Butch and Sundance

12 Pages 3068 Words

As the titles roll we see a road stretching to faraway blue mountains, the background music is a kind of rock'n'roll country sound, Tex-Mex, so the audience have the expectation that what they are about to see will involve a journey in the western states of America. As the film has a 15 certificate the audience expectation is that it will handle adult issues and it may include some scenes of violence, some scenes of a sexual nature and bad language may be used.

However, being a Ridley Scott film, (Blade Runner , 1492 ) the imagery of the landscape has a deeper meaning, it appears vast and deep, with forced perspective and the intensity of the light and colour lend a super- realistic look to it. So much so, that the background almost looks like a painted one, a matte, and has a surrealistic, dreamlike quality so we feel we can expect a complex and emotional experience rather than simply the telling of a story describing a journey. As the journey is an important element of the film I suppose you might describe it as a "road movie", but not in the Hope, Crosby, Lamour tradition, more the Bonnie and Clyde model with its mixture of comedy, violence and poetry. You could also say it is a "buddies" movie as the relationship between the eponymous heroines is a major element of the film.

The film, for me, is also reminiscent of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid with its examination of the relationship of the pair and its Western setting and its backdrop of cowboys, horses, guns, and the pursuit by the 'posse' through the characteristic Western Monument Valley landscape.

As in another example of the western genre, John Ford's The Searchers we are always aware of the difference between out and indoors, with darker interiors and bright light outside and often when the action is inside we either hear the sounds of or see the landscape or road outside through windows or doorways. The male characters, like the cowboys of old, are on the wh...