Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, a 1969 American Western directed by George Roy Hill, starring Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross, won four Oscars, a Golden Globe (Best Original Score) and 9 BAFTAs. It was selected for the US National Film Registry as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”.

In Wyoming around the 1900s, Butch Cassidy (Newman) and the Sundance Kid (Redford) the leaders of the famous Hole in the Wall gang, are planning another bank robbery, when Butch steals the brilliant idea of a two-step robbery from the new would-be gang leader.

The first robbery goes well and Butch and Sundance are pleased with themselves. We meet Sundance’s girlfriend, Etta (Ross) yet see that both men are vying for her attention.

The second robbery is a disaster, Butch using too much dynamite to blow the safe and a posse of heavily armed men arrives to hunt down the duo. They repeatedly fail to shake off the posse and end up having to jump in a river when they become trapped on the edge of a canyon. When they reach Etta’s house, they learn from the newspapers that their lives are at risk and they decide to head for Bolivia.

Once there, they attempt another bank robbery, which is a disaster due to their lack of Spanish. Etta helps them with the vocabulary they need, and they appear to be becoming more successful after each robbery, but they find themselves being hunted by the Bolivian authorities.

Out of fear, they decide to go straight, but this ends badly when they are forced to kill some Bolivian robbers, so they return to robbery. Unbeknown to them, their next attack is flawed, which results in them ending up in a gun battle with the police. They find shelter in an empty house and, when injured and tending to their wounds, they discuss where they will be going next, Butch suggesting Australia, where they at least speak English ……….

With its iconic pairing of Paul Newman and Robert Redford, jaunty screenplay and Burt Bacharach score, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is rightfully hailed as one of the greatest Westerns ever made and among the defining moments in late- 1960’s American cinema, even though much of the movie takes place in South America.

The charisma and screen presence of the two actors and the way they work together is what drives this superbly made film – watching Newman and Redford interact as two likeable outlaws, full of witty dialogue and exciting action sequences.