My Favorite Movie of All-Time

Wyoming, circa early 1900s. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid are the leaders of a band of outlaws. In the wake of a train robbery gone horribly wrong, they find themselves on the run with an elite hired posse hard on their heels. Their solution – bolt for Bolivia.

My Favorite Movie of All-Time

by John Smistad

The best movie I have ever seen is…

“Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid”. It is why I have a had a virtually life-long love affair with film.

Here’s why it reigns

This 1969 all-time classic chronicles the colorful last days of the infamous title pair of Old West outlaws, making it crystal clear that their kind is a rapidly dying breed. A true cinematic masterwork, the film co-stars screen icons Paul Newman and Robert Redford and is masterfully directed by George Roy Hill. The fetching Katherine Ross is outstanding in a crucial supporting role.

We are presented here with a remarkable character study of two wayward yet complicated men, their story ingeniously disguised as a Western. While a gripping saga, a pervasive undercurrent of humor, often decidedly dark, is present throughout. The witty repartee between these two partners in crime in particular delivers comic relief in all the right places.

Favorite Movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid — Redford & Newman. Up against it.

The soundtrack is entirely infectious, composed and conducted by legendary maestro Burt Bacharach. Featuring the classic hit song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” performed by B.J. Thomas, the music is uniformly exceptional in establishing both atmosphere and tone.

At first not enamored

I remember going to Clear Lake Theater in south Houston, Texas when I was ten years old with my family. My father loved Westerns (and he still does at 93). “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid” had just been released and was already garnering great buzz. As such, Dad saw this as the ideal opportunity to enjoy one with me, my mom, and my younger brother. The place was packed. It was an exciting experience, indeed, for this 10-year-old lad.

The motion picture begins in a sepia-hued newsreel footage mode. I was thinking, “This movie is gonna be dumb”. The screen soon changed to black and white. It became more interesting. And when the screen exploded into full technicolor splendor just as Butch and Sundance ride their horses into the “Hole in the Wall” gang’s spacious mountain hideaway, I was hooked. Mesmerized from that very moment straight through to the jarring freeze-frame finale.

It’s in the blood

I have seen “Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid“ a number of times since now in the theater, on TV, and on DVD as a permanent addition to my personal collection. I will enjoy it on many more occasions.

I’ve introduced the film to each of my three sons. I can’t determine if they enjoyed watching the flick, or their old man’s enthusiastically reverent reaction to it, more. Their kids are next in line.

For we must forever keep the torch aflame for the best!