Bad Guys are Good Guys: Best Comedy-Drama Western of All Time

Rating: 10/10 (19 July 2007)

If there is a list of movies that defied most film conventions at the time of their release, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" would have to be on the list. Before "Butch Cassidy", the typical western involved good guys with white hats and bad guys with black hats, basically John Wayne versus Jack Palance, and the winner was already foretold. And few of these offerings had much in the way of character study and/or development. "Butch Cassidy" warped the conventional and created a very different way of looking at the genre. From one angle, you might argue its a parody of the American western. On another angle, its a character study. Or is it a comedy? Some of the lines are better than most comedies filmed today. And it is also a drama with tragic elements. "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid " is all these things.
"Butch Cassidy" parodies the traditional American western by focusing on two outlaws as its main characters and giving them beloved humanity. They are even described as "two-bit outlaws on the dodge" in one scene. And yet, we are drawn into their story in a way you might expect being drawn into the story of two good guys. The lawmen of the movie, who are chasing Butch and Sundance, are like specters. We see them from afar barely visible, often riding in the distance a mile or so from our "heros". They appear ominous and unforgiving in a way you might think of the typical bad guy riding into town in movies made only 10-20 years before "Butch Cassidy". We find ourselves fearing the "good guys" and loving the "bad guys".
The movie is a complex character study of its two leads. It's impossible now to imagine this film working as well as it does without the talents of Paul Neuman and Robert Redford in which a strange and unpredictable chemistry evolved. As the movie progresses, the relationship of Butch and Sundance is gradually revealed. Sundance is the more erratic and high-strung of the two while Cassidy is the intellectual criminal, analyzing situations, although both are portrayed as highly intelligent. At one point, Sundance says, "You just keep thinking, Butch, that's what you're good at."
The comedic elements of "Butch Cassidy" should be celebrated as much as its other aspects. The movie brims with wonderful innuendos, sly remarks, and interesting sarcasm. At one point, the issue of Sundance's girl going with them comes up, and he tells her that he wants no wining or complaining, or "I'm dumping you flat." To which Cassidy says, "Don't sugar-coat it, kid. Tell her straight." This kind of humor permeates the entire film, with some of the best humor erupting in the middle of desperate situations.
And finally, "Butch Cassidy" is a tragedy, or at least a tragic-comedy. (No wedding at the end.) At the beginning of the tale, the characters are light-hearted bandits in which they rob trains but always sympathize with the passengers, and even the poor bastard hired by the railroads to guard the "loot". At one point Cassidy tells him "Whatever they're paying you it ain't enough." But then the tide turns as the railroads fight back and hire a sophisticated posy to hunt down and destroy the fun-loving outlaws. The film becomes an interesting study in how these two outlaw stars must now face their greatest foe. It should be noted that the real Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid were ruthless killers who engaged in many gunfights where they mercilessly slaughtered their foes long before they went to Bolivia. Their portrayal in this 1969 film is not really history, but the story works on its own terms.
Few filmmakers would attempt to combine all these elements in a single story, and yet the film works on every level. Maybe in a way, although it has these elements of comedy, drama, character, and tragedy, it is ultimately just a well-told story of two guys who happen to be bandits.