Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Special Edition on DVD

• Cert:
• Cat.no: 01061 DVD
• Running time: 106 minutes
• Year: 1969
• Pressing: 2001
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 24 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 (Mono)
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English for the hearing-impaired
• Widescreen: 2.35:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: 3 Trailers, Production Notes, Making of the film,Audio commentary, 1994 Interviews, Alternate credit roll

Director:

George Roy Hill

(Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Great Waldo Pepper, Slap Shot, The Sting, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The World According to Garp)

Producer:

Screenplay:

Music:

Cast:

Butch Cassidy (Robert Leroy Parker): Paul Newman
The Sundance Kid (Harry Longbaugh): Robert Redford
Etta Place: Katharine Ross
Percy Garris: Strother Martin
Sheriff Steve Bledsoe: Jeff Corey
Woodcock: George Furth
Agnes: Cloris Leachman
Harvey Logan: Ted Cassidy
Macon: Donnelly Rhodes

Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) rules the “Hole in the Wall” gangand The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) is the fastest gun in theWest, but after carrying out raids on banks and trains, with the gang themselvestorn between which of the two is easier, both are getting harder and afterrobbing the Union Pacific railway company, its boss has hired some men to goafter the pair until they’re killed.

The plot of the film’s a relatively simple affair with both of them vying forthe attention of schoolteacher Etta Place (Katharine Ross) althoughshe’s mainly in the hands of Sundance, slightly diverting early on asHarvey Logan (Ted Cassidy) tries to take control of the gang over Butch,but in a bid to stay alive, Butch, Sundance and Etta head for Bolivia buttrouble follows them at every turn.

Well, almost every turn. Maybe I’ve seen too many buddy action films, but inthis one the action comes too few and far between with long portions of thefilm dragging on and on until the eventual, inevitable climax where Butchand Sundance go out in a blaze of glory, but that’s not a spoiler as youknow from the start that the entire gang ends up dead.

There’s some humour in there too as they spark off each other but, again,there’s not enough of it and it’s too spaced out. Today’s audiences requirea more quickfire approach, if you’ll pardon the pun, which means that thefilm hasn’t aged well. Also, by today’s standards, the way it ends seemsrather ineffective, however much the director goes at great lengths todescribe his pride at the final result.

Going down in a blaze of glory.

The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen ratio andis well-used throughout. For its age it looks very good in the main, althoughthere are some scenes which look a little grainy in places.The average bitrate is 4.75b/s, often peaking over 7Mb/s.

The sound has been left in the original mono, which is a shame as a DD5.1remix would really have made good of the shootout scenes. Often, when there’sjust dialogue, the volume needs to be turned up. During shootouts, the gunshotssound rather flat because of the lack of directional movement. The occasionalBurt Bacharach track is okay though, with “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”having been written for this movie.

The extras are the same as on the Region 1 DVD released in May last year,starting with 3 Trailers (two 60-second trailers in non-anamorphic16:9 and one 3-minute trailer in 2.35:1 non-anamorphic widescreen),Production Notes that show the original script but for those pagesshown that are too big to fit on the screen, for some reason it shows thebottom half before the top and an Alternate credit roll which coversboth the opening and closing credits.

A 40-minute set of Interviews recorded in 1994 mark the 25th anniversaryof the film with all three main cast members talking along with screenwriterWilliam Goldman and composer Burt Bacharach. The Making of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid also runs for 40 minutes and, narratedby director George Roy Hill, features on-set footage and 4:3 filmclips, pin-pointing certain scenes and how they were performed. It’s in herethat some fruity language raises the certificate of the DVD from PG, for thefilm, to an overall 12.

Also included is a feature-length Audio Commentary from the director,lyricist Hal David, associate producer Robert Crawford andcinematographer Conrad Hall.

There are 24 chapters to the film which is fine, the subtitles are only inEnglish for the hard of hearing and the menus are static and silent, thelatter being rather a surprise for a special edition DVD.

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