The last time I saw this movie was in the summer of 1972 or '73 -- I'm a little hazy on the year -- at the Corral Drive-In Theater in Lake Worth, Texas. The Corral is long gone, of course; the property where it was located is now occupied by a big shopping center anchored by a supermarket. But I saw a lot of good movies at the Corral during the Seventies and remember it fondly. Several years after watching BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID there, I discovered that Livia was there with her family the same night I was. So in a way this is the first movie we watched together.
Anyway, it's now been released on a two-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition DVD, and the set is a dandy one. The movie itself looks great. Conrad Hall's Oscar-winning photography deserves a good transfer, and it got one. The extras include two different "making of" documentaries, one concentrating on the nuts-and-bolts of making the movie and the other focusing on the script, plot, and characters. Both are excellent, as is the historical feature devoted to the real Butch and Sundance, contrasting the real people with the fictional characters based on them. Also included are interviews and commentary by Newman, Redford, assorted production people, and scriptwriter William Goldman. Goldman is one of my favorite writers in several different areas -- novels, screenplays, and non-fiction about the movie business. His comments here are fascinating. All in all, if you're a fan of this movie, this DVD set is well worth having.
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