In my younger years, I'd always assumed that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, my newest DVD purchase, was one of the "classic" movies. Only later, in grad school, did I discover that it has a rather low reputation among serious film scholars. Apparently they see it as too "feel good," too light-weight, too contrived. Considering that it came out during the same year as The Wild Bunch, and considering that it was probably about ten times as popular as The Wild Bunch, you can see how the critical resentment might have been birthed. I never like being told that something I like isn't actually good, so naturally I felt the urge to defend Butch Cassidy in my head. "It's not completely lightweight," I said to myself. "It still does the whole 'sympathize with criminals' thing. It still has a downbeat ending." Yeah, but...who was I kidding? The film was simply not a tough, gritty drama on the order of Bonnie and Clyde or McCabe & Mrs. Miller. It has its themes, it has its style, but it doesn't quite hold up to the same level of scrunity. When critics faulted the film for trying too hard to make the lead characters sympathetic (as if that's what, they implied with disdain, an audience needs in order to like a character), I could see their point.Having now become aware that Butch Cassidy was not a "real" movie, I decided to watch it again in grad school anyway (armed as I was with my new grad school knowledge), and see how it stood up. Turns out I still liked the damn thing. Everything the critics said about it was true. But whereas all those factors, for them, were what made the film bad, to me all those same exact factors were what made the film good. (I feel the same way about that other successful Paul Newman/Robert Redford/George Roy Hill collaboration with a lukewarm critical reputation, The Sting.) Butch Cassidy's flaws are also its virtues; it just depends on what you feel like watching. True, the film is hokey and mainstream and the characters are relentlessly charming and likeable. If you're looking for a Bonnie and Clyde/McCabe & Mrs. Miller thing, then Butch Cassidy would probably make you want to vomit. But I'm not always in the mood for a Bonnie and Clyde/McCabe & Mrs. Miller thing. Sometimes I want a hokey mainstream movie with relentlessly likeable characters (as long as it's done in an artful way, I ask). This may really make me sound like a film snob, but to me, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is my idea of a guilty pleasure. It doesn't really challenge the viewer. It doesn't raise uncomfortable issues. It doesn't even reveal new depths with repeated viewing. It is basically exactly what it says it is and no more. If I leave my "critic" button on in my head while I watch it, I can see its limitations and will become annoyed. But if I turn off my critic button, I have to admit that I'm just a sucker for it.
Why, you say? Well, for me, what makes the movie work is that, at its core, it's basically a movie about friendship - male friendship. And that is not a hip subject in today's critical world. But's it a part of life and it's a part of my life. And the thing is, you really believe that Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid are friends. If you didn't believe that they were friends, then the movie would probably be the soulless piece of crap that critics accuse it of being. But it's rare in a movie for me to completely believe the friendship, and I believe it in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I have seen much edgier movies where I didn't believe a single thing I saw.
So I don't care what they say. Sure, it's not the freakin' Godfather, but it's classic enough for me.
DVD Features:
- Available Subtitles: English, Spanish
- Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 1.0), French (Dolby Digital 1.0), Spanish (Dolby Digital 1.0)
- Disc 1:
- Widescreen Feature
- Commentary by George Roy Hill, Lyricist Hal David, Associate Producer Robert Crawford and Cinematographer Conrad Hall.
- Commentary by Screenwriter William Goldman.
- Disc 2:
- 2005 documentary "All Of What Follows is True: The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
- "The Wild Bunch: The True Tale of Butch & Sundance" featurette
- "History Through the Lens: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Outlaws Out of Time" documentary
- 1994 documentary: "The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid"
- 1994 Interviews with Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katherine Ross, writer William Goldman, and composer Burt Bacharach
- Production Notes
- Alternate Credit Roll
- Deleted scenes
- Production notes
- Trailers
I have a small issue with your perceived McCabe/Cassidy dichotomy. I think it's more like a continuum; The Wild Bunch--Bonnie and Clyde-- McCabe&Mrs.Miller--Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I like all of those movies about equally except for Bonnie and Clyde, which I just can't connect with emotionally for some reason.
ReplyDeleteI point out the continuum because I loved the mix of cynicism and good will that characterized McCabe. Sure, he doesn't come to a good end, but he had a good time before that. After all, Mrs. Miller is still a whore, and McCabe is still an outsider in a violent and amoral society. An unhappy ending can sometimes make the happiness preceding it all the more meaningful. Or is that just the pessimist in me talking?
It ain't "my" McCabe/Cassidy dichotomy, it's film scholars'. I think they would see it like this: McCabe & Mrs. Miller--The Wild Bunch--Bonnie and Clyde--Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, ie. McCabe is the least popular/most avant-garde/least conventionally entertaining of the four, while Butch Cassidy is the most popular/least avant garde/most conventionally entertaining. It's sort of like the Stooges/Kiss or Jam/Police dichotomy. Critics can't stand how the public thinks Butch Cassidy is what passes for a "classic" film when they haven't even heard of McCabe. I usually land on the critics' side on such questions, but I'll defend a "popular" work if I think it does what it wants to do and does it well. When critics rip on Butch Cassidy for not being McCabe & Mrs. Miller, my personal feeling is, that's not Butch Cassidy's fault.
ReplyDeleteYour interpretation of McCabe in relation to the others is interesting, but I don't think that's how film critics currently see it, and that's basically what I'm arguing with.
We'll post more about McCabe & Mrs. Miller in due time, I'm sure.
How is The Wild Bunch more of a feel good movie than McCabe? Because more people saw it? It may have guns but McCabe has hookers, seems like a wash to me in that regard.
ReplyDeleteAltman makes less concessions to the audience. In The Wild Bunch, sure the Bunch get shot to pieces, but they CHOOSE to get in that gunfight, whereas McCabe is just plain in over his head and would rather just stay alive if he could. Also the Bunch may die, but Thornton and Skyes live on to see another adventure, whereas NOBODY really finds happiness at the end of McCabe. McCabe is simply a less conventionally satisfying movie (in the hypothetical opinion of the average viewer, not us). My bet is that most people would find it confusing, boring, and poorly-made. The muffled dialogue alone limits its potential audience.
ReplyDeleteWe're sort of arguing about two different things here: stylistic accessibility and pleasantness of the plot. On both counts, though, I would still say that McCabe is ultimately the less "user-friendly" of the two.