The Last Outlaws: The Lives and Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Cassidy and Sundance, of course, are best known as the wisecracking and doomed comrades-in-crime from the film starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Hatch, the acclaimed western historian, succeeds in sifting out the film’s embellishments in this excellent dual biography. Yet the portrait that emerges of these men is surprisingly similar to their characterizations in the film. Hatch describes in detail the upbringing of both, and each could be described as a “good boy” gone wrong. Cassidy, born Robert Leroy Parker, was the eldest child of a Utah Mormon couple. He grew up hardscrabble but hardworking and was described as affable and loyal to both family and friends. Sundance, born Harry Longabaugh, also was reared in a stable, religious family, in Pennsylvania. Possessed of a romantic and restless spirit, he moved westward at the age of 14. Both youths fell casually into a life of crime, moving from branding other ranchers’ stray cattle to bank holdups and train robberies. The brotherly relationship between Butch and Sundance may have been exaggerated, but they did indeed die together in Bolivia. This is an interesting and credible look at their lives and times. --Jay Freeman