Who Were Those Guys?

I first saw George Roy Hill’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid in the mid eighties when I was in my early teens. It was via a late night full screen TV Broadcast with commercials that I had taped and, while I enjoyed the film, it didn’t hit me in the same way that several of the other major films (ranging from Bonnie and Clyde to Midnight Cowboy) from the late sixties had.
I revisited the film a few years later, this time commercial free via a VHS copy, in my late teens and liked it more although it still didn’t rank among my favorites. Sometime though in my mid to late twenties I fell in love with the picture and I find that it is one of those rare movies that truly does get better and better with each viewing.
I watched the film again recently; probably my tenth or eleventh time, and I had never been more impressed or moved by it. Hill’s expertly edited, acted and scored film hits an emotional chord with me most films can’t even begin to come close to and I have no doubt that it will hit me even more the next time I watch it.
As I was watching it the other night, I was trying to figure out what exactly it is that I respond to so strongly in the film. I still don’t think it is as ‘great’ a film as Bonnie and Clyde, or The Graduate or Midnight Cowboy or Easy Rider, but the film has an undeniable emotional force to it, most of which I think can be credited to the chemistry between Paul Newman’s Butch and Robert Redford’s Sundance. I also think the main thing that draws me to it personally is how much of its time it is. This isn’t a film that exists in any other year than 1969…from the film stock, to the dialogue to those extraordinary Burt Bacharach musical montages, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid IS American Cinema in 1969 and as we get further and further away from that period it becomes more and more powerful and resonate.

If you can get past the poignancy of William Goldman’s script and the superstar charisma of Newman and Redford (now THESE guys are stars), and the iconic Bacharach score, I find perhaps the most important part of the film to be the editing of John C. Howard and Richard C. Meyer. The film still surprises me and I am still surprised when it does so and most of that can be contributed to just how inventively well cut this film is. Take for instance the famous moment when they blow the doors off the train for the first time…all these years later I am still waiting for that customary shot of them walking away from the rigged doors but its not there and I still feel a kick every time those doors blow.
There are so many moments from the film I wouldn’t give anything for…from the legendary opening shots of both Newman and Redford to the lovely bicycle scene with Newman and Katherine Ross set to Bacharach and David’s “Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head” (sung with an easy sounding perfection by B.J. Thomas, one of the most underrated pop singers of the sixties) to the wrenching moment when they are forced to kill the Bolivian Gang to the haunting final freeze photograph that is still as audacious and as brave as any ending to any American film before or since.
There is a certain sweet justice for the movie going public in that they embraced the film when the critics didn’t as it has lasted longer than most critical darlings can ever even hope to. It, of course, still has its detractors but it doesn’t matter as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid thrives. Revisiting it again recently was a real special experience…I’m already anticipating the next time, as history tells me it will mean even more to me than it does right now.

Paul Newman: Ten For The Ages

A world without Paul Newman? I admit that I am not ready for it, are you? Even though he has been relatively inactive in front of the cameras for the better part of a decade he was never far from our thoughts, our dreams, our hopes for the kind of man we wished God would still make. During Earth's final days when someone struggling soul is looking to gather together a few final fitting films to watch, you can put good money down that at least one or more will star Paul Newman. He was truly one of the greatest film stars and actors of all time...and the two really rarely go hand in hand but Newman had it all. On top of the extraordinary film career, he was also by all accounts a wonderful human being who never stopped giving, caring and loving his fellow man.

I figured instead of recounting Paul Newman's many accomplishments in the way of a tribute I would instead offer up my ten favorite films from him. I don't mean to suggest these are the best ones (although I am sure several here will go without much argument) but these are the ones that have stuck with me the most. I think they are all great films with one thing in common...the extraordinary and totally original presence of Paul Newman.



10. Twilight (1998): No one seemed to know what to do back in 1998 with this low key and complex offering from Robert Benton, which features Newman giving one of his last towering performances. Unfairly dismissed at the time, Twilight is a really solid film that now, a decade later, seems like a deliberate return to the kind of low key filmmaking many American directors have forgotten how to deliver.



9. Fort Apache The Bronx (1981): Tough as nails Daniel Petrie film that finds Newman giving one of his most studied and wearied performances. He hits just the right balance, as does this underrated film.



8. The Drowning Pool (1975): Stuart Rosenberg's killer and superior follow-up to Harper finds Newman at his absolute coolest.



7. The Towering Inferno (1974): Two Words...Newman, Mcqueen.



6: Slap-Shot (1977): George Roy Hill's foul mouthed hockey film is one of the great sports films and, simply put, one of the best of the late seventies.



5. Absence of Malice: Had it been released just a few years earlier, this tight and paranoid Sydney Pollack film would probably have been granted classic status by now, but a lot of film fans just don't seem to know about it. Featuring one of Newman's greatest performances opposite a pitch perfect Sally Field, Absence of Malice deserves more attention than it has ever been granted.



4. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958): Has there ever really been a movie couple as steamy and beautiful as Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman in this film? The real juice in this Tennessee Williams adaptation though comes in the extraordinary scenes between Newman and Burl Ives as his father. Rarely has anyone ever portrayed loss and dis-satisfaction as well as Newman does here.



3. Hud (1963): I could go on and on about how great Martin Ritt's film is but just go back and watch that haunting final scene again to see for yourself.



2. The Verdict (1982): In my book this is Paul Newman's greatest performance and how he didn't win the Oscar for it will forever escape me. Sidney Lumet's moving film plays even better today than it did a quarter of a century ago as it just feels so crushingly relevant. Newman's performance as Frank Galvin is one of the cinematic heavyweights. Seriously, how did he not get the Oscar for this?



1. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969): I'm glad I took the time to write a little tribute to this film recently as I wouldn't give anything for it. It's one of those films that never fails to move me, make me laugh, make me cry and finally just bow my head in reverence. I thought it was fitting that it was Robert Redford who released one of the first public statements about Paul's passing today, as there has never been a better screen team. Newman, like Butch in the film, thankfully always used just enough dynamite and he wasn't afraid to add a little more to get the job done if needed....God bless him.

Tributes to the great man are pouring from all over. A few of the best I have read so far are:

Kim Morgan's post at Sunset Gun.

Kimberly Lindberg's farewell at Cinebeats.

Tony Dayoub's tribute at Cinema Viewfinder.

I will add more as I see them and of course I want to extend my best to Paul's friends and family...he was a truly extraordinary man and one of our greatest actors.