8 Things You Didn’t Know About ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’

Remind Staff September 24, 2024

Despite long careers full of renowned performances, some actors will always be tied to specific roles in the public imagination. For legendary stars Paul Newman and Robert Redford, those roles are, respectively, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Each actor has a lengthy, acclaimed resumé, and rightfully so, but when your mind wanders to Newman and Redford, it immediately conjures Butch and Sundance. That nearly didn’t happen. While Newman was attached from the project’s beginnings, Redford almost wasn’t in the movie. He wasn’t even close to being the first choice for the part. Here are eight things you (probably) didn’t know about the all-time classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, 1969, TM and Copyright (c)20th Century Fox

20th Century Fox/Everett

1Could Have Been Brando?

At least four other actors were offered the part of the Sundance Kid (aka Harry Longabaugh) before Redford. Jack Lemmon was first, but he didn’t like riding horses, so he said no. Next were Steve McQueen and Warren Beatty. They also turned it down. Beatty felt it was too similar to his role in Bonnie and Clyde, while McQueen allegedly didn’t get along with Newman (though both would later star in The Towering Inferno). The head of the studio tried and failed to get Marlon Brando. Also, at first, director George Roy Hill had Redford as Butch and Newman as Sundance. Redford suggested the switch.

Courtesy of the Everett Collection

2Gang Names Matter

In real life, Butch and Sundance’s gang was known as the Wild Bunch. However, Warner Bros. was making a movie with that title around the same time. Hence, the change to the Hole in the Wall Gang, named after a place in Wyoming that bad guys including Butch used as a home base (and later the name of a camp for kids with serious illnesses founded by Newman).

3Love On The Set

A famous Hollywood couple were in it, more than a decade before they got married. Sam Elliott had his first role in a feature film as a card player in the beginning. Leading lady Katharine Ross played Etta Place, Sundance’s girlfriend. Elliott and Ross would marry in 1984.

CONAGHER, from left: Sam Elliott, Katharine Ross, 1991,

TNT/courtesy Everett Collection

4Who Needs A Stunt Double?

Newman and Redford actually jumped off the cliff during filming. However, there was a ledge with a mattress on it about 6 feet below them. Movie magic.

5Comedy Killed The Drama

Originally, the movie was too funny, something that concerned director Hill. In its first preview screenings, audiences went wild with loud, extended laughter. Hill didn’t like this and worried about audiences laughing at a tragedy. He removed some of the bigger laughs.

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, Paul Newman, Robert Redford, 1969. TM and Copyright (c)

6Stick To Acting Robert

“Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” the now-classic song by B.J. Thomas, was pretty hated at the time. Redford did not like it, calling it dumb and wondering how it fit with the film. Thomas’ agents regretted letting him do it and thought it would ruin his career. How wrong they all were. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.

7Audiences Hated It Upon Release

While the movie is considered a classic now and eventually made over $100 million (well over $600 million in today’s dollars), initially it wasn’t well received. Reviews were mixed to terrible. Roger Ebert complained that it was too slow. However, in 2008 the American Film Institute ranked it the seventh-best Western of all time.

8The Real Ending

There have long been rumors about the fate of Butch and Sundance. Some don’t think they died in the famous shootout in Bolivia. In 1991, a scientific team excavated graves there that were believed to belong to Butch and Sundance. However, DNA tests did not match any of their existing relatives. Back when they were filming the movie, Butch’s sister claimed he survived until the late 1930s.