…and when I said I’d watch something more Butch next, I meant it.
Today’s movie is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
When I was growing up, the weekend’s TV schedule was full of westerns, and I never really “got” them. Still don’t, truth be told.
Westerns were something my grandad watched (when he wasn’t glued to the wrestling or “Crossroads”. Woe betide anyone who spoke when any of them were on…)
Anyway, Butch and Sundance….
It’s not really a western, truth be told. Yes, the setting is the wiki wiki wah wah wild west, but Butch & Sundance is sooo much more than that.
What we have here is your prototype wise-cracking buddy movie, a true bromance if you will, the kernel of Brokeback Mountain…Butch & The Kid, the original anti-heroes, clearly adore each other and their friendship is touching and poignant, the pair constantly ribbing each other throughout. Ahem. Those aren’t pillows…hell of a game, hell of a game.
While the whole film is essentially one long chase scene, it’s laced with a sense of brooding danger and impending doom; we all know how it pans out in the end (no spoilers, in case you don’t, though I may have ruined it now anyway), and there’s several classic scenes to enjoy; from the “I can’t swim” to the freeze-frame/fade to sepia ending (again, no spoilers here), through to today’s music choice, by the unfortunately named (I had a hell of a time googling him to get the sleeve…) BJ Thomas:
B.J. Thomas – Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head
Who knew the White Stripes were rent-a-models-on-bicycles back in the 60s?
Several years ago, when I was a team manager working for a thoroughly reputable insurance company in Cardiff, one of my team asked for my advice on one particular client, who just happened to be called Paul Newman. I made some wise-crack about it being THE Paul Newman (because I’m THAT funny) and was met with a blank stare. The guy had no idea who I meant. A tumbleweed blew past. A lonesome bell tolled.
A colleague chipped in, trying to rescue me: “The salad dressing guy?” I despaired….salad dressing?? That’s what he’ll be remembered for, not for being the incredible actor he was…??
I have never felt older.
Anyway, in an act no doubt designed purely to redress that, the Manics, gawd bless ’em, recorded this:
Manic Street Preachers – Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head
They may be punky revolutionaries, but they have no time for anyone who misses the g off of Falling.
More soon.
A History of Dubious Taste 