Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" has gone down as among the defining moments in late-'60s American cinema. Newman and Redford's chemistry was praised as was the film's charm and humor. The film earned $15 million in rentals in North America during its first year of release. With US box office of over US$100 million, it was the top-grossing film of the year. Adjusted for inflation, "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" ranks as the 34th top-grossing film of all time and the top 10 for its decade, due in part to subsequent re-releases. It was the eighth most popular
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid says he wrote the story as an original screenplay because he did not want to do the research to make it authentic as a novel. Goldman later stated: The whole reason I wrote the ... thing, there is that famous line that Scott Fitzgerald wrote, who was one of my heroes, "There are no second acts in American lives." When I read about Cassidy and Longbaugh and the superposse coming after them—that's phenomenal material. They ran to South America and lived there for eight years and that was what thrilled me: they had a second act. They were more legendary