Sunday, September 21, 2025
Time: 11:45 AM
Song: Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head
Artist: B.J. Thomas
Mode of Consumption: Listening to “Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid” soundtrack
on vinyl.
Link to song: https://open.spotify.com/track/0oMTxTIHAt3hstaoObsmFs?si=16045e34c7834aaa
We watched “Butch
Cassidy & The Sundance Kid” on Saturday night for the first time for a
couple reasons.
We had purchased a
copy (on VHS, ha) at a garage sale a week or so ago.
It was appropriate with Robert Redford’s recent death.
We bought the soundtrack on vinyl at a garage sale on
Saturday.
While I think that I had seen parts of this movie on TV a
few times, I had never sat down and watched the entire movie. It proved to be a
mix of western, comedy, satire, and commentary.
The scene featuring “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” is
where Butch (played by Paul Newman) takes Sundance’s (Redford) paramour, Etta
Place (Katharine Ross) on a ride on the bicycle it’s likely he stole from a
salesman in town. Butch rides around with Etta on the handlebars, as if this
something they’ve been doing their entire lives, rather than experimenting with
a technology that neither had likely ever seen before much less used.
The scene includes some goofiness, including Butch backing through
a fence where he has a brief stare down with a bull. In ends with Butch doing
tricks on the bike (again, it’s likely his first time riding a bike, yet he’s a
trick master) before Sundance comes out.
I asked Jodi as we listened to the record if she thought the
song was included because they wanted a contemporary song to help promote the
movie. She thought it was likely.
The entire scene has stayed in my mind. I think it’s supposed
to serve a few roles. One, establish Butch’s charm and the lightheartedness in
which he approaches everything. I thought maybe it was developing a possible
love triangle, but to the contrary I think it’s supposed to show that Etta
cares for both men, one as a lover and the other as brother-like figure. They
are a trio. The bike is supposed to represent the changing world, one where
outlaws like Butch & Sundance don’t fit. Yet, I am not sure that carries
water, as Butch masters this new technology.
Later, they roll the bike into a ditch as they flee the area
and eventually the country to evade their pursuers. The discarding of the bike symbolizes
their rejection of change.
As for the song? Well, I guess it’s part of the quirkiness
of the film, a film that probably survives because of its quirkiness.
No comments:
Post a Comment