The Bus

I appreciate the classics as much as anyone else. I would say I probably overindex on Westerns in comparison to the general moviegoing public.

But I just don't get this film. I don't get why its so revered. It's funny, sure, but I didn't find it entertaining. Am I in a minority here?

Note: I didn't make it more than halfway through the movie before turning it off.

Other note: I couldn't make it through ten minutes of Blazing Saddles either, so maybe you guys want to burn me at the stake.

JeffTheAlpaca

At first I thought there was news on a remake not that I was asking for it.

davidh777

I don't think it's a movie for Westerns fans. I think it's a Western for people who normally don't watch Westerns.

That said, I enjoy it, and I like standard Westerns as well.

GoldenJCJ

I love the movie but I absolutely fucking hate ^ that scene. It’s completely out of place and grinds the movie to a halt.

The final shot fits nicely in my favorite movie endings of all time.

OldBoy

this is and always will be a classic imo. both Newman and Redford were perfect and the chemistry between them was so palpable. just a great Western and all-around cinema great.

TomOpus

Katharine Ross was sexy as hell.

inri222

You are not alone. IMO, it tries a bit too hard to be funny and cutesy. Then there's the cringe worthy 'Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head' sequence and the awful soundtrack.

Ash Ketchum

Damn, I thought this was another ancient thread bump, a record-breaking one going back 49 years!

To answer The Bus's question, I saw BUTCH CASSIDY when it came out, the same year TRUE GRIT, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST and THE WILD BUNCH all came out and I saw all of them that season. I went back repeatedly to THE WILD BUNCH and even saw BUTCH CASSIDY multiple times on the big screen, although mainly because neighborhood theaters kept playing it with newer Fox releases like VANISHING POINT and ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE APES.

But in the decades since, I've re-watched three of those westerns multiple times, all but BUTCH, and have seen all three of them in the 2010s. I don't remember the last time I saw BUTCH in its entirety. It may indeed have been on TV in the 1970s. I have tried to watch it since, but its '60s-era tongue-in-cheek humor and glossy star performances don't wear well. It's all a show, not a real western. And I've since seen many westerns, both movies and TV episodes, about Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and all seemed way more honest and accurate than George Roy Hill's movie, which was meant to be something very different, but not something I care to watch anymore. I also liked THE STING (same stars and director) when it came out, but I haven't re-watched it since the '70s. Certain sensibilities from that era just seem so alien to me now.

Interestingly, Strother Martin is in TRUE GRIT, BUTCH CASSIDY and THE WILD BUNCH.

inri222

I prefer The Sting over BCATSK, but even that one is IMO overrated. George Roy Hill beat Bernardo Bertolucci, William Friedkin, and Ingmar Bergman for the best director Oscar. Somebody fucking shoot me.

TomOpus

Chris Stuckmann posted this today and it reminded me of this thread.

inri222

A-

Get the fuck out of here with that bullshit.

Franchot

I didn't think it was anything special or great when I saw it when it was first released in theaters.

I still didn't think it was anything special or great when I rewatched it many years later on Blu ray.

I won't be watching it a third time.

Hazel Motes

I don't follow Stuckmann, but I thought he was spot on. I've always loved the film, in fact I have a framed poster of it on a wall in my home. Comparing it to other westerns is a dead end street. It has its flaws, but Newman and Redford are magic together and it has one of the best endings in cinema history. I only wish they would have made more than just the 2 films together.

ps I LOVE the bike scene, even if it doesn't fit perfectly into the movie, its still a great scene.

B5Erik

First, I 110% agree with you on Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. I don't get it's appeal, either. It's a mediocre movie with a threadbare plot that seems more like a series of nearly unrelated scenes that just show the main characters over the course of a period of time. It's not that great. It's not even very good, really. Great lead actors, but it's all style over substance.

As for Blazing Saddles - I find that one completely overrated, too. It's not all that funny, and it's really kind of stupid.

Just my take on both of them.

Jack Straw

Well, I love it! Big head-shake at all the pissing all over this western classic.

rennervision

Yes - definitely a top 10 favorite western for me.

rw2516

I think The Sting is a very good movie, and also believe that it is way overrated.
It's basically an expanded, big budget Mission: Impossible episode. MI did it far more cleverly with far better writing and a fraction of the budget. MI kept the audience in the dark. The audience knew the mission but not the plan. The characters would be doing things but we didn't know exactly why. Then at the very end everything comes together and revealed to the audience.
Why audiences went nuts over it, when they had been seeing it done far better on a weekly basis for seven years, is beyond me. Must be a Newman/Redford thing.

As for Butch and Sundance. It's not a western, it's not a comedy, it's not a biography. It's just two characters, which audiences loved, having a series of adventures. The story is not important, people enjoyed watching the characters no matter what was going on.

DWilson

I can't help but wonder how the movie would play of it had a more traditional soundtrack. Obviously, going with Bacharach was intended to give it a purposely Modern vibe.

johnnysd

I have often thought it would be cool to see movies that are famous with different scores? Are they so tied together that any change would suck? Are the scores a main reason WHY they are so revered? Or could a movie be better with an alternative soundtrack? Likely been discussed before here.

B5Erik

I found The Sting to be very much overrated. Not bad, but not all that great, either.


That fairly closely mirrors what I've said about it - except I think the LACK of a story/plot IS important, and I didn't enjoy watching the characters all that much. I love the actors, but not the characters.

That could have been a great movie, but the script was a mess.