creates a feeling of dread while hardly showing anything but the outlines of the pursuers from afar. There is a note of impending doom in the air that the movie captures so successfully in this part.
But don't worry it's not all serious. In fact it's hardly. There are jokes a plenty. This movie will have you smiling from ear to ear. This is a basically a road trip movie in guise of a western. There are some inspired choices by the director, like the sepia filtered opening, a montage of photos instead of exposition, and of course the iconic ending shot.
I have a few issues with this movie. The third act seeps with aimlessness and the movie is not sure what to do with it's characters. Also the Katherine Ross character is really underdeveloped.