#51–The Philadelphia Story. I’ve seen this one before, and it is fantastic. I think it’s one of Jimmy Stewart’s best performances, right up there with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The quick banter between, well, everybody, is fun to listen to.
#50–Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Technically, this is a western. But three names assured me it would be a fine film: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and George Roy Hill. Who is George Roy Hill, you may ask? He directed one of my all-time favorite movies: The Sting.
Butch and Sundance are kindly bank robbers. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were the inspiration for Owen Wilson’s character in Shanghai Noon. But even kindly bank robbers are still breaking the law, and there are consequences for such actions. They relocate to Bolivia and become banditos there. I am going to give away the ending in the next paragraph, so if you won’t watch this movie, read on. If you might want to see it spoiler-free, then skip the next paragraph.
The ending was disappointing, but it gave me reason to think about how movies have evolved. This is a great buddy film. Jokes are peppered throughout the script, and the fact that they are kindly led me to believe there would be a happy ending. Well, in the words of Avril Lavigne, “So much for my happy ending…” The kindly bank robbers don’t prevail. I expected them to, and I blame that on the current state of buddy films. The buddies ALWAYS win! Not so in this gem.
Aside from the ending, this is a great film. Hill, like Steven Spielberg, is quite deliberate in his directing, which makes his films beautiful. But Katharine Ross (of The Graduate fame) has one of the best lines in the film…or maybe I just thought it was funny as in 20 days I see another year of my life go by…when Sundance is trying to convince her to go with them to Bolivia, she gives these reasons for leaving: “Well, I’m 26, I’m single, and I’m a schoolteacher–that’s the bottom of the pit…” How true that feels some days. 🙂
