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#379 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Watched: February 17 2026

Director: George Roy Hill

Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross, Strother Martin, Cloris Leachman, George Furth

Year: 1969

Runtime: 1h 50min

Remember our ongoing series of discovering we enjoy westerns a lot more than we thought we did? Here’s another entry! To be fair, this one we knew we liked – we’ve seen it several times before, and we’re pretty sure our dad had it recorded from TV when we were growing up. It’s been about 20 years since our last rewatch though, so we were pleasantly surprised by how good it actually is!

In fact, we were blown away! Hah!
We’ll see ourselves out…

Butch Cassidy (Newman) is the leader of the infamous Hole in the Wall-gang, a group of outlaws who rob things. Trains, banks, you name it! His position as leader is supported by his bff, sharpshooter Sundance Kid (Redford), made evident when another gang member tries to usurp control.

Cowboys who ride together, chide together! Or something…

After a successful (and very polite) train robbery (shoutout to our man Woodcock!), the pair get reckless and decide to go for a second one. With way too much dynamite (another shoutout to our man Woodcock!). However, by this point the authorities and E. H. Harriman of the Pacific Railroad have had enough and hired an elite group of trackers and hunters to ambush and kill the gang. So Butch and Kid must go on the run – they pick up Kid’s girlfriend Etta Place (Ross), and decide to go to Bolivia. Pretty much on a whim.

Etta’s reasoning for joining them. I have never felt more personally attacked by a movie character in my entire life…

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is fantastic! We love the relationship and banter between the two leads, the myriad of entertaining side characters, the projection opening, the use of sepia, the montages, the soundtrack, the bicycle salesman, how Etta’s hats kept growing, Butch’s committment to giving sex workers orgasms, and Woodcock. The movie is very funny, very charming, and filled with excitement and adventure. It is easy to root for the outlaws despite them being criminals – in addition to their charm they are mostly nice, polite and non-violent in their interactions with their victims.

Her hat has not yet even reached its final form

We are left with some questions though:
1: How do you ride DOWN to La Paz?
2: Where is the line between a couple plus one of their best friends, and a throuple? And how (un)healthy is it to be kind of indifferent to which person in a friend group you actually date? (This miiiight go for all three of them)
3: Who are those guys?

And why leave the bicycle behind?

What we learned: Swimming lessons save lives! As do Spanish lessons. So always bring a teacher along when you go on adventures.

MVP: You can’t really have one without the other

Next time: Easy Rider (1969)

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#130 Kiss Me Deadly

Watched: August 27 2017

Director: Robert Aldrich

Starring: Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Maxine Cooper, Juano Hernandez, Cloris Leachman, Marian Carr, Nick Dennis

Year: 1955

Runtime: 1h 46min

kiss me

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A barefooted girl in a trench coat is running along a road, desperately trying to flag down a car. When one finally stops, she is admonished for almost wrecking the car by driver Mike Hammer (Meeker) before he lets her in. The girl, Christina (Leachman), is unable to speak at first but accepts a ride and gets in the stranger’s car.

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You know you’re in trouble when getting into a car with a grumpy stranger whilst naked is the safest choice

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Mike is not exactly the nicest guy in the world, but he does get Christina past a police blockade looking for an escaped mental patient, which is more than you can usually ask of a total stranger. It turns out he is a somewhat dodgy P.I. with a history of two-timing his clients. However, luckily for the desperate Christina, he’s also the kind of man who doesn’t give up once he’s onto something.

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Even if he’s up against people who like to torture and kill helpless girls

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We say luckily, but for poor Christina there was no luck. The two are captured, tortured and dumped in their car over a cliff. Mike makes it, but his female companion does not. Offended by these events, the Private Dick starts to investigate with the help of his lover/assistant/secretary/bait Velma (Cooper) and various colourful characters. What was Christina running from? Who was after her? And what is important enough to kill for?

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What’s in the box? Spoiler alert: it’s not the soul of Marsellus Wallace.

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Kiss Me Deadly is a Noir, but there are clear influences from horror and sci-fi, with the runaway mental patient and the mysterious glowing box everybody’s after. We went in completely blind on this one and were drawn in from the beginning – the opening scene is great! We loved Nick and Friday, the Gothic and sci-fi elements, Mike’s extreme badassness (though he might be a bit of a sociopath), and the importance of Christina Rossetti.

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A thorough knowledge of classic poetry is as important as a leggy dame, an attitude, a quick wit and a gun when it comes to investigating

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Poetry is important.

What we learned: Don’t pick up hitchhikers. Or, actually, do. Add some spice to your life! Also, breaking records is a surprisingly effective interrogation technique.

Next time: Rebel Without a Cause (1955)