The Graduate

"The Graduate" was made in 1967 and directed by Mike Nichols. It stars Dustin Hoffman as a recent college graduate with no well-defined aim in life who is seduced by Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft). This scene, and the line "Mrs. Robinson, you're trying to seduce me, aren't you?" is widely known, referred to and parodied. Mrs. Robinson has become a name for any seductive older woman after the success of the film.

The film is the highest ranked on the AFI list that we have seen so far. In 1998 it was ranked at number 7, and in the updated list it is down ten places to number 17.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

I have to agree with Max; I was disappointed with the film and feel that the "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head" sequence was particularly hard to watch. It felt as though a whole shift of mood had taken place, and although I'm all for musicals, in which songs break the dialog frequently, this was so out of place in terms of the tone of the film that it felt like the director was just tripping and decided to add it in for his own amusement.

This movie was reminiscent of "Easy Rider" and also harkened back to the first film we saw for this blog, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre," and in a funny way seemed like a mixture of these two. I say that because the whole premise of the film is, just like in "Easy Rider," the thrill of two men abandoning all responsibility and taking off across the American landscape. The scenes in which they scour over the terrain get old quickly, as was the case with "Treasure."

I struggle to imagine what has kept "Butch Cassidy" in the hearts and minds of film buffs for all these years. Perhaps if I were to revisit the film I would begin to understand, but I know I won't be able to bring myself for a little while...

A mullet of a movie...

First, sorry for the looooong absence, my partner in crime was jetting around the world.

Secondly, the title of this post says it all. I suspect that the only people who enjoy this film where those born before 1980. There is of course nothing wrong with old films- I happen to enjoy many black and white movies. But, the problem with this one, is that the film is just so boring. This movie is like a mullet, at one time it had to have been popular, and maybe there was even some merit to getting a mullet; but, now is no time to don a mullet, and there is nothing cool about Butch Cassidy.

What makes this movie even more difficult is how the screenwriters clearly threw out one liners, but they all fall flat on the audience. In fact, I cannot think of one time that the script made me laugh. And, oh God, don't ever make me watch that god awful bike scene again.

As a reviewer, I am obliged to come up with one at least one good thing to say about this movie...Besides the scenery, the effect of having the unstoppable pursuers chasing them through the desert is pretty cool. But, other than that, watch HBO's John Adams and avoid this movie.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Yeehaw...

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is ranked 73 on AFI's 100 Greatest Movies. On the tenth anniversay list, it fell twenty-three places, but is still ranked as one of the best westerns of all time.

The film follows the antics of two infamous train robbers: Butch Cassidy (Paul Newman) and his partner The Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) as they attempt to escape from the law. The film came out in 1969, and received almost immediate acclaim; according to Wikipedia, "...Adjusted for inflation, the film ranks among the top 100 grossing movies of all time and the top 10 for its decade".