Wednesday 6 February 2019

Favourite Duos #9: Butch and Sundance (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)

I've already talked about this film already as part of my "Western Weekends" series, but I still think the title characters are great.

Robert Leroy Parker, known to all as "Butch Cassidy" is the leader of The Hole in the Wall Gang. He's very laid back and affable, always seeking grander schemes while making friends with everybody he meets (even if he's robbing them). His closest companion is a laconic gunslinger named Harry Longabaugh, known to all as "The Sundance Kid", who serves as his brawn. Well, to some extent. It's established at the beginning that Sundance is handy with a gun, but he relies more on his reputation than his actual skill. This is shown when he's accused of cheating, but the accuser backs down when he finds out who he is.

Butch is always coming up with ideas, and Sundance will always provide a snarky comment when they don't work out. This also shows that Sundance is a lot more pessimistic than Butch. Their bickering provides some of the funniest dialogue in cinema, most notably in this scene where they are cornered on a cliff by the posse hunting them. Sundance seems to be more willing to make a last stand than Butch, who devises an even crazier escape plan and has to convince him. It perfectly establishes Butch's thinking aloud as Sundance argues them with a few choice lines.

In an even more extreme example (with a minor spoiler), the pair are confronting Bolivian bandits who have killed the payroll carrier they're escorting. While staring them down, Butch awkwardly reveals that he has never killed anybody in his life, and Sundance is desperately trying not to facepalm (and break contact with the bandits), but is able to help see them both through.

As he says it best, "You just keep thinkin', Butch. That's what you're good at."

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