Butch and Sundance

Below you will find eight comments by respected critics on the film. Your task is the following:

1. Read all of the comments and decide on which three you have the strongest reaction - agreement, disagreement, curiosity, befuddlement...whatever.
2. Copy and paste those three comments into a document of your own.
3. Respond thoughtfully and thoroughly to each of the comments in full paragraphs. (Your job here is not to merely repeat or paraphrase the quotations; your task is to react, to expand, to argue, to ponder. Be specific in your responses. Use examples from the film. These quotations are diving boards. You need to dive in the pool and swim and around, get some exercise, and have some fun.)
4. Print out your responses and turn them in to class. Be ready to discuss them with the class.

Dave Kehr - Chicago Reader

“You have to admire the craft and assurance of the thing even as its artificiality hits you in the face.”

Time Magazine

“Every character, every scene, is marred by the film's double view, which oscillates between sympathy and farce.”

Whitney Williams - Variety

“The John Foreman production is episodic, but George Roy Hill's direction is so satisfying in catching the full value of the Goldman screenplay that a high degree of interest is sustained.”

Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun-Times

“William Goldman's script is constantly too cute and never gets up the nerve, by God, to admit it's a Western.”

Vincent Canby - New York Times

“Very funny in a strictly contemporary way-the last exuberant word on movies about the men of the mythic American West who have outlived their day.”

James Berardinelli - ReelViews

“Although Butch Cassidy wasn't the first movie to pair up a couple of wisecracking best friends in an action/adventure setting, this film became the model of how well that approach could work when done right.”

Kevin Carr - 7M Pitures

“Looking at the film with a totally modern set of eyes, completely detached from the hype of Newman and Redford in the late 60s, I didn't find a connection to the movie.”

Bob McCabe - Empire Magazine

“Note-perfect performances, a screenplay steeped in both nostalgia and a timely sense of insight, and anti-heroes you can't help but love: it's no surprise that the always re-watchable Butch And Sundance was once labelled the most likeable film ever made.”