Ryan Manzo
581640
2:00-3:50pm
October 16, 2013
BCA 101
Analytical Report

Title Of Film: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Year Of Original Release: 1969
Director: George Roy Hill

Name Of Studio Releasing The Film: 20th Century Fox
Name Of Video Company Releasing The Film: 20th Century Fox
Date Of Screening: October 13, 2013
Plot And Structure: It is the late 1890’s in a small town in Wyoming, where Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) are playing cards when Sundance is accused of cheating. Butch convinces the man to tell Sundance to stay or else he wont leave. Sundance then gets up and shoots the mans gun right out of the holster. Butch and Sundance get on their horses and venture off towards the Hole in the Wall. The Hole in the Wall is a place out west where Butch Cassidy’s Hole is the Wall Gang is located. When they arrive, they find that Harvey Logan (Ted Cassidy) has taken over the role of the leader of the Hole in the Wall Gang. Harvey then challenges Butch to a knife fight to see who gets to be leader of the gang. Butch uses his brain and trickery to defeat Harvey and continue to be the leader of the gang. Butch and the gang then decide to rob the Union Pacific Overload Flyer train twice. The first robbery was successful, the second robbery not so much. They use too much dynamite to get the safe open for the second robbery, which caused the train car to explode and the money to go everywhere. As they were all scrambling to pick up the money, a six-man posse gets off of another train and starts chasing after them. Two men get shot and the other four split up into two groups, Butch and Sundance staying together of course. Butch and Sundance are usually very good at losing people, but for some reason the posse would not fall for any of their tricks. Butch and Sundance run away for a long time and end up having to jump off of a cliff into a river in order to get away and not get killed or captured by the posse. When they arrive at Etta Place’s (Katharine Rose) house, she informs them that the posse has been hired by E. H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad to kill them. Butch, Sundance, and Etta then decide that the best thing to do is to get away and go to Bolivia for a while. Etta teaches Butch and Sundance Spanish the best she can so they are able to rob banks efficiently. They rob a few banks and everything goes well until the last robbery. They spot a man in a white straw hat, which they think could be one of the men from the posse that was following them. They decide to take a break from robbing banks and instead try to “go straight”, or get a job with a payroll. Butch and Sundance become guards for a mining company. While on the job, their boss gets shot and Butch and Sundance get in a gunfight with six Spanish men who tried to steal the payroll. Butch and Sundance conclude that the “straight life” is not for them and decide to go back to robbing. Etta does not want to see them die, so she decides to travel back to America and wait for them there. Butch and Sundance steal payroll and mules from Bolivians in the forest. Little did they know one of the mules they stole had a specific brand on its back? A boy in town notices this and informs police immediately. This then leads to a gunfight with Butch and Sundance against the Bolivian forces. Butch has to make a run for ammunition while Sundance tries his best to cover him. Both men are very badly injured. The movie then ends with a freeze frame of Butch and Sundance running out of the building to get absolutely destroyed by the Bolivian forces.
Theme:
The theme of this film is that times are changing, and one must change with them in order to survive. One thing director George Roy Hill wanted to get across was that robbing banks is a thing of the past. Times have changed, security of the banks and trains are becoming much too complicated to get away with robbery. Butch and Sundance have been outlaws their entire life. The two of them have set their ways and have no plans to change because they can’t; being outlaws is all they know. The end of their robberies was bound to happen sooner or later, and it ended up happening quite tragically.
Symbolism:
The first few scenes of the movie are filmed in sepia, making the film look old. Directly after this, while Butch and Sundance are riding their horses to the gang hideout, the picture changes from sepia to color. This change symbolizes that Butch and Sundance are products of an older era that are heading into a new one, which they are not ready for. When Butch and Sundance rob the train for the second time a posse starts to chase after them. The posse symbolizes their past that will eventually catch up with them. When Butch, Sundance, and Etta are leaving for Bolivia, Butch rolls the bike down a hill into a puddle. The bike is a symbol of the future, and this was Butch’s way of saying that the future is not relevant to his and Sundance’s ways.
Characterization And Performances: Butch was the smart character who made all of the decisions. Sundance was a sharp shooter who listened to Butch’s plans because he knows that Butch is a smart man. Butch and Sundance work perfectly together, but they work even better with the addition of Etta because she is like a mother figure. Etta takes care of them and teaches them how to speak Spanish so they can rob banks in Bolivia. The posse keeps Butch and Sundance on the move always watching their backs for attackers. When they find out that Lord Baltimore and Joe LeFors are part of the hired posse to kill them, it makes them even more worried and more determined to keep on moving so they are not caught. In the end, them keeping a move on did not work out and did not keep them from dying. Although Butch and Sundance were not killed directly by Lord Baltimore, Joe LeFors, or the rest of the posse, them running away from the posse caused them to be killed in Bolivia by the Bolivian forces.
Dialogue:
“I’ll do anything you ask of me except one thing. I wont watch you die.” This quote is a very important quote in the movie said by Etta. This is important to the theme because Etta knows that times are changing and Butch and Sundance do not have much time left as outlaws before they are captured or killed. She stays true to her quote and helps them out as much as she possibly can, but when Butch and Sundance decide to perform more robberies, Etta travels back to America because she does not want to see them die.

Cinematography And Visual Design: The beginning of the movie was filmed in sepia so it had a more antique look to it. After a few scenes in sepia, the movie translates into a colored film. The film switches into color when Butch and Sundance are riding their horses to their hideout where the Hole in the Wall Gang is stationed. This change from sepia to color represents that Butch and Sundance are heading into a new era, which they are not ready for because they are products of an older era.
Sound And Music: Music and sounds are placed very well throughout the movie to create a better overall mood for the film. Sound is used to help get points across to the viewers so they can better understand what is happening. For example, in the last scene of the movie, Butch and Sundance run out of the building to fight off the Bolivian army. The Bolivian forces yell “Fuego!” which is the Spanish way of saying fire, and then the film jumps into a freeze frame of Butch and Sundance. While in the freeze frame, all the viewer can hear are multiple gunshots getting fired at the two. This creates a general mood at the end that symbolized the end of the western outlaw life. Director George Roy Hill wanted to get the point across that times are changing and it is no longer possible to be an outlaw and get away with it. He is saying that when things get tough; make changes or your life will end soon and not in a good way.

Direction And Editing: This film uses many editing techniques to make the movie flow better. The editors of the film use scene dissolving, fade-in and fade-out, film cutting, and sepia changing into color. In the middle of the film, Butch, Sundance, and Etta decide to stop pulling off crimes in America and go to Bolivia for a while. The film is edited to where it cuts through a bunch of scenes (whit music playing in the background) that show the viewer where the three have traveled on their way to Bolivia. This gives the audience a sense of what happened while they went from Wyoming to Bolivia.
Genre And Cultural/Historical Considerations: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid was a very popular film in the late 60’s and early 70’s. It was a western action movie about outlaws who robbed trains and banks in on the western frontier. This film is slightly different than normal western action movies. This film has very modern dialogue, and an overall lighthearted nature to make it unique from others. In most westerns, the outlaws are the bad guys, but in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid the outlaws are actually the good guys. This made the film different than traditional western movies and gave out a more positive vibe.
Personal Reaction: I personally really enjoyed this film. My mom and dad actually recommended it to me because they said it was one of their favorite movies from the 1960’s. Now that I have watched the film, I can understand why it gets such good reviews. There is a lot of action that keeps the audience interested, and a lot of unexpected twists were put in that made the movie more interesting. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen. I plan on watching this movie plenty more times throughout my life.
Outside Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butch_Cassidy_and_the_Sundance_Kid#Reception