Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid

[Bill Murphy]

[I let the length of this post get all out hand. Synopsis: I saw BCSK on a big screen today and it ruled, and brought back a lot of memories]

Seen a docu on Paul Newman the other night. Brought back memories of my mom taking me to see BCSK back when it first came out. Never seen it since, and I made a note to rent it.

Lo & behold, I see in the paper that a new 'indy-artsy' movie theatre's opening in SLC this weekend(note: this now gives SLC 3 such theatres w/11 total screens); showing freebies thru Sunday. One of 'em's BCSK.

Head on down. Print's aw scratched tae fvck, but who cares. Added to the 'feel' of it. Wonderful to see it on a big screen w/the full Panovision.

Animal abuse; drinkin', gamblin', & whorin' done joyfully w/no repercussions; no sops to political correctness or diversity; no soundtrack w/10 sec clips on the credits from sh1t bands on the label owned by the same conglomerate as the movie studio(never mind about Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head /images/graemlins/shocked.gif); makin' her strip at gunpoint as foreplay(and she likes it! /images/graemlins/blush.gif); MAN, they sure don't make 'em like this anymore.

And I'd forgot all about Strother Martin being in it. Strother Martin, jesus. Sings an ol' trailhand song about "Betty from Pike", "her boyfriend Ike" & "their old yellow dog & one spotted hog". Nothing else like it in cinematic history, 'cept maybe for that Cockadoodledoo thing from Gummo(now there was BCSK for the 90's).

Strother Martin & John Cazale ruled. All them ol' 70's movies ruled. Remember Strother in Hard Times, w/Chuckie Bronson & Jimmy Coburn? Luiz Guzman does a great job today; proud heir to SM & JC.

I guess you can sort of say that Ocean's Eleven, Good Will Hunting, or, yes, Rounders, are the BCSK/Sting "buddy" type films of today, but they just don't seem quite the same. A little forced, little heavy-handed. Like the handout at the theatre said, Jackie Chan & Chris Tucker don't have quite the magic of the Newman-Redford pairing. Can you imagine how badly the Hollywood of today would butcher a remake of BCSK, Taxi Driver, Dog Day Afternoon, or even Death Wish?

I would like to see what Affleck & Damon could do with another decent script; maybe the fat lazy cvnts oughta write another one. Boys undoubtedly have chemistry; they were the only good thing in that Jay & Silent Bob debacle. OOPS, just remembered Dogma; that was good. Alanis as God was the alltime stuntcast. Guess I need to rent Project Greenlight, even though they're not in it much I've heard.

But seriously, that docu on Newman was revelatory, as was seeing PN in a peak performance, up on the big screen. Cruise & Pitt are legitimate mega-stars, can't argue with HFord & Clint's numbers, De Niro & Pacino were beyond magnificent in their heydays(although they're both unwatchable now & and they had zero chemistry together in Heat), & Matt & Ben obviously got something(never mind Gigli), but Newman's the leading man of the century, IMO. To be fair, Cruise more than held his own in Color Of Money.

I've seen a handful of PN movies, but the docu made it clear how much more remains to be seen, and re-seen. Only saw The Verdict when it came out, need to see it again as an old bitter 37 year old. /images/graemlins/laugh.gif Dunno, about the Towering Inferno, tho... /images/graemlins/smirk.gif In the docu, Redford was quite wistful about making another movie with Newman. He said they always have wanted to do another movie together, but haven't seen the right script. Hey, guys, you're both getting up there; what was wrong with Space Cowboys? /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Sorry for rambling on, but I had one final thought while watching the docu. Slap Shot was 20-25 years ahead of it's time. It'd be a 100KK+'er today in the era of Jim Carrey. And Strother Martin was in it, too. /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Graham]

Heh, just saw a trailer for this on sunday and almost ordered teh BCSD dvd from amazon. Might have to next time. Already have the Hustler and Cool Hand Luke (of course!) in the collection.
You read too much irvine welsh.

[nicky g]

"they had zero chemistry together in Heat"

They're only on-screen together for a about 5 minutes in 3 hours. Stil, Heat's good. DeNiro lost it a long time ago, but Pacino is still the King. Have you seen Donnie Brasco? He's the King, I tell you.

BCSK is great, though Katherine Ross looks even better in The Graduate, IMO.

[Cyrus]

Nice post. I smell a Warren Oates fan also. Can you picture today's Hollywood giving the time of day to losers and misfits of the Warren Oates type?

Strother Martin was also routinely brilliant in Wild Bunch.

Catherine Ross was great in Donnie Darko. I mean it's easy to "act great" when playing an invalid or an emotionally disturbed person. She had to play a deadpan psychiatrist. (Item: in one of the deleted scenes that the DVD offers, she is asked back by her patient to reveal something embarassing about herself. She finally offers that she once had sexual fantasies involving Mr Rogers.)

Someone said that De Niro has lost it some time ago. I agree. Maybe it's the very strong legacy. He may be only able to function as a parody from now on. Every time you see him onscreen, the star aura overtakes the illusion. You can't go around "De Niro".

[andyfox]

"Idiots. I got idiots on my team. They're not going to rob us going up the mountain because we don't got the money yet. They're going to rob us coming down the mountain, after we have the money. Idiots."

I paraphrase (did he says "morons," not "idiots"?), but I like the way Strother Martin delivered those lines even better than his more famous "failure to communicate."

I saw Coolhand Luke again the other week. Great movie. One of my buddies tried to eat fifty eggs after seeing it the first time; we went to Norm's, he got through 5 orders of scrambled eggs before throwing up.

Idiots indeed.

[andyfox]

"Have you seen Donnie Brasco?"

My favorite scene was when he knows they're going to kill him. He takes his necklace and watch and his cash and puts in in a drawer for his girlfriend to find. Then, as an afterthought, he opens the drawer just a bit. Wonderful touch.

[Graham]

"Great movie. One of my buddies tried to eat fifty eggs after seeing it the first time; we went to Norm's, he got through 5 orders of scrambled eggs before throwing up.

Idiots indeed."


Fifteen years ago, I watched cool hand luke with my housemates. I thought about it, then I declared i could eat 35 hard boiled eggs in 2 hours. Idiot! I failed to starve myself the next day and made the fatal mistake of allowing them to actually go purchase the eggs. Real idiot! They bought a few boxes of jumbo eggs and boiled and peeled them for me.

I only got to 30 eggs eaten. The 30th egg took longer than the previous 29 combined did. Real f'in idiot!! It was sore even just lying down. /images/graemlins/crazy.gif

[Cyrus]

Thanks, Andy. Thanks, Graham. I just knew Cool Hand Luke was based on real life.

[Bill Murphy]

I always liked the "Scouts? Yes, SCOUTS!" scene in Slap Shot. Strother also gave some nice druggie babble in Hard Times. Gotta rent that again. Been awhile.