Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid: The Ultimate Collector's Edition

Two of the Wild West's most notorious outlaws were effectively whitewashed in this lighthearted romp, a box-office champion and multiple Oscar winner that marked the first teaming of superstars Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The most successful Western ever made at the time of its 1969 theatrical release, this breezy star vehicle studiously avoided or mocked cowboy-movie clichés, serving up equal portions of romance, comedy, and adventure to savvy Vietnam-era audiences weary of hackneyed horse operas (in addition, the film introduced the decidedly non-Western, Oscar-winning song, "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head").Newman stars as Butch, the quick-witted leader of Old Wyoming's Hole-in-the-Wall Gang, while Redford portrays the Sundance Kid, a fast-draw artist who serves as Cassidy's right-hand man and rival for the affections of comely Katharine Ross. Driven from Wyoming by indefatigable pursuers, the pair flee to Bolivia in an attempt to begin their crime careers anew. William Goldman's clever screenplay teems with snappy dialogue, while director George Roy Hill (who later reunited with the star duo for The Sting) maintains a lively pace. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid wasn't the first revisionist Western, but it was in the forefront of what would become a systematic, irreverent, and highly entertaining deconstruction of one of cinema's most venerable genres. Sporting an excellent transfer, DVD extras on this “ultimate collector's edition” include a pair of audio commentaries (one by Hill, lyricist Hal David, documentary director Robert Crawford Jr., and cinematographer Conrad Hall; the other by Goldman), the 90-minute documentary “History Through the Lens: Outlaws Out of Time,” seven 1994 interviews with cast and crew members (including Newman,  Redford, Goldman, and composer Burt Bacharach), a 1994 42-minute “making-of,” the 35-minute documentary “All of What Follows is True,” the 25-minute featurette “The Wild Bunch: The True Tale of Butch & Sundance,” and more. Highly recommended. (E. Hulse)[Blu-ray Review—June 10, 2008—Fox, 110 min., PG, $39.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1969's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid sports a fairly subpar transfer with a DTS HD 5.1 Master Lossless soundtrack. The extras on the disc include a few from the previous release, but omits some others: included are a pair of audio commentaries (one by director George Roy Hill, lyricist Hal David, documentary director Robert Crawford Jr., and cinematographer Conrad Hall; the other by writer William Goldman), the 35-minute “making-of” documentary “All of What Follows is True,” the 25-minute featurette “The Wild Bunch: The True Tale of Butch & Sundance” on the real-life outlaws, a three-minute deleted scene, and trailers. Bottom line: a disappointing Blu-ray release—stick with the double-disc “collector's edition” on standard DVD.]